One-Club Man: 1st Day on The Job, Meet The Team
First day on the job at La Real! Over the years of managing them in FM, I have amassed quite a bit of knowledge about Real Sociedad’s players. And the following article is meant to share some of this knowledge, especially how it applies to their current 1st team in FM24. Hopefully it will act as a good starting point for those of you, who like me, intend to make San Sebastian your home away from home in this iteration of Football Manager. Beraz, jarraitu irakurtzen!
There are very few things more intimidating to a new manager than meeting with his team for the first time. With the start of the season looming on the horizon, you need to do a crash course on your players. That is to study their various strengths and weaknesses and see how all can be used together to achieve something greater than the sum of their abilities. Or how to overcome individuals’ egos in order to mould a better collective whole.
Luckily, unlike in real life, in FM24 you start with full scouting knowledge of your squad. Every visible and hidden attribute is known to you. Yet, you will still need to understand what all the numbers mean. Essentially, the tactic creation starts here as you assess your squad and begin to realize what each player is capable off. I do not believe in forcing a tactic on a squad. Rather a good tactic will emerge once you know your players well and apply that knowledge to tactical roles and positions. Hence squad analysis is 1st step in tactic creation and usually the very first thing I do after joining a new club in any FM game. So without further ado, lets take a look at what Real Sociedad has to offer.
Strikers
Out of all Sociedad’s strikers Umar Sadiq stands out as a clear, most rounded 1st choice. Sadiq was an obvious replacement brought in to fill the massive hole in attack left by the departure of Isak. Some might even call Sadiq, a poor man’s Alexander Isak. But that’s doing disrespect to his own unique abilities. He fits the role of a strong power striker quite magnificently in my opinion. The towering Nigerian international also has some great mentals. Yet his physical attributes obviously stand out, especially acceleration, speed and general physicality. He can bully opposition defenders with his height and strength but is also fast and nimble enough to leave them in the dust on a counter. Due to his technical ability and great acceleration, I foresee his best role as an Advanced Forward in a Fluid Counter system.
Erreala’s 2nd choice striker is Andre Silva. He is perhaps best known in the FM community as a wonderkid in previous Football Manager versions. There are probably very few FM players who have not had a chance to manage him over the years. In real life he is, similarly to Sadiq, another nomadic striker who has never been able to settle at one club. Rather unfortunate, because he possesses more than average ability in front if the opposition goal. Yet, Silva’s latest and longest stay has been at RB Leipzig where he only scored 15 league goals. Hopefully he can rediscover his earlier scoring touch with Los Txuri-Urdin.
There is nothing really outstanding about Silva except for his knack for Off-The-Ball movement and very good Anticipation, which all contribute to his scoring ability. He is not overly fast or physical so the role of a straightforward goal Poacher is probably ideal use of his skills.
Carlos Fernandez – not much to be said about him. 3rd man in our striker line-up. He is another Poacher-type but cannot play the role any better than Silva can. Although Fernandez is a bit more technical and can play in AMC position so could potentially act as an emergency substitute in case a big injury crisis thins the ranks of our AMC players. He is very injury prone himself however. So I don’t see much of a future for him in our squad. Especially given the short length of his contract and the fact that our young striker Karrikaburu will be coming back from loan next season.
Speaking of Karrikaburu. He is actually pretty good and has some potential. But his potential is quite random. I managed him in a few recent FMs and his development has been quite different each time. In FM23 he turned out rather forgettable for me, never really breaking into the 1st team. While in FM22 he was superstar 1st choice striker for the team after only a few seasons. So we will see how the winds of fortune blow this time in FM24. This is his profile in my save.
Mind you, some of his attributes (and especially the hidden ones) might look different in your save. He also currently best suited to a Poacher role.
Given the Basque-only signing policy that I intend to implement, Karrikaburu is potentially going to be our main striker option a few seasons from now. My plan is simply not to resign any of the players without Basque 2nd nationality. Also if they are offered loan or transfer offers I will accept them without hesitation.
Attacking Midfielders (AML, AMC, AMR)
Real Sociedad is absolutely loaded with creative attacking midfielders. Most can play in the advanced playmaker role. None possess exceptional physical attributes (mainly acceleration and pace) or dribbling needed for charging down the flanks. Yet overall as a group they have above average mental and technical attributes that suit patient, progressive attack through the middle.
