2010–11 Real Sociedad season

Real Sociedad

2010–11 season
President	Jokin Aperribay
Manager	Martín Lasarte
La Liga	15th
Copa del Rey	Round of 32 Out of the competition.
Top goalscorer	Antoine Griezmann
Home colours Away colours Third colours
← 2009–10 2011–12 →

The 2010–11 season is Real Sociedad's 65th season in La Liga. After spending 3 seasons in the second tier of Spanish football the Basque club obtained promotion by topping the table in 2010.

This article shows player statistics and all matches (official and friendly) that the club played during the 2010–11 season.

Season summary

In the 2010–11 season, Real Sociedad played in the top division of Spanish football for the first time since being relegated in 2007. Some additions were made to the squad that had obtained promotion. Among them Joseba Llorente stood out, having cost €2.5 million.

The season started with a home victory against Villarreal. During the first half of the season, the club got an unexpectedly high point tally. Relegation looked extremely unlikely and optimism reigned. Later in the season, the shortcomings in Lasarte’s approach became clear and the club was in free fall. On the last match day Real Sociedad faced Getafe, in a game where defeat would have meant relegation. An equalizer by Francisco Sutil prevented the drop and Deportivo de La Coruña were relegated instead.

At the end of the season, Lasarte was dismissed on the grounds that he did not give enough of a chance to academy players and that his style of play was rudimentary and unattractive.

Players

Squad information

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Claudio Bravo 2 DF Carlos Martínez 3 DF Mikel González 4 MF Gorka Elustondo 5 MF Markel Bergara 6 DF Mikel Labaka 7 MF Antoine Griezmann 8 FW Joseba Llorente 9 FW Imanol Agirretxe 10 MF Xabi Prieto 11 MF Mikel Aranburu (captain) 13 GK Eñaut Zubikarai 14 MF Jeffrey Sarpong

No. Position Player 15 DF Ion Ansotegi 16 DF Vadim Demidov 17 MF David Zurutuza 18 FW Borja Viguera 19 MF Diego Rivas 20 FW Raúl Tamudo 21 FW Diego Ifrán 22 DF Dani Estrada 23 MF Francisco Sutil 24 DF Alberto de la Bella 26 MF Asier Illarramendi 30 GK Toño

Start formations

Starting XI

Lineup that started most of the club's competitive matches throughout the season.

No. Pos. Nat. Name MS Notes 1 GK Claudio Bravo 38 2 RB Carlos Martínez 25 15 CB Ion Ansotegi 32 3 CB Mikel González 30 24 LB Alberto de la Bella 28 19 MF Diego Rivas 31 11 MF Mikel Aranburu 27 10 AM Xabi Prieto 37 17 AM David Zurutuza 30 7 AM Antoine Griezmann 34 20 FW Raúl Tamudo 20

Bravo Martínez Mikel Ansotegi De la Bella Aranburu (C) Rivas Griezmann Prieto Tamudo Zurutuza

4–2–3–1 was the default formation during that season. Occasionally, Lasarte changed formation, ressorting to a back 5 (Santander away) or in some cases adding a second forward (Levante away). In some other games (Atlético Madrid Away) Lasarte played three center-midfielders. The preferred partnership in center midfield was that of Aranburu and Rivas. Alternative choices, such as Bergara or Elustondo, proving to be unsuccessful. Up front, Llorente began strongly but after his injury he was replaced by Tamudo, who would eventually start more games and play more minutes.

Player statistics

Squad stats
Nr.	Player	Games played	Starting	Sub	Subbed	Mins played	Goals	Pens. against	Pens. for	Fouls suff.	Fouls comm.	Yellow C	Red c	Assists	Passes	Good passes
10	Prieto	37	36	1	3	3388	7	0	0	116	26	6	0	81	1872	1307
17	Zurutuza	36	30	6	20	2595	2	2	0	97	60	6	0	27	1373	972
27	Griezmann	37	34	3	19	2952	7	0	0	43	45	7	0	51	1276	750
11	Aranburu	32	27	5	11	2422	5	0	0	37	35	6	0	16	1020	782
20	Tamudo	31	20	11	13	1904	7	0	0	43	24	5	0	9	381	258
15	Ansotegi	32	32	0	1	2947	1	0	0	9	21	3	0	2	806	612
19	Rivas	32	31	1	10	2683	2	0	0	60	90	9	0	5	1163	916
3	Mikel	32	30	2	3	2795	0	0	1	8	34	5	0	4	878	638
24	De la Bella	30	28	2	2	2651	0	0	1	31	42	4	0	15	1458	1001
2	Martínez	25	25	0	1	2312	0	0	0	35	22	1	0	16	1196	791
5	Bergara	19	9	10	2	1016	0	0	0	11	19	5	0	6	468	379
8	Llorente	18	15	3	9	1320	5	0	0	13	31	4	0	14	328	241
4	Elustondo	18	13	5	4	1237	0	0	0	11	14	3	0	6	579	417
14	Sarpong	16	1	15	1	379	1	0	0	10	8	1	0	6	166	111
22	Estrada	19	18	1	0	1704	1	0	0	12	22	4	0	13	834	561
6	Labaka	14	9	5	1	973	0	0	0	4	13	3	0	2	258	201
23	Sutil	17	4	13	4	553	2	0	0	12	9	1	0	9	223	109
16	Demidov	13	12	1	0	1148	0	0	0	4	6	2	0	3	395	303
9	Agirretxe	11	1	10	0	232	3	0	0	2	3	0	0	0	53	34
21	Ifrán	10	3	7	3	350	2	0	0	7	6	2	0	1	59	41
18	Viguera	5	0	5	0	84	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	29	18
26	Illarramendi	3	2	1	0	199	0	0	0	0	5	2	0	2	139	111

