If there is one club that is often cited as a management model in Spain, it is Real Sociedad. A club which has enormous confidence in its young people, which recruits intelligently, in good financial health and which generally plays a rather slick and pleasant game, the Basque team was notably the team with the most representatives on the pitch during the final of the last Euro. Enough to reward the incredible work the club has done for quite a while now…
But this season, things are about to get tough. The Txuri-Urdines are in a sad tenth place in the La Liga standings, and are also struggling in the Europa League, placed in twenty-fifth place in the general qualification. After losing Robin Le Normand and Mikel Merino this summer, the team is less efficient, but this seems to go further than simple staffing concerns. The various arrivals, like Nayef Aguerd or Orri Óskarsson, are also at the level. The team has lost a lot of spontaneity and ability to create danger, and it is, collectively, less solid at the back.
It’s hot between the coach and the players!
Above all, there seems to be tension between Imanol Alguacil and his executives. After the Basque derby lost against Athletic this Sunday, the Basque coach massacred his players at a press conference: “If I could, I would have changed all 11 players. We didn’t come to play a derby”. Comments which went down very badly with certain players, including captain Mikel Oyarzabal, who responded with incendiary remarks. “We’ve been struggling for four years and not being ourselves. Maybe we need to look at what we’ve been doing from the start, how we see the match, what idea we have on the pitch and then all do some self-criticism. We are on the ground and we are the ones who go to work when things are not going well. We have been making the same mistake for several years and everyone needs to look at themselves and be self-critical”replied the 2024 European champion.
An obvious tension between the coach and the team captain, at a time when the club is already going through difficult times on an institutional level. Roberto Olabe, sporting director and considered the architect of Real Sociedad’s successful project in recent years, has already announced his departure at the end of the season. He himself did not get along with Imanol Alguacil and internal tensions precipitated this departure. This match against Ajax on Thursday could therefore confirm a state of crisis that is quite rare for Anoeta in recent years…
