<div style="width: 510px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><div><figure class="image"></figure></div>On the path Real Sociedad is heading, there will be no need to celebrate promotion to the Primera División as they did here in June because they will stay in La Liga.</div>
For a club with an illustrious history, a three-year internment in the purgatory of the Segunda División almost erased the San Sebastián club from the collective consciousness. &nbsp;As with most historical clubs who end up falling to the second division in the past couple of decades (Leeds United, Napoli, Marseille, etc.), the main problem stemmed from crippling financial woes, and in the case of Real Sociedad, they were forced to enter the ignominy of administration in 2007.
As late as the 2002-03 season, the Erreala finished second in La Liga, pipped at the death by Real Madrid by a mere two points. &nbsp;Leading the Madridistas by a point in the penultimate round, Sociedad lost at Balaídos to Celta de Vigo 3-2 while Real Madrid humbled Atlético Madrid 0-4 at the Vicente Calderón with two braces from Raúl and the original Ronaldo. &nbsp;It was no shame for Sociedad to lose at Celta, who would finish fourth that campaign to continue a six-season streak of top-seven finishes, but a final day 3-0 win at Anoeta over Atlético Madrid ultimately came in vain as Real handled Athletic Bilbao 3-1 at the Bernabéu with another Ronaldo double to secure Madrid’s 29th Spanish crown.

