Much has been said about the bad streak in which Real Sociedad was immersed since in November of last year they were fighting for the leadership of the First Division. Since then it seemed that he had gone into a tailspin with only one victory in nine league games. But these data cannot and should not hide the tremendous merit that Imanol Alguacil has as coach of the txuri-urdin first team.
The Oriotarra took on the challenge of getting Real to be regular in the league without losing competitiveness in the other competitions in which he participated, the Copa del Rey and the Europa League. And judging by the results, there is no doubt that he is getting it. The regularity that he is showing the Real of him in the three seasons in which he has sat on the realistic bench from the beginning is amazing.
Imanol has managed to practically trace the numbers of his three seasons as coach of Real Sociedad since the beginning of the season at this point in time. In his first season at the helm of the realistic team, the coach from Oriotarna had 37 points in 23 games played at this point. La Real ended up qualifying to play in Europe as fifth place at the end of the Max league last season he added one more point, 38 in 23 games. And he too managed to enter Europe as sixth in another tight league finish on the final day. He also achieved a milestone that had not been seen in San Sebastián since the prodigious decade of the 1980s with the two League titles. He qualified for Real to play in the Europa League for two consecutive seasons.
And so we come to this campaign in which there was much talk about the bad streak that Real was going through, with a decreasing dynamic, and some even saying that it was going to stay out of the fight for Europe. Nothing further from reality. Because in the first 23 games that Real has played (we are on matchday 24, but the postponed game against Mallorca is missing) so far in LaLiga they have added 38 points again, exactly the same as a year ago. And in addition to coló last year he has also achieved 10 wins, 8 draws and five losses. The only thing that changes is the scoring section, which now scores fewer goals; but in defense he maintains his security. And he is back in sixth position, one point behind the Champions League positions.
Imanol has once again made his team regular, which perpetuates the same pattern, to continue opting for European positions, something that has always lurked since the Oriotarra was in the Real first team. And all while being alive in the other competitions in which he had something at stake. In the Cup it is true that he was already eliminated, but he continues in the Europa League, with that interesting and difficult tie against Leipzig that he has this coming Thursday.