Real Sociedad vs Real Madrid Preview : Real Going For The Jugular

REAL SOCIEDAD

REAL MADRID

Anoeta

Ai?? Ai?? Ai?? Ai?? Ai?? Ai?? Ai?? Ai?? Ai?? Ai?? Ai?? Ai?? Ai?? Ai?? Ai?? Ai?? Ai?? Ai?? Ai?? Ai??October 29, 2011; 21:00 GMT

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Two teams with extremely contrasting fortunes will go head-to-head in the Basque bastion also known as Anoeta.

Real Sociedad have been struggling big time, and having just one point from the last 15 has seen them go very near the drop zone. On the face of it, there is nothing much wrong with ai???La Realai??? as they have a very good set of players who are good on and off the ball. Yet the things havenai??i??t really been going their way this season.

Real Madrid are on fire this season. Apart from the mini blips against Levante and Racing Santander, Los merengues have scored at least 3 goals in each match. It sometimes seems that they have been scoring at will. After the 30 minutes blitz against Villarreal in which they scored 3, Real Madrid spent the next hour at cruise mode, content to see out the match. Ironically, because of this they were jeered by their own fans as they felt they were not getting their moneyai??i??s worth.

Team news and Tactical Brief

Real Sociedad

With players like Vela, Griezman, Prieto and Mariga, Sociedad have a squad good enough to do better than what they have been doing lately. Adding to that, Claudio Bravo has been given a call for the Chilean national squad. On the injury front, Asier Illarramendi twisted his left knee and has a grade I sprain.

A combination of bad luck, poor finishing and 35 yard screamers have contributed to this point drought. Vela is a good player who can play both in the hole as well as an auxiliary striker. A poor manai??i??s Aguero if one may call him that. The Mexican was supposed to be the next big thing, but he hasnai??i??t really lived up to his early hype yet.

Prieto had a stellar start to the last season before fading away. The ladai??i??s quality is unquestionable. The main point of contention is, that can he do it day in and day out? A young central midfielder Mariga was a buy of Mourinho while he was at Inter.

Probable Formation (4-4-1-1) : Claudio Bravo; IAi??igo MartAi??nez, Vadim Demidov, Alberto de la Bella, Carlos Martinez; Mikel Aranburu, McDonald Mariga, Imanol Agirretxe, David Zurutuza, Antoine Griezmann, Xabi Prieto

Real Madrid

Real would have plenty in their tanks after the supposedly tough match against Villarreal. They barely seemed to break a sweat against their fellow Champions League journeymen. A sad reflection on a superb team and La liga in general, but that is a matter for some other time.

On the team news front, Sahin seems to be nearing an appearance and the match against Real Sociedad might be the one where the fans will finally get to see ai???Xabi Alonso ai??i??IIai???. Sahin has started to train with the group and it is possible that he might come on as a substitute.

On the injury side, there are no pressing concerns. Only Carvalho is out with a minor knock. All the other players are fit and Mourinho has almost the full squad at his disposal.

Mourinho will now have plenty of headaches to deal with. Both Higuain and Benzema are on fire. It seems unfair to leave anyone out. Kaka while still not quite there, offers something that Ozil doesnai??i??t: direct and speedy vertical play. Ozil on the other hand dishes out defence splitting passes at will. Di Maria when he is not scoring he is busy creating. Same story holds true in defence. Sergio Ramos rightly said in this interview that this seems to be the best time to face Barcelona.

Tactically, it seems that Benzema has clearly become Mourinhoai??i??s preferred striker for the big games. Unfair on Higuain but it seems to be the story of his life. Mourinho has not shown any inclination to play with two strikers and with the Lyon game looming, it seems Higuain might play this match to save Benzema for his old hunting grounds.

Ozil once more might come back in given that he was rested in the last match. Carvalho is also expected to be a starter.

Ramos might move back to RB slot with Varane coming in the middle. However, Pepe has played most of the matches this season and giving young Rafael Varane sometime in the middle will not be such a bad idea. But it seems unlikely that Mourinho will tinker with the central defence pairing. Still a gut feeling remains that Varane might start this game.

Probable Formation (4-2-3-1) : Casillas, Ramos, Varane, Pepe, Marcelo; Khedira, Alonso; Di Maria, Ozil, Ronaldo; Higuain

TheHardTackleai??i??s PLAYER TO WATCH OUT FOR

Cristiano Ronaldo (Madrid)

(c)CreativeCommons_Cristiano-Ronaldo-bench-Switzerland-v-Portuga_952402 — Cristiano

In a team full of superstars, it is impossible to pick out one particular player. Right now there can be only one choice Cristiano Ronaldo. However much the 2 superstars may deny it, it is quite visible for the fans that Messi vs. Ronaldo is definitely an agenda for the two.

Messi had an average week and even Ronaldo has scored just 3 goals in his last 5 games. Insane when says only 3 in 5, but with these two, sky seems to be the limit.

Messi will try to prove a point this weekend and this will surely provide an added impetus to ai???rich, talented and handsomeai??? and an extremely modest Ronaldo. Going even further: Ronaldo to score from a freekick, as he hasnai??i??t done that for a very long time.

TheHardTackleai??i??s PREDICTION

Real Sociedad 0-3 Real Madrid

To use an extremely old clichAi??: ai???Confidence is contagious and so is lack of itai???. There is nothing wrong with Sociedad, but surely even they will admit privately, that there could have been a better time for Real Madridai??i??s visit to their home. The smart money seems to be on Real to score 3 with at least a brace for Ronaldo.