THINGS AREN’T GOING well for David Moyes in Spain. At the weekend, his Real Sociedad side drew 0-0 in the Basque derby with Athletic Club and they sit in 12th place in the La Liga table.
But, from their six league games so far, they’ve won just once. In their three home fixtures, Moyes’ outfit have failed to score twice and are still to win in front of their own fans.
It’s the Scot’s first full campaign with the club, having arrived there last November. In his first term, they finished in 12th having taken just nine points from their first eleven games prior to Moyes’ arrival. The big highlight of his debut season in charge was a 1-0 win over Luis Enrique’s Barcelona in January.
Still, La Real spent heavily in the summer – splashing out £12.5 million on their former player Asier Illarramendi after he spent a disappointing two seasons at Real Madrid.
Only two players have found the net for Sociedad so far – another summer signing, Jonathas and Imanol Agirrexte who grabbed a hat-trick in the solitary win over Grenada while also scoring in the 3-2 defeat to Espanyol.
Moyes signed an eighteen-month contract when taking over the club and many have thought that he would push the team close to a European place this season.
Instead, the poor start has many wondering whether he’ll be in his job for much longer.
The performances have largely been uninspiring and considering Sociedad struggled against two newly-promoted teams – Sporting Gijon and Real Betis, the pressure is certainly growing on the ex-Manchester United boss.
Fans are growing impatient and Moyes has also been quick to criticise his players – something that has surely not helped his situation.
He has spoken openly about Sociedad’s shyness in front of goal and, in a less-than-subtle way, pointed the finger at new arrival Jonathas.
I’m worried about this lack of goals. We’ve strengthened the squad with a new striker to try and find these goals but we’ve lacked sufficient quality.”
After the 3-2 loss to Espanyol, Moyes was less-than complimentary about the performance of his replacement goalkeeper, Oier Olazabal.
The fixture list has been kind to Moyes, however.
From their next three games, Sociedad face two of the bottom three clubs – Malaga and Levante though those fixtures are either side of a meeting with Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid.
Who?
Lisa Kearney.