Start Of Season 2 Update

Well folks thats me done my pre-season duties and my Real Sociedad squad has a completely new feel to it as i have gambled on a mixture of old and young (or experienced and eager to put it another way) to ensure i stay clear of relegation and consolidate my position in La Liga for a higher push up the table for season 3.

The experienced guys i went for were Jorgensen from Fiorentina and Giovanni van Bronckhorst from Feyenoord. I feel these two have at least one more good season in them and have signed 1 year deals. The youngsters are the one's i am really excited about and will hopefully be at the club for a long time. Firstly is Iker Zelaia who came through the youth system at Real Sociedad. Next up is a player i signed on a free transfer from Bordeaux called Jeremy Laval and i will be giving him plenty chances in the first team for obvious reasons. Finally i signed an 18 year old Brazilian youth internationalist called Paulo so all in all the future looks bright.

On to my more serious signings who i hope will make a real impact this season. First up i needed a new first choice striker with the departure of Kovacevic so though long and hard about this one. I finally decided to take a gamble and brought in Kikin Fonseca, a player i have had no experience with whatsoever and only signed him due to his stats. Next up i wanted someone to play in the AMC role behind him so spashed out 6 million to land Brazilian Wagner from Corinthians. I'm hoping he will give my team a creative spark that can hurt Liaga BBVA defenses. Below are my other signings :-
Mikkel Andersen - Danish under 21 internation and backup to Riesgo
Xavi Jimenez - at 30 years of age won't get much game time but back up to Prieto
Ever Banega - On loan for the season and should be a good squad player
Mark Crosas - Signed from Celtic as squad player - will be backup to Banega
Sebastian Leto - Will hopefully make the left wing spot his own
Fran Merida - On loan from Arsenal and will be backup to Wagner

You can see from all the transfers i did i managed to sell and buy the exact same amount so i'm happy with that. Players who left i feel just weren't up to the standard needed for the top league.

As usual i have played my first game of the season and i got hammered 4-2 at home by Valencia. Harsh lessons were learned and its made me -

1) Question whether i should have signed better defenders
2) Wonder why the hell i signed Fonseca cos he had a nightmare
3) Question my tactic for this season. At the moment i play 4-4-1-1 but i'm not sure a lone striker is gonna be best for me as against quality defences he will be outnumbered alot.

Of course i could be reading too much into my first game and hopefully things will improve. Something i am very happy with considering all the changes i made is the squad harmony.

I want to offer my congradulations to a member on FM Style called ArmageddonAsh who has had an amazing first season in charge. He became the first person to win the Liga adelante and even more amazing he reached the final of the Spanish Cup and was unfortunate to lose to Barcelona. This is after beating Valencia and Real Madrid on route. He also picked up his 2nd piece of silverware tonight when he won the Spanish Super Cup beating Barcelona over 2 legs. Keep up the good work Ash! I'm delighted to also announce my thread for The Real Sociedad Challenge won an award on FM Style for "thread of the month" so get yourself over their and get involved!

As usual i will update again at the start of January on the game where hopefully i will be clear of the relegation zone and doing ok. Adios for now amigos.