The team captain, Mikel Oyarzabal is perfect example of a player who is not the fastest but is very well-rounded in his technical and mental attributes. He is also a great leader and so far a one-club man at Real Sociedad. I will be trying my hardest to make sure that this remains true until his retirement. He is just the kind of “Total Footballer” that we need to fit our Team DNA. As a little aside, you can see a visual representation of our key Team DNA attributes in the yellow-green cog-wheel in bottom right corner of the screen above.
Takefusa Kubo, a close 2nd in line behind Oyarzabal, is a great young player with decent potential still but sadly not Basque. So he does not ultimately fit the long-term goal of my All-Basque squad. I will however enjoy his services for as long as possible until a “Big Club” offer comes in or his contract ends in 2027.
As another little aside, in the top left corner you can see the three circles (two green and one golden yellow) That’s visual representation of player’s footballing IQ – his footballing intelligence if you will. It encompasses the player’s Anticipation, Concentrations and Decisions. It’s a trio of attributes that governs how well the player can assess and react intelligently in both attacking and defending situations. The colours of the circles correspond to the colours of the attributes, with yellow being the best. It’s another little tool provided by the skin I’m using that helps me to analyze my players.
Brais Mendez’ attribute profile is very similar to Oyarzabal’s and Kubo’s. Thus is another great attacking midfielder capable of playing both a more creative advanced playmaker role or as the more attacking shadow striker. Also like Oyarzabal is a well-rounded Total Footballer who can attack, support and defend in equal measures for the collective benefit of the team. His contribution will be missed greatly once his contract ends.
As already mentioned, outright wingers or more attack-oriented inside forwards are more sparse at La Real. We do have one gem of a wide attacker.
Ander Barrenetxea – a hugely versatile flank player. He can be trained in a variety of wide roles from traditional winger, to inside forward and to wingback. He can even sub for a shadow striker. It helps that he has a very well-rounded attribute profile – another Total Footballer in the making. But he also possess quite a bit potential for development. Truly a player to build a core squad around.
Roberto Navarro and Mohamed-Ali Cho are the other two examples of pure attacking wide players but not nearly as good as Barrenetxea. They are both young and not really suited to play at the level of LaLiga. More so, their attributes don’t exactly fit my desired team DNA.
So unless their development improves drastically, there is probably little room for either Cho or Navarro in 1st team squad. Again, because they are not Basque, I won’t be resigning Zakharian, Mendez and Kubo past the end of their contract.
There are two players of Basque nationality, Lopez and Navarro, who are currently on one year-long loans at other Spanish clubs. I will definitely be keeping an eye on their performance and development to see how they could slot into the line-up next season (with Lopez definitely having the advantage).
Midfielders and Defensive Midfielders
Central and defensive midfield is another area of strength for the Txuri-Urdin squad. There is a lot of depth here and its exclusively packed with Basque players! In fact, there are a few gems I’m quite excited about.
I simply love Segundo Volante role! Thus I’m always on a lookout for a good SV and looks like Benat Turrientes fits the role quite nicely. Like Oyarzabal and Barrenetxea, Turrientes is a product of Real Sociedad’s own cantera academy. He also has Basque nationality so expect him to play a big role in the squad for seasons to come. Benat is also another player in FM24 with somewhat random potential where his attribute profile will not look quite the same in every save.
I have to brag a little, I think I got very lucky with my Benat. His attributes look almost perfect for the deep SV role and he still has a bit of room for development. I might need to develop my tactic in a way to incorporate the strengths of this players. And simply play him as much as possible so that he reaches close to his full potential.
Mikel Merino is one of the three Basque established leaders, along with Mikel Oyarzabal and Aritz Elustondo, at La Real. It’s funny but I remember a time, maybe around FM19 when the two Mikels were wonderkids in their early 20s and every team was out to get them. I myself was super proud to dish out a fortune to bring both to Old Trafford. Blasphemy! Taking the Mikels away from Anoeta. Merino may not be a fresh-faced wonderkid anymore. Instead he turned into a smooth-passing midfielder in his prime and you’ll want to keep hold of his service, at whatever the cost. His contract ends in 2025 (with measly 45 million euro release clause). At the start of my save he is already wanted by no less than 4 major clubs (including two Saudi clubs). Resigning him with a bigger release clause will be my first order of business.
In a way, Oyarzabal and Merino are the playmaking hearts of the team – Oyarzabal in attacking half while Merino in deeper midfield. If you were to make a midfield diamond, you could not ask for better top and bottom tips. Merino is capable of both dictating the play and making dangerous late runs on goal. A box-to-box midfielder extraordinaire, or a beastly DLP, depending on your tactic.