That halcyon year, however, was sandwiched in between four seasons previous and four seasons afterward that saw Sociedad finish tenth or worse, and the man that is currently the president of the LFP, José Luís Astiazarán, eventually led Sociedad into the downward spiral as Real Sociedad president before being elected as the head of Spanish professional football in 2005.
With the core of that second-place team gone from Sociedad by 2007 (Xabi Alonso, Nihat Kahveci, Darko Kovacevic, Valeri Karpin, and Agustín Aranzábal), they finished five points from safety and were relegated. &nbsp;With no parachute payments for the relegated teams like what the Premier League does for its relegated clubs, they could not bounce back into La Liga immediately, so three hard years with the likes of Numancia and Xerez promoted ahead of Real Sociedad only threw more dirt on their increasingly covered coffin.
What made the difference last season to earn promotion as the winners of the Segunda División? &nbsp;Antoine Griezmann, please stand up.
Looking at Griezmann just for his physical numbers, he does not jump out as a physical specimen. &nbsp;At a gangly 5′ 8″, his slight stature did not impress any of the clubs in his native France, and only in a chance encounter did the Real Sociedad scouts witness Griezmann’s burgeoning talent in a friendly youth match between Montpellier and Paris Saint-Germain in 2005.
At the tender age of 14 at the time, Sociedad offered Griezmann a one-week trial, then a second-week trial, and then a full youth contract to cross the border and train with the Sociedad youth team. &nbsp;Climbing the ladder within the youth ranks of Sociedad, new Sociedad trainer Martín Lasarte saw enough of the young, 19-year-old Frenchman to give him his professional debut at the beginning of the 2009-10 season, and he immediately became a regular with the first team. &nbsp;Slotted on the left of the three man attacking midfield in Lasarte’s 4-2-3-1 formation, he assisted in numerous goals for Carlos Bueno, Xabi Prieto, and Imanol Agirretxe while providing six goals of his own.
When Real Sociedad officially earned promotion on June 13, 2010, ironically it was a defeat of Celta de Vigo in the penultimate round, the same team that essentially tore the La Liga trophy away from Real in the penultimate round in 2003.
Coming into the 2010-11 La Liga season, Martín Lasarte set out a modest goal of avoiding relegation by reaching the forty-point mark, an aspiration held by all promoted teams. &nbsp;If Lasarte stressed patience with this inexperienced team, their opening round 1-0 victory over Villarreal accelerated expectations for captain Mikel Aranburu’s club. &nbsp;With a settled squad, a couple of new recruits in €2.4 million striker Joseba Llorente and €1.5 million striker Diego Ifrán, whom Lasarte coached while he was at Danubio in Uruguay, and a contract extension for Lasarte through 2012, the Sociedad board’s prudent practices under president Jokin Aperribay look to have returned Real Sociedad back into a stable first division club.
In a respectable ninth place with a chance to climb within one point of a Europa League place heading into the late Sunday kickoff against Atlético Madrid, Lasarte’s men felt confident that they could earn the three points against los colchoneros at Anoeta.
Sociedad had won four of its first five home matches with the one blemish coming against Real Madrid, where Sociedad deserved a share of the points, outplaying Real for large stretches of the match. &nbsp;An Ángel di María golazo and a Cristiano Ronaldo free kick that came off Pepe’s back prevented Sociedad from a landmark victory. &nbsp;Add to the facts that Atlético had not won in San Sebastián since 1991 and had&nbsp;never won at the Estadio Anoeta since it was opened in 1993 gave Sociedad more motivation to defeat Atlético Madrid.
For the first forty-five minutes, Real Sociedad’s defense, which had only given up two goals at home for the season, limited Atlético to potshots from outside the area and the odd header from corner kicks. &nbsp;The txuri-urdin only had three shots for the entire half, but all three were on target and came on three separate scoring chances. &nbsp;Their goal came from a slice of Antoine Griezmann magic, where he mesmerized Luís Amaranto Perea with his footwork and crossed to the six-yard box in a flash, where it is still unclear after many replays whether Tomáš&nbsp;Ujfaluši or Joseba Llorente got the final touch, but Llorente received credit for the goal. &nbsp;On the two other scoring opportunities, David de Gea just got to the ball in the box before Llorente could get a touch, and Llorente’s extended foot in the air from Xabi Prieto’s cross was inches away from making contact with the ball and giving his team a priceless 2-0 lead.
While Atlético seized control in the second half while Sociedad sat back to protect their one-goal advantage, a fifteen second splice of time in the 71st minute turned the match around from a potential 2-0 scoreline for Sociedad to a 1-1 equalizer for Atlético.
Referee Miguel Ángel&nbsp;Ayza Gámez did not blow his whistle for an apparent handball on Tiago Mendes in the box after Ion Ansotegui flicked the ball in Tiago’s direction, and immediately after the no-call, Atlético countered and converted to equalize. &nbsp;José Antonio Reyes started the&nbsp;lightning-quick counter-attack from the disputed call with a sixty yard diagonal ball that found Sergio Agüero in stride at the top of the penalty area, and with a two-on-two with the Sociedad defense, Agüero cut back the ball for Forlán in the box, and Forlán made no mistake with his effort to the left near post and past a stunned Claudio Bravo. &nbsp;Naturally, the Sociedad players acted with justified disgust and dismay after Ayza Gámez refused the penalty calls, but one of the basic tenets of football is to play to the whistle, and they let their guard down for a few seconds, and Atlético capitalized for the tying goal.
If Sociedad felt wronged for Atlético’s first goal, their heads exploded after Atlético’s second goal because&nbsp;the linesman did not call Agüero offside even though he was more than a body length off.
Atlético Madrid would win the match 2-4, capping off nineteen years of frustration in San Sebastián, but Martín Lasarte summarized the match perfectly in his comments to MARCA following this loss:
<blockquote>“Losing is always a bitter feeling but harder to accept in certain circumstances. &nbsp;We tried our best to get a result.”</blockquote>
On pace for fifty-one points and a mid-table finish, Real Sociedad is heading in the right direction both on and off the pitch. &nbsp;While this loss to Atlético Madrid comes with an extra sting because of two no-calls by the referee crew that directly led to two Atlético goals, they can take solace in the idea that they controlled a potential Champions League team for seventy minutes without needing to play perfectly to keep their 1-0 lead.
These types of performances at home will keep Real Sociedad in La Liga for next season and the foreseeable future, and while Antoine Griezmann will likely get snapped up by one of the big European clubs within a year or two, the potential sale of their best talent since Xabi Alonso could continue the renaissance of a club that was an original founder of La Liga in 1928 and has been instrumental in weaving the fabric of Spanish football for the past century.
Fueras de Juego
– Juan Manuel Lillo and Pep Guardiola are close friends, stemming from their time together at Mexican club Dorados de Sinaloa when Lillo was the manager and Guardiola was in his last year as a player. &nbsp;When Guardiola’s Barcelona team hardly played at full form yet won at Almería 0-8 on Saturday, it did not give Guardiola any joy not only because he demoralized and crushed one of his mentors but because Lillo was subsequently sacked following the match. &nbsp;The 0-8 scoreline tied Barcelona’s biggest away win in their history when they defeated Las Palmas 0-8 in 1959. &nbsp;The aura of inevitability and fatalism in the crowd said all that needed to be said, as they did not even make the effort to boo, whistle, or jeer their team with Almería falling six, seven, and eight goals down.
– Not to be outdone by Barcelona’s performance, Real Madrid shook off any notion of a trap game against Athletic Bilbao with an emphatic 5-1 win at the Bernabéu. &nbsp;Cristiano Ronaldo matched Lionel Messi’s hat trick with a hat trick of his own, and while Athletic made it hard for Real for the first hour of the match, an idea foreign to Almería against Barcelona, Real eventually turned on the class and shoved Athletic away with Barcelona now squarely in their crosshairs next Monday night. &nbsp;Real does have a difficult match at Ajax in the Champions League in the midweek, but with qualification to the knockout round already secured, expect a much changed lineup for Ajax to have their best starting eleven healthy for El Clásico.
– Villarreal and Valencia played to a mildly entertaining 1-1 draw in the Valencian derby in the opening match of the round, but more importantly, the draw, combined with the Real and Barça wins, has enlarged the gulf between Real Madrid and Barcelona and the rest of La Liga. &nbsp;Villarreal currently sits third, eight points behind Real Madrid and seven points behind Barcelona, and the only chance that Villarreal has to keep pace with them is for Villarreal to take care of business against Real Zaragoza while El Clásico ends in a draw. &nbsp;It only took twelve rounds to separate Barça and Real from the rest of Spain, and with the new TV deal giving them 34% of the money (17% for each) while the other professional teams split the remaining 66%, Real and Barcelona could make it a two-horse race earlier and earlier in the coming years.

