Real Sociedad - The Story So Far [Part 2]

At the start of my 2nd season all my staff told me we needed to heavily strengthen. I disagreed, reckoning my current squad could hit expectations of safe midtable. I aimed for 10th place as my personal goal but reckoned that 12th onwards would keep me in the job. My signing I had secured in season 1, Daniel Aquino completed his move, costing me a total of 4million but well worth it as he has 9 league goals to his name and has played superbly. I then brang in Jonathan Soriano on a free, he was to be my only free signing. Loanees were Davide Santon, an Italian right back who has played there all season as No1. choice, striker Jefferson from Fiorentina, Sebastian Leto from Anfield and Daylon Classen from Ajax as MC cover. I also broke into my 3 million budget with left back Laszlo Sepsi costing 0.9mil and DC Zoro costing 1.5. I sold Mikel Labaka for 950k and Sergio Rodriquez from 300k. I let Gerardo, Moha, Hernandez and Kovacevic (sob) go.

The season was tough. A 0-1 defeat away at Osasuna followed by a 1-1 draw at home to Las Palmas indicated this was gonna be tough, but a 2-0 away win at Deportivo set us back on the right path. We then held Ath. Madrid 0-0 at home before losing 2-3 to Sevilla in a super game which we were unlucky to lose. A 1-3 defeat to Barcelona followed as we went 17th in the table. Things picked up though, a 0-0 away at Sporting moved us to 16th before a 2-0 win against Malaga pushed us to 12th, 6 points clear of the drop and only 3 away from 6th! We then beat Recreativo 3-0 with an Aquino brace to move to 11th, before we lost 2-3 at Valencia, leading until the 89th minute before combusting. I was so gutted! But we got going again, beating Villarreal 3-1 at home and then Almeria 5-2 away! However Real Madrid took us down 1-3 at home, although having checked the stats we had more shots on target then they did! Then we drew 0-0 at Betis, a good result against a side who had won their last 5, then beat Espanyol at home 3-1, however we then lost to rivals Atheltic 1-2 to drop to 9th before a 3-1 win over Zaragoza in one of the most entertaining games ever so far on FM09 for me.

The 2nd half of the season was never going to be a superbly entertaining story - a decent midtable club just hoping to maintain a good position, and we managed to do that very well. The mian highlight being a 3-3 draw at the Nou Camp -coming from 0-3 down to take a 3-3 draw, with a 90th min penalty from Xabi Prieto. We also won 3-2 at Villarreal and took a point from a tough trip to the Bernabeau.

I'm not going to bore you with the details, but we ended up 9th overall, and for me I was very happy with a high finish, given hardily any money to spend with a very average squad, 9th is a very happy position for me.

My Highlights:

Deportivo 0 REAL SOCIEDAD 2 (Ansotegi, Jefferson).
It's always nice to get your first league win under your belt when you are a promoted side and to do it away from home at Deportivo was a nice feeling. Ansotegi headed us into the lead on 33mins and Jefferson secured the win with a good strike on 77mins.

REAL SOCIEDAD 3 (Ansotegi, Jefferson, Aquino) Villarreal 1
This proved that we are better than people think. Most think we will go down but we outplayed, outclassed a good Villarreal side that recently drew 1-1 at Old Trafford. Ansotegi headed in on 31minutes, and it remained 1-0 at the break. We started well in the 2nd half and Jefferson was put through by Enama to double the lead. Star man Dan put us in dreamland with a good freekick, and despite Rossi getting one back late on Sociedad completed a super victory.

Almeria 2 REAL SOCIEDAD 5 (Ansotegi, Aranburu, Ismodes, Aquino, Leto)
Almeria were bottom when we travelled there but away from home we had been poor so I was nervous, but it turned out I didn't need to. Aqunio took a freekick short to Ansotegi who scored from 25 yards, and Aranburu chipped the keeper from 30 yards after 18 minutes. After some neat build up play Daniel Aqunio set up winger Ismodes to strike home from close range, but a sloppy bit of defending let Almeria get one back just before half time. In the 2nd half I was desperate to make it 4-1 just to close the game out, and thankfully on 54 minutes Aquino was put through, dribbled past 2 defenders and rounding the keeper to make it 4-1. Leto then volleyed home from a corner after 80 minutes to make it a rout, but it was spoilt by conceding another in the 89th minute. The first time I have scored 5 goals in a competitive match on FM09!

REAL SOCIEDAD 3 (Aquino, Jefferson (2) Zaragoza 1
The derby! Although it's not an official derby after last season Zaragoza are my rivals and at home we were desperate to win, but they have a very good squad. Arizmendi struke for them on 30 minutes, but Aquino levelled shortly after and it was 1-1 at the intervel. The 2nd half was dull, but when Enama got sent off for a 2nd yellow, I was worried and expected to concede. Thankfully just 2 minutes later Zapater got his marching orders so with 10 minutes to go both sides had 10 men. Into added time - 4 minutes of it - and I was resigned to a point. However up stepped Jefferson to scored from 35 yards, a truly amazing goal, and then as Zaragoza pushed forward he broke away, beating 3 defenders and slotting home to make it 3-1.