So far in my time at Eibar we’ve finished 5th, 6th and 4th. At the halfway point of my fourth season we were sitting 4th in LaLiga, well placed to qualify for Europe again. Even that in itself is a huge achievement for this little club from the Basque Country. All the board are expecting is that we finish in the top half. I think we might manage that, just.

To help us over the line I made a last minute marquee loan signing. Find out who it was by reading on. If you make it to the end of the post you’ll also be reading about the changes in the squad in regards to the Furia style I wanted to instil in the squad.

We were there to capitalise in my third season in charge of Eibar on FM20. Valencia dropped like a stone out of the top four and our steady form enabled us to grab fourth and qualify for the Champions League for the first time. A quite incredible achievement for little old Eibar.

The 2022/23 season is a strange one as I’m sure most of you will know by now. You’ve got the 2022 World Cup to contend with halfway through it, meaning a shorter first half of the season and a mass of matches squeezed into the second. Here’s how that first half of the season played out.

At the halfway stage of my third season in Eibar we were sitting in 8th position in La Liga. We’d actually only lost three matches though, the same number as Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, and were five points off Valencia, who were in 4th spot.

I couldn’t have predicted what would happen next…

Last time out a really good last few months of the season propelled us to a 6th place finish and Europa League football again for this coming season. Finishing 5th and 6th in my first two seasons at the club isn’t too bad at all. We’re punching well above our weight, our infrastructure is well below the standard that a La Liga club competing in Europe should have.

Heading into my third season I began to question what kind of club we actually are?

At the halfway stage of season two we were sitting in the bottom half of the LaLiga table. We’d been turfed out of Ipurua and forced to play our home matches in Alaves’ Mendizorroza stadium. This massively affected our home form across the first half of the season, we had the second worst home form in the league with just a solitary win (technically two, funnily enough we beat Alaves away).

A few tactical tweaks would get us on our way, wouldn’t it?

My first season at Eibar went very well indeed. A 5th place league finish means we head into the Europa League group stage in season two.

It’s a positive financially for the club, but it does mean we have to negotiate a fair few more midweek matches than I was used to during season one. While I had a tight squad contributing to our success last season, rotation will be key in the first half of this season. It might mean a struggle to pick up points too.

At the halfway stage of my first season in charge of Eibar on FM20 we were riding high in the Champions League qualification spots in LaLiga. This surely wouldn’t last but based on our performances, we certainly deserve to be there. A reminder that the board are looking for a mid-table finish which I certainly think we’re on course to deliver.

Could we sneak into Europe for the first time?