Imanol Alguacil & Real Sociedad

Imanol Alguacil started his senior career at Real Sociedad having grown up playing in their youth academy and went on to make over 110 appearances for the senior team before moving on.

His coaching career also began at the club’s youth academy in 2011. He soon moved up to an assistant role with the B team, before fully taking charge of the squad in 2014. After a brief interim spell in charge of the senior team in early 2018, he was given the role on a long-term basis at the end of the year, and he has been there since.

Real Sociedad’s playing style has been described by Rahul Iyer as “what happens if you play five technicians with a battering ram CF”.

The conclusion of the 22–23 season saw the club finish 4th in the league & qualify for the Champions League.

Tactical Identity

• Prefer deep circulation, play through the thirds ,don’t play long balls & play through the middle.
• Initially used a 4–2–3–1/4–3–3 but switched to 4–4–2 (diamond).
• Usually a diamond formation is not conducive to a patient possession based system.
• Their build-up structure is made up of six players: the goalkeeper, back four, and defensive midfielder Martín Zubimendi
• Their positioning can be described as a 3–3 structure. The centre-backs split either side of the goalkeeper but all three are usually inside the penalty area.

Sociedad’s build-up shape in possession

• The compactness of their 6 player build-up structure combined with the close positioning of the remaining 5 means that the opposition cannot afford to commit too many bodies forward, and allow La Real to have a numerical advantage in the first phase of possession.
• The front 5 (Sørloth, Kubo, Silva, Mendez, Merino) are all congested in central areas of the pitch.
• The two players in the front two are usually of a contrasting style.One is usually an aerially strong target man (Sørloth) whilst the other is a quick, dynamic player who can run in behind (Kubo).
• The two 8s(Mendez, Merino ) do not go much wider than the half -spaces.
• The 10 (Silva) and second striker (Kubo) are free to take up a central position between the lines, and Sørloth can always be found on the shoulder of the last defender.
• La Real under Alguacil can be said to employ a steering wheel system, which in Louis van Gaal’s words, is when one full-backs gets forward, the other stays deep and even joins the back line.

Out of possession

• The 4–4–2 diamond’s narrowness benefits the teams counter-pressing by having more players in the centre of the pitch.
• Shape changes to a 4–3–3/4–2–3–1 deep in own half.