Next inline on the depth chart are Zubimendi and Zubeldia. They are two players that I used to get mixed up a lot in previous saves. Similarity of names does not help. But also the fact that they both fit the rather similar creative deep-lying playmaker mold, and are as such are fine cover for Merino. Then there are two rookies – Urko Gonzalez de Zarate and Jon Ander Olasagasti. Urko is closer to the 1st team than Jon, who might benefit from a loan spell. Urko also has the versatility advantage as he should be able to act as sub for both defensive midfield and centreback positions. He even thrives on playing in big matches which is an amazing hidden attribute for a youngster to possesses.
Defence
This is another area of the team dominated almost exclusively by Basque players. Real Sociedad’s defensive corp is very strong, although it does lack depth. You have capable young players like Jon Pacheco and Urko Gonzales de Zarate who have potential but are still some ways from reaching it. Although in the case of Urko (profile shown above) his key centreback attributes (Jumping, Positioning) are good enough to merit some 1st team minutes already. Pacheco may be less physical than Urko, but he more than makes up for it with his ball-playing technical attributes.
Thus there is a great deal of variety and versatility among La Real’s defenders. Defenders group overlaps with defensive midfielders because so many players are versatile enough to play well in both positions, offering much technical ability to the centrebacks. There is one powerful stopper-type centreback – Robin Le Normand.
Robin’s more aggressive physical abilities is well complimented by the technical ball-playing defenders like team leader Elustondo, rookie Pacheco and versatile Zubeldia.
Zubeldia, who is also in the defensive midfielders group, fits the defender role well as a wide centreback tasked with bringing the ball out of defence. In short, La Real has a veritable Swiss Knife of a defensive unit capable of handling almost any task thrown at them, as well as fit a wide variety of tactics.
Wingbacks
Erreala’s wingback corp is another strong bunch led by two complete wingbacks. Firstly there is Kieran Tierney who is only on one year loan from Arsenal. But that’s probably a good thing because he is not Basque. One year should be enough time to find a suitable Basque replacement. Tierney is actually a model player for the kind of wingback I want in my system, technical, physical, very hard-working and a complete team player.
Then we have an old Real Sociedad fan favourite, Alvaro Odriozola in the right wingback. He remains one of the most talented youth products to have emerged from La Real’s Cantora academy.
His skills had originally earned him a high-ticket transfer to Real Madrid. But after failing to break into Galacticos’ 1st Team and two loan spells later, Odriozola is back to his hometown. Itching to prove that at 27 y.o he still got what originally made his reputation as one of the most complete Spanish wingbacks. He is also Basque and born in San Sebastien and thus a perfect long-term addition to the team.
Both Hamari Traore (on the right flank) and Aihen Munoz (left) act as solid cover for Odriozola and Tierney respectively. They are good enough to be 1st choice wingbacks for any number of mid-tier clubs. But at Real Sociedad they are not quite as complete as Tierney or Odriozola. In general, wingbacks are a definite strength for La Real. A strength that one can hopefully exploit via smart choice of a tactic.
Tactical Summary
So now it’s time to summarize. Erreala has a real propensity for strikers who are more likely to poach than to creatively build-up plays while lacking fast nimble wide attackers. At the same time there is a real strength in attacking midfield with lots of creativity and off the ball movement. In general, Real Sociedad has an advantage in its midfield diamond (or square if you will) which encompasses attacking midfielders and defensive midfield roles. Furthermore, La Real’s centrebacks are quite technical as a group and comfortable bringing the ball up the field. The wingbacks are quite complete and a definite asset even if somewhat lacking in depth.
Originally I wanted to use 433 formation as it is one of my favourite tactical shapes and one I invariably use in every FM. But going through the motion of writing this squad analysis really emphasized the point for me that La Real’s strengths are not best served by 433 tactic. When I use 433 formation, I typically prefer fast wingers to both stretch the opposition and cut inside. While Real Sociedad’s crop of attacking midfielders are more suited to patient build-up through the middle and not taking on opposition wingers and fullbacks on the flanks.
As it stands now, I think that maybe the best formation that could use Erreala’s best players to the fullest is a narrow one. And preferably one that can utilize the advantage in a 4-men midfield diamond (or square) coupled to numerical advantage in defence. I remember 5-2-2-1 formation (or 3-4-2-1 if you want to be pedantic) being all the rage in FM23. Is there any reason that it would not work as well in FM24? There is only one way to find out. Check back in my next update to “One-Club Man” series to see how Real Sociedad gets on utilizing this shape. Thanks for sticking this far!
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