La Liga Jornada 12 Review: Real Sociedad on the Up and Up Despite the Loss to Atlético Madrid - World Soccer Talk

La Liga Jornada 12 Review: Real Sociedad on the Up and Up Despite the Loss to Atlético Madrid

<a href="http:\/\/epltalk.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/6/files/2010/04/RealMadrid.jpg"></a><div><figure class="image"><a href="http:\/\/epltalk.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/6/files/2010/04/RealMadrid.jpg"></a></figure></div>The titans of Spanish football will face off next weekend at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in the traditional El Classico which will carry an even greater importance this&nbsp;time because it could decide the&nbsp;league&nbsp;title’s destination. The two clubs are tied on top of la Liga with the same number of points but Los Galacticos are one goal ahead in terms of the goals scored and conceded differential.
Barca have the stronger defensive line while the hosts who are led by record signing Cristiano Ronaldo have the better offensive record. While some might see this clash as a duel between Ronaldo and Barca’s Lionel Messi, this is far from the accurate truth as Los Galacticos have Gonzalo Higuain in their ranks and he is the club’s top scorer with 23 goals to Ronaldo’s 17. In Barca’s case Messi might be the star who is on a level above everyone else but his teammates have a crucial role and their contribution cannot be underestimated. Messi might be the top scorer in la Liga with a stunning ratio of 26 goals in 27 matches and he has provided 9 assists, but midfielder Xavi Hernandez and full-back Daniel Alves&nbsp;have both&nbsp;given 7 assists this season. Swedish star Zlatan Ibrahimovic has contributed 15 league goals including the important winner in the match between the two earlier this season.
Real Madrid have won all 15 of their home games so how will Barca cope with that and can they be the first to at least force a draw in Madrid? One key element for Barca will be how long their defenders can hold Real Madrid’s offensive weapons, particularly Ronaldo, in check. The responsibility will fall on the shoulders of club captain Carles Puyol who will have to lead the back-line by example and keep an eye on not just&nbsp; on goal scorers Ronaldo and Higuain, but also be aware of the danger posed by Kaka, Xabi Alonso, Marcelo and Rafael Van der Vaart who all have at least 5 assists or more.
On the other hand, Los Galacticos will rely on home court advantage having won all their games at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in la Liga as well as the marquee&nbsp;players mentioned above. In addition, the Real Madrid defenders will also play a massive role since they will have to contain not just Messi but Swedish striker Ibrahimovic, midfielders Xavi and Andres Iniesta among others. This is shaping up into a clash of epic proportions and the supporters of the beautiful game will be hoping for a spectacle filled with goals and punctuated by fair play.
For the fans of either club the focus will be on achieving victory in order to push ahead with the drive for the Spanish title. Barca would like to retain their crown while Real Madrid are hoping to justify all their spending which reached stratospheric proportions. To some it might be&nbsp; just about&nbsp;Ronaldo versus Messi but who will be celebrating at the end of the match could very well depend on the contribution of their teammates.
<a href="http:\/\/answers.polldaddy.com/poll/3005598/">Will Real Madrid or Barcelona Win?</a><a href="http:\/\/www.polldaddy.com">survey</a>

