Real Sociedad de Fútbol



Nickname: txuri-urdin

Founded: 1909

Estadio Anoeta- Capacity 3200


New Signings
Fábio Felício
Juanito
Claudio Bravo
Gerardo
Diego Rivas

After struggling to stay in La Liga last season finishing 16th I hope and expect us to have a much better season. Loosing that bastard Nihat to Villarreal and Mark Gonzalez returning to Liverpool after getting his work permit we will have to look to our other players to give us the extra spark. We've acquired a few decent defenders to in Jaunito(Alves) and Diego Rivas from Getafe. A hard season awaits but I hope we can finish up in a midtable position.

TBH I'm not too keen on Real Sociedad. What with the whole Madrid - Sociedad rivalry I've never really empaphised with them. The fact that Athletic Bilbao are my 'second' team in Spain so to speak, only goes to make my relationship with la Real worse. Still it's not as if I hate them and they do have a pretty good team, oh and Xabi Pireto is the man.

BTW I didn't know Diego Rivas has moved from Getafe to la Real, that's a very, very good move, imo he is one of La Liga's best defensive midfielders.

And btw, why all the hate for Nihat, is it because he left on a free transfer?

Well I don't mind Nihat, just a bit annoyed but I suppose he left to play for a better club and extend himself.

I'm looking really forward to see Rivas in action. And I'm quite the Xabi Prieto fan myself.

This is weird, la Real have signed defensive midfielder Gerardo Garcia from Malaga. Gerardo is of Andalucian heritage I believe and it has been la Real's policy to sign only Basques and oreigners. However I'm certain they signed Alvaro Novo last year and he is from Cordoba.

The team of Pako Ayestran, Xabi Alonso and also a team that seems to have very strong links with Liverpool as a result. Add to that the Toshack link and the Gonzalez loan and I think it's safe to say the 2 clubs have a relationship of sorts. Any team that gave us a player of the class of Xabi has to be great in my eyes Also there are 40 to 50 Sociedad fans at most Liverpool home games wearing there blue and white Alonso tops. I think Xabi must sort them out some tickets

Here's hoping everything goes well next season, Prieto will be key. I think the team would benefit from him playing in a more central role for sure next season. Even though he operates well on the right I think he lacks real pace to be an out and out winger but as a second striker I believe he has the technique, dribbling and passing to play the position very well and hopefully he can add a few more goals to his game there also.

I think wth Kovacevic returning to form Sociedad have a good forward but the wide men signed will be key. A good left winger to replace Gonzalez and a good right winger to replace Prieto (if he moves into the centre) are of the upmost importance. I just don't rate Gabilondo or Novo. They lack the desired quality IMO and Sociedad have never replaced De pedro (although they did for a while with Gonzalez) or Karpin.

Those 2 players supplied the bulletts for the title challenging Sociedad team with darko and Nihat upfront and Xabi in midfield. Now that was an offence!

Yes but hopefully a couple of players of that kind of ability can be found as I think Kovacevic still has the goals in him if he can get back to fitness.

I'm interested to see the development of eternal Championship manager favourite Oskitz as well. He enjoyed a massive reputation in that game but he's a player I have never really been able to see much of in real life. I hope he's as good as his reputation suggests and he can make a first team break through next season.

Any news on right or left wing signings?

Most Liverpool fans such as myself have a soft spot for Sociedad due to the connections between the two clubs.
(Rafa B, explained it in the post above)

Hopefully you all do well this season, although you have lost a good striker in Nihat. I heard that we had a first option on Prieto, don't know if that's true or not. But it would be fantastic for us if we signed him from Sociedad.

I've heard some news about you guys having some interest in Xabi Prieto. I've haven't really seen much from any reliable sources though. I hope he doesn't leave because he will be a pivitol player for us this season. We will be relying heavily on him for some creativity. I like the idea him playing in a more central role rather than the wing(because of the lack of pace as stated). I would like new wingers, I'm not too fond of them. I think on his day Novo can be okay.

Oskitz is supurb in Football Managment games, they obviously think he has some great potential. He only came on a few times as sub. If he developes well I think it will just be a matter of time before a big club buys him from us. I think we may see a bit more of him this season, but still won't be regular.

I've checked Marca and a few other sites and I don't see any wingers we've been linked to. Hopefully we can find someone fast though. The only news I read was Rangers wanting Brechet. I really want him to stay because I think he is a good defender.

