Maybe we don’t deserve to win but…

The words belong to the Real Sociedad coach, a few minutes after ending Monday’s match against Villarreal. Usually, and not hard to understand, technicians are reluctant to acknowledge the shortcomings of their equipment, unless the situation is so desperate that they have no choice but to admit all evil. But the common thing is that the coach’s reading, even behind closed doors, is quite different from the reality that everyone attended.

He had a tendency to throw hot water, to highlight the positive things he thought he saw in his people, and to minimize the mistakes made. That is why when a professional on the bench recognizes that, perhaps, his team does not deserve to win, it is precisely because his team, truly, does not deserve to win. And, applied to the case at hand, well yes, maybe Real didn’t deserve to beat Villarreal – or lose -, but this time they did, they kept the three points.

This leads me to the next reflection. This season’s Real is far from its best version, the one that we have enjoyed so much in previous seasons, and is reluctant to reappear. We feel it sometimes, in some cases, and we are comforted to know that the germ is still there, but it has not yet been fully integrated, reaching the continuity that everyone wants. As if, as the new Real book progresses – Afternoon dixit-, and the amount of time needed to develop the project has passed –Imanol he felt it for two or three years -, the team would have learned to live in different conditions, and where the priority is to advance, that is, to add and get points, above all. May the transition, may the transition not catch us, and the scope of this effort will be seen at the end of the season. It probably won’t be remembered as the most spectacular, the one where you deserved to win eighty percent of the games played, but it will, perhaps, be remembered as the one where the team learned to compete in a different way .

On the shortest path

It has been seen as Real in recent years, basically since the arrival of Imanolliked the drinks, and knowing that the elimination tournament was the fastest way to a trophy, decided to bet on this route. It is true that there is only one prize, but the steps to be taken are fewer and shorter. After many years in which Real wrote some of the most embarrassing pages in its history, with premature eliminations against rivals of endlessly lower categories, it seems that the club has made a firm decision to change the past, and polish the record in this tournament. The echoes of the title won in La Cartuja against Athletic still reverberate, with an added emotional charge, or, why not say, last year’s semifinals against Mallorca. One of the Imanolin one fateful night, they broke all the work of a season, but to lose in the semifinal, you have to reach the semifinal. Tomorrow it can be said that the real Cup starts for Real against a first team like Rayo, where there is still a balance left in the league, and can be collected now. Two for one, it won’t be bad.

2

little imagination

One of the great moments of Monday’s post-match was the emergence of hutthe star of the night, explaining the creation of the winning goal. He outlined it with such naturalness, step by step, that it seemed simple, but the icing on the cake was when he described the climax of the play, saying something as good as “I put a little imagination into it”. ..and purpose. . Very clever!

3

Clean sheet, but less

Alex Remiro He put in another fantastic performance on Monday against Villarreal, and put the lock on the goal again. Despite this, Imanol He was not entirely satisfied with the way some plays were defended, especially, as happened against Ponferradina, from set pieces. Fortunately there was no penalty, but something needs to be fixed.