Football Season Guide

Real Sociedad finished sixth last season, after doing what they’re done throughout Imanol Alguacil’s tenure as coach. They always start off hot and fall off after winter, which is what happened again, as they spent most of the first half of 2021/22 inside the top four before dropping down to the Europa League spots. Part of the reason for this trend is that Real Sociedad always have more injuries than most. Lingering muscle issues have been a problem for some time and they still haven’t fixed it. There is also a serious injury for Real Sociedad to worry about as they start this season. Star forward Mikel Oyarzabal is out until November or December with an ACL injury. To try to deal with this, and the departures of players like Adnan Januzaj or Alexander Sorloth, Real Sociedad have focused most of their summer recruitment on attack, signing talents like Brais Mendez, Takefusa Kubo and Mohamed-Ali Cho. The other reason why they’re focusing on the attack is the fact that the defence is already strong. This is the team’s main strength as Real Sociedad had the fourth-best defensive record in LaLiga last year, conceding just 37 goals. Their problem was scoring goals, and not because they didn’t create chances. Their forwards were very wasteful at times and they’ll need to improve this.