3-0; 3-0; 4-1; 4-1…Real Sociedad are the hottest team in Europe right now, with the Basque side jumping to first place in La Liga after winning their last four league games with 14 goals scored and just two conceded.
What’s the secret? For starters, the Basque club boast some wonderful individual talent, led by skipper Mikel Oyarzabal.
The elegant winger, who has also become a key member of Luis Enrique’s plans for the Spanish national side, tops La Liga’s scoring charts with five goals, having netted in four consecutive league outings, and his ability to create and take chances with sublime control and clean striking make him one of the most watchable players you could find anywhere.
The centre of the field is anchored by arguably the most complete all-round midfielder in Spain, Mikel Merino. The 24 year-old – now in his third season with La Real after brief spells with Borussia Dortmund and Newcastle United – is not a particularly flashy player, and won’t turn heads with dazzling individual skills. But he just, in his unfussy and efficient manner, does everything well – including, unlike many ball-playing central midfielders, the dirty but necessary defensive work.
Linking Merino in midfield with Oyarzabal in attack is the ageless David Silva, who has returned to his native country looking as good as ever following his glorious long spell with Manchester City.
Silva netted his first goal for La Real in last Sunday’s shockingly easy 4-1 win at Celta Vigo – with a glancing header, of all things – and his arrival has been the perfect compensation for the departure of last season’s star man, Real Madrid loanee Martin Odegaard.
Oyarzabal, Merino and Silva might be the most recognisable names, but the squad is dripping with talent in every position. Winger Portu, for example, is a human dynamo, with his non-stopping running and direct style making him a nightmare for any opposition defence and allowing him to register four goals and two assists so far this season.
The starting centre forward position is alternated between former Real Madrid striker Willian Jose, a powerful and athletic frontman with good aerial ability and a solid goalscoring record, and exciting young Swede Alexander Isak, whose exciting ball skills and ability to link play provide a completely different option.
One of Europe’s most rapidly emerging talents is right-back Andoni Gorosabel. The 24 year-old had only ever started 15 league games before this season but he has become undisputed first choice now, and his performances this season have been notable for the outstanding quality of his delivery into the penalty area.
But this team is about far more than dazzling individuals. In addition to being comfortably the highest scorers in La Liga with 18 goals (Real and Atletico Madrid are next with 13 apiece), La Real also boast the second-best defensive record with just four goals conceded in eight games (Atletico, predictably, are first in that category with just two goals allowed).
This shows that understated and underrated coach Imanol Alguacil has built a wonderfully balanced team which functions smoothly all over the pitch, looking collectively connected and coherent in both attack and defence.
Perhaps the key to Real Sociedad’s success – and the reason they function so smoothly – is that all the pieces fit together perfectly. Unlike Barcelona, who have three ‘number 10s’ all trying to play in the same position but zero centre forwards, Imanol has built a squad of players who complement each other and make each other better.
Portu, for example, is a speedy wide man in the traditional touchline-hugging mode who stays high and wide, stretching the pitch with his direct running. That creates space for Oyarzabal, a more modern-style inverted winger who loves to come inside and link up play with Silva – who, in turn, is backed up and protected by the intelligent and selfless positioning of Merino, and so on throughout the team.
This Real Sociedad squad possesses plenty of very good players, but no oversized egos. Nobody demands more than their fair share of the ball, everybody is prepared to play their part in defence and everybody accepts they will occasionally be rested and rotated. Merino and Isak, for instance, were left on the bench for the entirety of last weekend’s win over Celta, while Portu replaced Oyarzabal at half-time…we can only try to imagine that kind of rotation of star players being undertaken with some other self-oriented dressing rooms.
Best of all, the squad is underpinned by a strong selection of local players who have graduated through one of the best youth development systems in Europe. No less than 16 members of the first team squad came through the club’s lower ranks – in just the same way as their manager Imanol, a local man who played for La Real with minor success and later spent seven years coaching the club’s youth and B teams before progressing to the top job in 2018.
The depth of homegrown talent allows Imanol – who coached most of them during their youthful development – to maintain a coherent and mutually understood playing philosophy no matter how many changes he chooses to make. If Oyarzabal is unavailable, up steps Ander Barrenetxea. Merino needs a break? In comes Martin Zubimendi. Silva is looking tired? Time to call upon Roberto Lopez.
The fact that everything is underpinned by such a strong contingent of players who came through the system and instinctively understand their roles and their responsibilities means there is a strong sense of organic growth at Real Sociedad.
They show us, on a less grand scale, what Barcelona used to be before they became diseased and decayed by years of rotten mismanagement. Everything makes sense and flows naturally; from one player to another, from the boardroom to the coaching staff, there is a common purpose and a clear direction. A community, as much as a club.
When you throw into that mix a sprinkling of world-class talent, the results can only be good. And right now, the ingredients have combined to deservedly send Real Sociedad right to top of La Liga. The only question is: how long can they stay there?
