Real Sociedad stuck with the summit in sight
“Once again, it has been shown that these games are too big for us.” A scathing statement by the standards of most managers, to hear it come out of Imanol Alguacil, even in his gentle, mild manner, will have stopped most La Real fans dead. After being defeated 2-0 by Roma in the first leg of their Europa League Round of 16 tie, Alguacil called the elephant in the room by its name. Even in his understated tone, you could sense the frustration bubbling deep down inside.
Real Sociedad have been put out at their first knockout stage in each of their last two seasons, once by Manchester United and the other by RB Leipzig. Although they were outmatched by the former, La Real gave as good as they got against the Germans. That was once again the case against Roma on Thursday night, but cigars are not handed out for coming close.
Because it was close. Mikel Merino latched onto a perfectly flighted ball in the final five minutes, yet he could not work what he was doing with his body and by the time it dropped, he still hadn’t decided. It would have levelled things up, it was the chance. Less than two minutes later, Marash Kumbulla crashed home a header from a set-piece.
“We can debate for days about what happened between the two boxes, but if you’re not effective in the boxes, it’s all for nothing,” sniffed Alguacil. And it isn’t just this game or this competition either. The Txuri-Urdin have finished 6th and 5th in the last two seasons, but on both occasions were well-placed to assault the top four in March. When the crunch games came around this stage of both years, La Real had a dry mouth and their goalscorers were even more arid.
Alguacil had been without six, seven, or sometimes eight of his players for much of late January and February, but now that all of those players are back, the only one missing is perhaps the one who could help them out of their malaise – record-signing Umar Sadiq.
Removing their match against Espanyol, ashamed holders of just four LaLiga clean sheets all season, La Real have scored just one goal in their last seven. That translates to just one win in eight, and the upshot is that their seven-point cushion to Real Betis is just three now. It’s six points in six LaLiga games, out of which only Real Madrid feature in the top half.
There are of course a multitude of factors at play, which include injuries, a thinner squad, and plain form. When a pattern grabs the eye as clearly as this though, it goes beyond just that – or at least Alguacil seems to think so. The reason it is such an uncomfortable truth, is because Imanol has plenty of affection for this smart, technically gifted side that are doing so many things right. Like many neutrals, analysts and those within the game do. There is an acknowledgement that they have taken all of the right steps to make themselves successful. Therein lies the key to articulating why even Alguacil is so frustrated though – this team has shown that it has the team, the manager and quality to do it. They know they are good enough.
“The game was even, but evidently, if you are not effective in the areas, then it’s all for nothing. Once again, it has been shown that these games are too big for us,” finished his rant, almost as he had started, shaking his head all the while. Alguacil has laid down the challenge – get over the hump once and for all.