And I'm praying like everyday that Kovacevic comes good and scores a hat full of goals this season.

Ps Ever since we lost Alonso to Liverpool I've had a bit of a soft spot for you guys too. I only started watching some Premiership games when Liverpool bought Xabi Alonso and a few other Spanish players. Your not too bad. Good luck for the Premiership next season. But you can forget about getting your dirty hands on Prieto.

Our hands are clean, honest

Basque derby on the first day of the season. Should be very interesting

It's at San Mames so I expect a win for 'Los Leones del Catedral'. Aupa Athletic (I think that's right )

Hey Andrea, didn't these guys cream you 3 - 0 at the begiinnig of last season? My boy Llorente scored.

Sorry for not updating this earlier, I've been busy. A few days ago we sold our central defender Jeremie Brechet. I thought he was a good player. We will miss him during this season. We have also sold Sergio Boris, I don't mind that he left. Didn't have big plans for him anyway.

I don't know what our team is going to look like when the seaon starts. I hope that we can buy atleast one or two players...

la Real drew 0 - 0 with West Brom in a friendly recently.

Also defender Sergio Boris has been sold to Numancia.

Real Sociedad has always been my second team in Spain, can't really explain why, but I've always been fond of them. Perhaps because of San Sebastian, what an amazing city. But I will be rooting for you again this season(except against Barca of course), hopefully Skoubo will get some games, that should spark some more media attention in Denmark(and some more games shown on TV ). How has Riesgo progressed during the last years? I know he is first choice, but is he quality?

I think that Soubo shall have atleast some role to play.

@ Reisgo he has potential, he hasn't really played to his potential. I think that he is decent but if he doesn't get to his top soon we should look for another number 1 and he should be on the bench. We have signed another young keeper but I know absolutly nothing about him. So we will see. Last season was quite an average one for Riesgo.

I like Real Sociedad because of JM Bakero, Julio Salinas, Txiki and Goikoetxea (not the Bilbao butcher), mainly

There are rumours floating around that Betis are going to go for Xabi Prieto to replace Joaquin once he goes to Valencia. Now that means that Liverpool could show some interest too. His future isn't sounding too bright.

If Prieto goes, thats pretty much straight relegation, but in the article i read he says that he is willing to stay for the time being.

Missed the game because it wasn't on television. But we drew 1-1 thanks to a late equalizer from Aranburu. I'm satisfied. As long as we keep on getting draws and the odd win.(and don't lose too many) I think we can put on a decent fight to stay in the league.

I watched the first half. Bilbao was more dangerous, but nothing special. The penalty was questionable. Referee didn`t notice the hand but linesman then started to wave his flag and all players gahtered around him. So several Sociedad players got yellow cards and their manager was sent off. Finally Aduritz took the penalty and Bilbao was 1-0 up.

It was quite intense and nervous game with alot of harsh fouls.

I watched the game, it wasn't great and I expected more from a Basque derby, the crowd seemed fairly quiet imo. Yeste imo, acted waaaaaaaaaay too deep, it was as if he was a centtral midfielder bursting forward, Yeste is a great talent but that positon doesn't suit him. Neither does that bald head I thought Javi Martinez played a good game, the penalty was extremely questionable and tbh I don't think it should have been given but I suppose it's the way things go. Both teams were extremely cautious and the neither team appeared to be able to keep the ball. On la Real's side of things, I thought Xabi Prieto played decently, Rivas was also pretty good and one of the game's few players who actually managed to string together a few good passes. I thought Mikel Alonso was also pretty good, he seemed very comitted and determined, he had one header were he nearly he his skull battered by an Athletic defender (though inadvertadly), I also thought la Real had a good shout for a penalty in the second half. Overall I thoguht it was a decent, if somewhat dissapointing game there were no real standout players and no real great moments, though that would have changed had Llorente played

That penalty was very dubious because from Replay the ball hit Athletic player's hand. But the lineman insisted that it's Real Sociedad player which caused outrage among Sociedad players and bench.

So in the end I think a draw is ok because Sociedad didn't deserve to lost this match to that penalty.

What I don't understand is why Aduriz was the starting striker. He was probalby the Man of the Match imo, but one of his jobs was to fight every aerial ball, tbh that is pretty pointless because Aduriz, as good as he is, is not an aerial player in my eyes. Compound this with the fact that Llorente was on the bench and I think Athletic made a fatl mistake in the choice of striker. Either Llorente or Danobeitia should have started imo.

