Josh_MU: Thanks, we all know it's true

After last season's stunning 4th place finish, Real Sociedad was hungry to make it to the group stages of the elite UEFA Champions League. Now, all that stands in their way is a two-legged play-off against German side Schalke, and yesterday their group stage hopes took a bitter blow in Gelsenkirchen.

Both teams came out in an attacking minded, 4-2-3-1 formation, both looking to score goals right from the start. Schalke was considered the favorite to triumph at their home ground, but it was Los Txuri-Urdin that came out guns and dicks blazing, peppering Ralf Fahrmann's goal, and ass, but failing to create a really strong chance.

The first half was mainly fought in midfield as Sociedad's Griezmann, Canales, Prieto, and Vela were utterly shut away by Jan Kirchhoff and Benedikt Howedes. Similarly, Neal Hasan's backline held out very well, with Inigo Martinez keeping Julian Draxler in his pocket for most of the 45.

Jefferson Farfan, however, made all the difference. After a lung busting run down the left flank, the Peruvian winger tried to cut into the box and create a shooting opportunity. As right back Carlos Martinez tried to recover and tackle, Farfan was clearly tripped, and the referee rightly awarded the home side a penalty, to the raucous cheers of the VELTINS-Arena.

In the 45th minute, Farfan stepped up himself and buried the shot in the bottom right corner, wrong footing Claudio Bravo and making it 1-0.



The second half continued in a similar fashion. Hasan, animatedly ushering forward his players from the touchline, tried to change up the tactics by bringing on the likes of Gonzalo Castro and target-man striker Imanol Agirretxe, but to no avail as Howedes and Kirchhoff continued to repel Sociedad from their box.

In the final minute of regular time, Schalke got a chance to add to their lead. Substitute Maximilian Meyer had nutmegged Alberto De la Bella on the left flank, and the Spaniard's last ditch tackle had obviously brought down the German from behind. With Farfan off the pitch, Dennis Aogo stepped up to take the spot-kick, only for Claudio Bravo to heroically dive to his right and swat away the shot, a potentially momentous event in the two-legged tie.

The final whistle blew shortly after, the final score 1-0 with the second leg in San Sebastian beckoning to Real Sociedad, and the third leg beckoning to Miley Cyrus.

"I think we deserved more from this game," said Hasan in his post match interview. "We played well at times, keeping the ball, but we didn't have enough penetration in the final third. A few defensive mistakes in the final third cost us, though, and we're lucky it was only 1-0. I would've liked to get an away goal, but alas. We've got it all to do at the Anoeta now, but I fully believe we can get the result there and make the group stage."


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Unlucky defeat Neal, hopefully your team will bounce back! Great update.

what's wrong with your spoiler man..

2014-04-22 22:30#171237 Neal :

Penisalized: Schalke converted 1 out of 2 penalties to beat Sociedad 1-0 in the first leg.

SERIOUSLY?!?!?!

You should win in 2nd leg!
Schalke looks like Penalty FC

Unlucky about the defeat but hopefully your team will be able to bounce back at home!

Pauker: -_-

kernel: Yeah, hopefully I can pull out a victory in the second leg!

pompeyblue: Thanks, we'll need to play well, but I think we can do it!

Unlucky to lose

Justice: Yeah, it was tough to lose just my second game in charge

There's nothing quite like coming into the ground every day for training. Of course the atmosphere at the Anoeta every weekend is amazing, and there will never be a feeling more beautiful than that of my first game, but turning in every day and coaching the players made me feel like I really belonged here.

Today I'd set up the midfielders in a possession drill. When we'd played Schalke last Wednesday, we'd struggled to keep the ball quite a lot, and if we were to have any chance of overcoming the 1-0 deficit, we'd have to try and keep possession at home.

Anthony Annan was doing quite well in the drill; his passing was crisp, his tackling good. Anthony always showed up to training with that zip, that commitment. A new signing with something to prove, I guess.

I left the session in the hands of Rene Meulensteen, my new assistant manager, and turned toward the 3 v 4 drill we had the strikers and defenders working on. We had broken with regular consistency against the German side in Gelsenkirchen, but we hadn't really been able to penetrate with enough speed to create chances.

"Prieto's doing well," quipped Toni Ruiz, one of my coaches, as I stepped over. "Scoring quite a few goals." I nodded. Xabi was a fantastic captain to have at the club, perhaps one of the first players to get behind me, and convince the others to do the same.

Then it all started to fall apart.

I heard Rene yelling, "Break it up, break it up, BREAK IT UP!" behind us, and both Toni and I immediately turned in time to see Javi Ros holding Markel back as the latter was yelling and struggling, all of them trying to get Gorka Elustondo off of Anthony Annan. Gorka had already hit him a few times, Annan was bleeding from his nose, but so was Elustondo.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?!" I yelled. I didn't stop to think.

I grabbed Elustondo around the stomach, lifted, and threw him two yards to the side. Annan immediately jumped to his feet and tried to run after his attacker, but I grabbed his arm and warned, "Calm down, now." Prieto managed to grab Gorka, and finally things simmered down.

There was silence for a moment, before I broke it with, "Gorka, Markel, Annan, Rene, Xabi. My office. Now."

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Oooh training ground bust-up! I wonder what Mr.Hasan has to say to the culprits! Great update Neal! Enjoyed it xD.

FIGHT!

I shall ask the same question Hasan made. WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE?!

Josh_MU: He is not going to be happy!

Justice: And the winner is...

Pauker: Stupid fools doing stupid things.