Real Madrid vs Barcelona: More Than C. Ronaldo against Messi! - World Soccer Talk

Real Madrid vs Barcelona: More Than C. Ronaldo against Messi!

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I really can’t wait to read the December installment of FourFourTwo Magazine. In this issue Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard finally states what we all know: the departure of Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid has undeniably damaged the Merseyside club. I would personally like to thank Stevie for a poignant piece of honesty. While fans and pundits pick over the decaying carcass of Liverpool Football Club, a team that has lost six of its last eight matches and is all but eliminated from the Champions League, Gerrard sites the initial catalyst for all the misery.
The captain states, “I was devastated, yeah. Devastated. But there was nothing I could do about it. Xabi said a long time ago that he wanted another chapter in his career and finally he got it and his teammates and the coaches couldn’t stand in his way. We just had to say thanks and move forward without him.”
Pressure has mounted on Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez over his side’s slumping form over the past month, with a sole victory over Manchester United keeping the club hanging from a thread. Yet to anyone who follows this team closely, Alonso’s departure signaled the beginning of an era of doubt an instability. As Gerrard wisely points out, Alonso is, “one of the best players in the world.” His diligent play over four successful seasons helped to propel Liverpool to Champions League glory, an FA cup triumph, and a stunning finish last season that saw the Anfield club nearly pip United to the Premier League title. Last year’s second place position is the closest Benitez will get to his most coveted prize, as Liverpool currently sit in sixth place in the Premier League table and are nine points adrift of first-place Chelsea.

Alonso’s deft passing ability, unrivaled vision, and sound work ethic made him the ultimate deep-lying playmaker for Benitez’s Liverpool. The Spaniard provided the perfect link between defense and attack, allowing Javier Mascherano to roam the final third and protect Liverpool’s back four. Similarly, Alonso enabled Gerrard to become the renowned attacking midfielder that we know him as today, slotting brilliantly weighted through balls to the Scouser’s feet in front of goal. Now it is Kaka and Christiano Ronaldo receiving this service, and Liverpool’s once metronomic rhythm has been disrupted.
<div id="attachment_12683" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><div><figure class="image"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-12683" loading="lazy" class="size-medium wp-image-12683" src="https:\/\/ds-images.bolavip.com/news/image?src=https:\/\/images.worldsoccertalk.com/webp/WST_20091106_WST_12675_steve_gerrard_1469344c-300x187.webp&amp;width=300&amp;height=187" alt="Gerrard and Carragher have fallen upon troubled times" width="300" height="187"></figure></div>Gerrard and Carragher have fallen upon troubled times</div>
Lucas will never be a Premier League-caliber midfielder, and Alberto Aquilani is not Alonso’s natural replacement. That is not to say that Aquilani will not become a fine player for Liverpool, but Alonso’s skill set was incredibly rare, and replacing him in midfield is near impossible. Meanwhile Mascherano is having to overcompensate for this loss, throwing the usually tenacious holding midfielder off of his game.
With both Gerrard and star striker Fernando Torres injured and awaiting surgery, the future will not provide any respite for the once proud Merseyside club. Liverpool is in free fall, and as Gerrard intelligently points out, this trend began before his side kicked off the season, “It was always going to be different when you lose one of the best players in the world – and people are finally realizing that’s what he [Alonso] is, on the back of his form for Real Madrid and the difference in us from last year.”