How about predictions for the Sevilla game at Anoeta, as always I hope that Real Sociedad win, but Sevilla have started off pretty well, they beat Barcelona in a stunner 3-0 and then they beat Levante 4-0, hopefully Real Sociedad can stop them.

I live in the US, so obivously there's no easy way to watch Real Sociedad on tv, I've heard of these streams, not exactly sure of how they work, but could someone please post the stream for the Sociedad vs Recreativo game and give directions to open the game and watch it? Any help will be very much appreciated, thank you.

I got the same problem following Celta - I dont exactly love living in America if you know what I mean. Luckily with the internet there is always the radio, if you understand vasco then you should be able to find a local San Sebastian radio link.

For me the best one that works is PPstream. Download it here:

http://all-streaming-media.com/peer-to-pee...TV-PPStream.htm

Then, once its set up, you can check this website:

http://www.myp2p.eu/index.htm

Click on the left where it says Football and choose the day. It looks like they aren't showing the Real match this week though.

Thanks for the help, are there any other systems I could use to watch these games.

I did find the Barcelona vs Valencia game I wanted to also see on http://www.myp2p.eu/index.htm so thanks. Its says that I have to download PPlive or something like to in order to watch the games, which is no problem, but do I have to pay to download and watch these games? Thanks

No, it's free.

Check out the Barça Multimedia Zone for help regarding streams, it should be helpful.

I honestly think that Sociedad might be relegated this season, and its pissing me off...How could they possibly loose to Recre, giving up a goal in the 90+ minute. Unless they pull themselves together and acquire some players in January, we might be going down to the second division, and with the stadium being built and going down to the second division, that's going to build some financial problems. We better start winning or else we are going be shit and loose everyone.

Bakero was an odd decision IMO, and he's proven that he's not up to the task. La Real seemed to have regressed from last season.

Honestly I was surprised they were able to maintain their place in primera last season. I think their destined for relegation. Celta isn't looking great either to be honest.

They just need to start winning, they should get a win now more than later before it starts becoming a habit sort of thing, this game against Espanyol should be close with la Real getting their first win, if they don't, I don't know what to do, because lately they have really been pissing me off. They're a much better team and shouldn't be relegated, but by the looks of things we might be in some trouble.

Just sack him. He's obviously not good enough, I mean I watched the Huddersfield pre-season game and we were so awful attack wise. It was actually embarrasing as I was telling everyone to expect a bit of a one-sided game. I know we're only a few weeks in and there's a whole season but I've seen nothing to make me think we're in for a good run. Just play 4-2-2-2 and go on from there.

Just... the debt doesnt help, that cost us Nihat and even then he's hardly been replaced. We need to get some money into the club. Sell the ground for redevelopment if they have to, it's a fairly big space and it's pretty outdated.

We've got to do something or it could lead to the demise of the club. That would be terrible. We haven't even got someone that looks like a good replacement for Darko. We're so fu... screwed.

We can't sell Prieto unless it's for over £15m or something. The benefit-loss ratio would be too great.

*sigh*

At least Barca killing Athetic will cheer me up. I need to find some food to throw at the screen.

Edit: Yeah, that'll learn 'em, what goes around comes around. Although they were gonna lose anyway.

Well I don't want to become like Real Madrid, selling and firing and buying, that'll screw us up anymore. If anything, we should wait about two more games (against Deportivo and Zaragoza) and if we don't win any of those two games, then we should look for changes (but only in the coaching department, our players are fine). I don't like the 4-2-2-2 it leaves too much space out on the sides, I would rather play a 4-3-1-2 or a 4-1-2-1-2. If we do make changes, we need a defensive minded coach, our defense is the worst in the league, we have allowed 9 goal in 4 games. That's definitely our problem, it was the same last year too. Our defense really sucks.

I don't think 4-2-2-2 leaves space unless you thought I meant the narrow kind. I meant something like this off the top of my head:

...................GK

...........CB..........CB.....

RB..............................LB


..........DM......DM


RW...........................LW


...........ST
.....................ST

That doest look so good, mspaint would've been a better option, but they way I'd play it is the team is split into two sections; attack and defence. The defensive line is the last line of defence, the LB and RB dont go marauding down the wings overlapping and stuff, they concentrate soley on covering the space left by the wingers making sure no cheap runs are made. They should ideally never go past the half way line unless we're running a demolition job.

