Despite the 2024/25 La Liga season still being in its infancy after only eight matches, a potential dark horse has begun to emerge amongst those teams chasing European qualification.
RCD Mallorca has started the season tremendously, having finished 15th in the league and suffered an agonising penalty shootout defeat in the Copa Del Rey final last season.
They continue to exceed even their own personal expectations, and a large reason for that has been the appointment of the ever-talented Jagoba Arrasate as their new head coach.
After building his reputation as one of Spain’s most impressive and intriguing young managers throughout his spell at Osasuna, Jagoba Arrasates coaching style has been able to find the right balance between implementing personal philosophies and leveraging this Mallorca squads current strengths.
Most notable has been Mallorca’s impressive defensive displays so far this season, which have frustrated the UEFA Champions League and La Liga champions, Real Madrid.
Carlo Ancelotti’s side was unable to effectively breach Arrasate’s defensive structure as the match wore on.
But even under previous manager Javier Aguirre, Mallorca were always synonymous with stout defensive performances and consistently frustrated their opposition with what was often regarded as an ‘impenetrable’ compact blockade.
So, what has changed under Jagoba Arrasate tactics to convert these defensive performances into crucial points?
Our tactical analysis and scout report will begin to explore some of Mallorcas even more effective tactics in these early matches.
They have begun to break personal records for accumulating points and success away from home.
This analysis will illuminate Arrasate’s early defensive tactics in Mallorca and demonstrate how the Spaniard is establishing a new identity in his new surroundings during this impressive period of transition.
RCD Mallorca Data Analysis
Before we delve into some in-game examples depicting Arrasate’s success with Mallorca so far, it is essential to understand some of the underlying statistics that have continued to provide objective support for Mallorca’s defensive strength.
When examining some of the more basic statistics, we see that Mallorca has conceded the second-lowest number of goals so far in LaLiga, bettered only by one of the most stout defensive units in world football, in the form of Diego Simeone’s Atlético Madrid.
The narrative around whether or not such figures can be maintained throughout a prolonged period could also be supported by the fact that Arrasate’s side have only conceded an expected goals tally of 6.8xG.
This suggests that, despite a slight overachievement in this regard, Mallorca’s defensive strength isn’t necessarily based on luck or opposition inefficiency in front of goal.
When we examine Mallorcas manipulation of their opponent’s attacking efforts more closely, we see that despite conceding the fifth-highest shots-on-target total so far (35), Mallorca has taken strides to ensure these efforts are consistently ineffective.
Mallorca consistently forces their opposition away from the penalty area, having only allowed 47.4% of their shots conceded to be taken in the box.
They also have an impressive 0.06 xG per shot conceded (La Ligas best).
Jagoba Arrasate Style Of Play Pressing Effectiveness
We will focus on Mallorca and Arrasates opening fixture at home to Real Madrid to gain a deeper understanding of some of their defensive structures across the opening La Liga fixtures.
It goes without saying that when coming up against one of the most dangerous teams on the planet, their opposition must be proactive and appear multi-dimensional to combat all types of attacking strategy — just as Mallorca did on this occasion.
Our first example highlights Mallorca’s 4-1-4-1 structure when pressing out of possession.
Muriqi is the first presser ahead of the midfield line, coinciding with Mascarell taking the opposite approach and dropping slightly deeper into the space between the lines.
Such actions allow Mallorca to remain optimistic and impactful with their pressing whilst also negating key pockets of space, which the Real Madrid forwards could exploit when pulling away from the defensive line.
The key switch in this structure is when Mallorca has looked to press much higher when recognising certain triggers, as we see Sergi Darder exploding forward into space to accompany Muriqi, forming a more pressing partnership.