Finally, a Little Honesty from Captain Steven Gerrard - World Soccer Talk

Finally, a Little Honesty from Captain Steven Gerrard

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Real Madrid 5-0 Xerez
1-0 Ronaldo, 1′
2-0 Ronaldo, 75′
3-0 Guti, 78′
4-0 Benzema, 82′
5-0 Van Nistelrooy, 89′
Real Madrid moved to the top of the table Sunday, ahead of Barcelona on goal differential, after a 5-0 rout of Xerez that was a more difficult affair than the final score might indicate. Cristiano Ronaldo netted a second straight brace for his new club and did all the meaningful scoring, giving Real the two-goal cushion upon which they built their late-game goal flurry. Yet even with all the talent in the world – quite literally – wearing white on the pitch, many questions remain for Madrid after a win that was less dominating than one would expect against a newly promoted side.
Despite (or perhaps because of) the quarter of a billion Euros splashed out this summer, Real took the better part of 90 minutes to finally click as a team. Last week I railed against their defensive miscues, but a similar charge can be leveled against their offense, which continues to rake in the goals despite playing a haphazard, individualistic style of football. After Ronaldo scored on a zinger in the first minute, Madrid appeared to go into hibernation for the next 70+ minutes, creating little more than moments of individual brilliance in the midst of mediocre play. Xerez just kept plugging away, little engine that could style, and their midfield did a commendable job of jamming up the works and preventing Madrid from ever finding a rhythm. With no Xabi Alonso to pull the strings in midfield, Real were left with Gago and Lass playing the double-pivot and little creativity flowing from the midfield.
As much was made clear when Pellegrini yanked Raul and Kaka in favor of Granero and Guti, leaving CR9 to partner Benzema as the two out-and-out strikers. All of a sudden the ball was moving more fluidly and play was built up from the midfield to create opportunities for the attacking players. Xerez clung to the one-goal deficit for a surprisingly long time, and the Andalucian side even had a number of chances to tie the game. Their failure to provide any quality service into the box was eventually their undoing, though, and with a quarter of an hour remaining Ronaldo skied in the box to head home Granero’s corner and secure the victory.
After that, the floodgates opened. Benzema whiffed at the ball, missing it completely about eight yards out, leaving it for Guti to clean up and smash past Xerez keeper Renan. The young Frenchman got his shortly thereafter when he drove up the lefthand side, juked the defender out of position just enough, and then blasted a left-footed shot into the net for 4-0 and his first regular season goal with Real Madrid. Even Ruud Van Nistelrooy got in on the act two minutes from time, scoring Real’s fifth on a slotted shot that nutmegged the keeper and rewarded the standing ovation he got from the fans on his introduction.
It was an amazing final fifteen minutes that displayed, in a brief flourish, all that these new-look Galacticos are capable of. But the other 75 minutes painted a more worrying picture, one of a team still struggling to find itself amidst all the new signings and suffering some growing pains in the process. Xerez didn’t possess enough threats to really test them defensively, but in the absence of defensive pressure their offense showed its own lack of fluency for much of the game. Unlike the team’s defensive troubles, though, I’m not exceedingly worried about these offensive hicc-ups. They will be worked out, and in much less time than it will take to get the back line in order. And until all those kinks are ironed out, there will always be a Cristiano or a Kaka or a Benzema etc. etc. to pull another rabbit out of the hat to save them. Today, there were five rabbits to be found, four of them in quick succession, in the dispatching of Xerez. A bit more consistency and a lot more fluency will go a long way toward calming the nerves of the fans who expressed their anxiety as the lack of a second goal weighed heavier and heavier in this one. The goals will quiet the critics for now, but for the sake of La Liga I hope they find their game sooner rather than later.