The DM's role is soley distribution, mainly to the wings, and the first line of defence, maybe you could make one a box-to-box player, maybe Mikel and the over goes laterally just generally clearing up messes and stopping things whilst giving the passer space to operate, purely defensive.

The rest is self explanitory, the wingers put cross after cross in and the strikers score. We have the team for that, with Prieto and Darko, although maybe Xabi could work on his cross a little but at the end of the day a cross is a cross and is better than no cross and they're not hard to do acceptibly.

...Really it's just how Valencia played under Benitez except with a striker in where Aimar was. It got them prizes. The extreme defensiveness should in theroy allow the attackers to just attack and should thusly solve both problems.

That's just me though but the 2-0 loss to Depor was pretty poor, I'd have expected a draw against them. I haven't seen the game (watched United then Atletico then Valencia) so I can't comment properly. Let's see what AS has to say... doesn't sound so good...

Don't get me wrong, I'm not for the chop-happy approach of Madrid but when things aren't working they're just not working and it can't really get worse than bottom of the table with 1 point from 15... ...

Yeah I guess so, we should get a new coach and I really really want them to work on the defense (its impossible to loose if you just don't allow any goals), that's what's killing us at the moment. I get what you're saying with the formation but I would rather have a 4-3-1-2:

..........................GK

..............CB...................CB........
RB................................................LB

......CRM...........CM...............CLM


.......................CAM.........................

.............RF...................LF..............


This way we get a lot more triangles and get our passing up and get more possesion to tire out the oppisition. Most importantly though we have to get defensive support at the back. We have to start getting results before its too late, or else we'll become acustomed to it and won't expect to get any results, and it'll just carry on like that, I don't know what I'll do if we get relegated, the whole organization will deterriorate. So yeah, I want managerial changes now. Next we play Zaragoza who are playing decent, we should be able to get a result from them though.

So you want us to play like Arsenal but actually shoot... I suppose that's more suited to the Spanish game. If there's one thing Sociedad produce though it's passers of the ball. We have a factory of it and we should try to accent that. Perhaps a temporary switch to a Bolton style while we ground out a few 1-0 wins with longballs could help instantly. I don't know. Ideally we should never ever have sold Xabi Alonso. We got 12m or so but... could've just built the whole team around him. I mean he helped us very much get in the CL that year. Since that's impossible the whole team needs gutting.

If we get relegated we have very few options. The only one I can think of is to rely on our good youth system and to do a Betis. That's sell the entire first team (or most of it) to solve the debt and promote the B team and get them to get us into the top flight again but that's real risky... but then if we have no money we have little option.

Hopefully it won't come to that though!

I'm not really sure how Arsenal play, but if you say so then I guess. Really though the only thing I see wrong with Sociedad (I live in the US so I don't exactly watch the games, so I wouldn't be able to tell everything about how they're playing) is their defense. A couple more goals would help, but we really need to get our goals against lowered.

Yeah doing a Betis wouldn't help at all. If we are struggling as it is with the first team, I don't know how well we could do with the second team. I do follow the youth system, but I don't know how well they will be in the future. I'm sure we'll produce some good players, the Basque region produces many many young players that are absolute quality, so that means we're not going to be able to keep them all as Xabi or Arteta proved. Plus if we don't get results I don't how much longer Prieto would want to stay, once the January window opens he may be leaving as he almost did just this summer.

It was just 12 million? The guy is worth like 3 times that now. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20. I still think you guys are suffering without Nihat, you need some firepower up front. Yeah the defense is a mess but that can be sorted out over time, whereas you really need a quality striker...fast.

We lost Arteta because whoever was in charge then (lasted like a day) didn't get on with him when he came back from wherever he was, I forget that too, so he sold him off. Then I think he sold Xabi too and got sacked/left. I think. I know for sure he sold Arteta, and for close to nothing.

http://www.as.com/articulo/Futbol/Consejo/...sdasftb_20/Tes/

Vote of confidence or vote of [no] confidence? You decide.

Well it has been five games and we only have one point, I don't how much more we should wait, before its too late. Nobody is producing anything on the team so we better get going. The President did say that they are planning to get more players once the January window opens, and I hope we make good deal for a good player. I don't how well Skoubo is doing (and I haven't heard good things), so I think that Uranga should replace him, and Kovacevic hasn't been doing anything, he needs to get back to his old form. The players themselves are fine we just need to work better and together, especially on defense. We also have to stop giving up so much in the last minutes of the game, that's what has been killing us the last few games. Yesterday it was 2-0 both goals in the 80th minute and against Recre it was in the 90+ that made us loose 3-2, the players have a mentality that once we're in the 80 minute it's over. Maybe we could get another loan from Liverpool, Gonzalez saved us last year, but we also need someone to keep.