Another Impressive Scoreline Conceals Real's Frailties - World Soccer Talk

Another Impressive Scoreline Conceals Real's Frailties

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Gutted: n. 1) A feeling of intense desolation, akin to the feeling of having one’s insides ripped out. 2) A sweet colloquialism that should be adopted into American parlance along with the words “wanker”, “bullocks” and “knackered”. Example: Ethan Armstrong will be gutted if Liverpool FC sell Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid.
Here it is: if Liverpool stay fit and don’t lose Xabi Alonso, they’ve already got the winning formula.
The recent £17m move might be the key to solving their big problem: Glen Johnson will be instrumental in helping the Reds dissect the ten-man defenses of Stoke, West Ham, Fulham, (and I presume…) Wolves, Birmingham, Burnley, etc. If Liverpool could have figured out how to get through such throngs of penalty area loiterers last season, they would have won the title with room to spare.
Also, from what I’ve seen of summertime Riera, it looks like he’ll come back with the bristling promise he displayed last fall. He looks good. He stalled last winter. But he’s allowed one first season rut. Now it’s time to get to work turning defenders and launching in balls. Get to it, Albert. I know you have it in you.
So, between Johnson and Riera (with help from Insua/Aurelio) Liverpool will have a solid wide game on both sides. Something Zenden and Pennant didn’t bring. Kuyt does a fine job turning people, but doesn’t have the speed of a winger. Sometimes he has a cross. But now, I see the Dirk making sweet interchanges with Johnson who will be charging in from backfield like Napoleon storming across a continent. I’m seriously getting excited about this. Especially Johnson.
Liverpool should go in for one more quality signing (more on this in part 2). But the most important thing is they don’t sell Xabi Alonso. Mascherano either.

At this point, I don’t think either of them will go, but I can’t muster the confidence to believe Florentino Pérez isn’t in his office, right now, watching highlights from May’s 2-6 spanking: when Barça obliterated Real at Real. He hurls the remote through the television. He stands on his desk and, à la Gary Oldman in The Professional, he screams: “Bring me everyone!!!!” 
Boom. £100m. Xabi and Javier move to Madrid. (Hey… that’d be a good name for a Spanish-language bromantic comedy…)
Seriously though: please stay, amigos.
These two are the core of this team. With them controlling midfield, Steven Gerrard knows he can burst forth and tear apart defenses. The back four know they’ve got a first wave of defense (largely in Mascherano) to break up attacks before they need to worry. Stick Lucas in for either Alonso or Mascherano, and the captain won’t soar with the same confidence, the centre-backs won’t feel as covered. Mascherano’s a brick wall. Alonso’s a seer. Strength and vision. These two are the Liverpool midfield. Irreplaceable. Unless, of course, Real wants to do a straight swap, one of them for Kaká… What say you, Señor Pérez? No? It was worth a try.
Now, (assuming there’s no coup on Xabi and Javier), if every Liverpool starter can agree not to get injured all season, the Reds can absolutely win the title as they are. But who can depend on that? What happens if Stevie or Torres get laid up for a long stretch? I said if Liverpool stay fit. We can’t bet on that. The Reds need an insurance policy…
Tomorrow: Part 2…
Warning: Harry Kewell will come up in the discussion. No, it’s not what you think. But I’m giving you some advanced notice so we can all stay friends.

ALL POSTS TAGGED "xabi alonso" - Page 4

Leagues: La Liga

La Liga Jornada 12 Review: Real Sociedad on the Up and Up Despite the Loss to Atlético Madrid

Leagues: La Liga

Real Madrid vs Barcelona: More Than C. Ronaldo against Messi!

Leagues: EPL

Finally, a Little Honesty from Captain Steven Gerrard

Cristiano Ronaldo

Another Impressive Scoreline Conceals Real's Frailties

General

Stay Fit, Keep Xabi, Masch: Liverpool Can Win... part 1