There's not really anyone at Liverpool, Pongolle maybe (has pace), but he went to Recreativo. Getting Speedy back would be awsome but that's unlikely. Kewell maybe if he ever gets fit? He could do a job in La Liga. That's all I got really. Could look at for example the Barca/Madrid B/C teams like Juan Mata, Javi Garcia and Alberto Bueno who did a job in the u-19 tournament this summer, I'm really grasping at straws.

I see RS and AB going to segunda this season, they have nothing special, and they haven't won a single game as of yet... I dunno, it's not looking good.

If that's the case, which hopefully it won't be once either Bakero fixes things or gets lost, then we should at least ensure we drag Athletic down with us, like what happened with Sevilla and Betis.

Well if we go down, I would actually want to have Athletic stay up. I know we're rivals and all but they, along with Madrid and Barcelona, are the only teams to stay up top in the history of La Liga, so I wouldn't mind them staying up to at least have one Basque team up there. And Carlos, I we do have somehting special, we just have to bring it out and show them, we have only played 5 games and a lot of things can change, although I will admit they are not looking too good...at all, but things can change.

You're forgetting the fact that Athletic fans will lord over us the fact that they didn't get relegated and they'd try and buy our players.

I'd rather they came down with us.

What's peoples guesses for the Zaragoza game? I think we should kick Aimar off the park if we want to stand a chance. I think we'll lose. I'm going for... 2-0.

A bit negative but oh well.



How could you not want to strengthen the squad in January? I know it didn't say they wont but... a manager should never have a perfect squad and we certainly dont.

Perhaps the wage structure needs revising...

A bit negative, maybe too much. I think this is it, this game we will win or tie, something will happen (good, of course) and its going to be against Zaragoza. Wow, I just saw the highlights, sucks for Kovacevic...a lot, I hope he has a wife or else he won't be getting any.

Anyone got any info on the Gipuzkoarena? All I can ever find is those two (quite poor) CGI renders. It's meant to open in 07 so I image it should be completed in under 12 months so... I've heard two stories, that's they're doing a Juve and rebuilding around/inside/over/under/through Anoeta and renaming it... but if that's the case we have a long wait as the last time I was there there wasn't a drop of work taking place.

Was it canceled due to the debt? Is it being built elswhere? I'm just confused and interested. I can find very little info on the ground, although I suck at getting it.

As for now, I think its not going to be cancelled, but if we are getting ready to go to the second division, then I imagine yes. I've got two or three pictures, and it looks really nice, hopefully it won't be cancelled. I hope the new stadium will attract players, so the staduim might help us out, it should only be cancelled if it is abolutely necessary. This Staduim will do us good. Also I believe it said that it will be completed by spring of 2007 or fall, one of those two, and I really haven't seen any news at all, or any updates on how they are doing, if they have even started building it.

Here's the link:

http://www.stadiumguide.com/gipuzkoarena.htm

I'd have to agree with what I read someone write, he described it as a shopping center with a football pitch in it, and it sure looks like it.

Yeah that's the same poor CGI. Still looks like an interesting ground and a much better improvement on Anotea, the track wrecked the ground.

Anyway. Some good news! Xabi P has said he wan'ts to stay on at the club although he didn't like the first deal maybe, or maybe his agent said that, it was a bit unclear (It's on As.com if you don't go there). They're also working on getting Garrido onto a new deal too. Keeping those two on would be super-duper.

Can't afford to lose more talent on a free. We could've solved the debt if he had got cash for Nihat.

Well keeping anyone isn't really a priority (except for Prieto) since we're doing so bad), instead we should get at least one player, a forward, and work with that. I don't want to go on a buying spree (which we don't have the money for anyway) or selling a whole bunch of players, we should just work a lot more harder with the players that we have instead or worrying about what players we do or don't have (again, except for Prieto.)

Well keeping players surely has to be a priority. I mean... we can't win games with no squad. We have no funds to buy big players and if we lost Garrido the LB position would be pretty weak then, we'd have Rossato and thats it. He's a regular in the u-21's too, one of the few to survive the massive cuts when head coaches changed a bit ago.

We could afford to let someone like Novo or one of our clutch of RB's go though.