Summer transfers

Emilio Nsue and Carlos Bueno, who were instrumental to the club's promotion, returned to their original clubs, as did the less important Songo'o and Jonathan Estrada.

In the winter transfer window Agirretxe was close to being loaned to a second division club. However, a season-ending injury suffered by Joseba Llorente put an end to all speculation. Borja Viguera was loaned to Catalan second division club Gimnàstic due to lack of opportunities. After having played a handful of games, his season ended when he suffered an injury.

The club acquired some new players in order to reinforce its squad. Most of the signings were arguably failures. Jeffrey Sarpong was bought from Ajax for €200,000 and was mostly used as a substitute. Francisco Sutil, a free transfer, suffered a similar fate. Joseba Llorente, signed from Villarreal for €2.5 million, although impressive while fit, missed most of the season due to injury. Raúl Tamudo and Vadim Demidov were the most consistent signings that season. Finally, Diego Ifrán showed signs of his quality, despite coming back from injury much later than expected.

In

Player	From	Fee
Joseba Llorente	Villarreal	€2,500,000
Raúl Tamudo	Espanyol	Free
Diego Ifrán	Danubio	€1,600,000
Francisco Sutil	Eibar	Free
Jeffrey Sarpong	Ajax	€200,000
Vadim Demidov	Rosenborg	Free player, winter signing.

Out

Player	New Team	Fee
Asier Riesgo	Osasuna	Free, end of contract
Sergio Rodríguez	Logroñés	Free, end of contract

Loan out

Player	Team
Iosu Esnaola	Real Unión
Iñigo Sarasola	Real Unión
Borja Viguera	Gimnàstic
Alex Albistegi	Eibar

Loan return

Italics for players returning to the club but left it during pre-season

Player	From
Toño	Tenerife B

Loan end

Player	To
Jonathan Estrada	Millonarios
Carlos Bueno	Universidad de Chile
Emilio Nsue	Mallorca
Franck Songo'o	Zaragoza

Club

Coaching staff

Position	Staff
Head coach	Martín Lasarte
Assistant Coach	Alberto Iturralde
Fitness Trainer	Pablo Balbi
Goalkeeper Coach	Roberto Navajas
Technical Assistant	Karla Larburu

Pre-season

The club played a series of friendlies preparing for the new season. A brief stage in Austria allowed the club to play some foreign clubs.

Date	Rival	Place	Result	Scorers
30 July	Elgoibar	Mintxeta, Elgoibar	0–3	Llorente 18', Sutil 23', Agirretxe 58'
4 August	Dinamo Tirana	Bad Bleiber, Austria	4 – 2	Llorente 6', Agirretxe (2) 82', 85' Viguera 88'
6 August	AEL Limassol	Bad Bleiber, Austria	3 – 0	Viguera 55', Aranburu 63', Llorente 89'
7 August	VfL Bochum	Bad Bleiber, Austria	1 – 1	Prieto 55'
12 August	Eibar	Ipurua, Eibar	1 – 3	Aranburu 52', Agirretxe 78', Alex Albistegi 78'
14 August	Sporting de Gijón	Asti, Zarautz	0 – 1
18 August	Real Unión	Txerloia, Azkoitia	1–1	Agirretxe 46'
22 August	Osasuna	Estadio Reyno de Navarra, Pamplona	0 – 1	Tamudo 78'

Liga BBVA

  Win   Draw   Loss   Postponed

Copa del Rey

As a result of losing on a 5–3 aggregate, Real Sociedad were knocked out

See also

• 2010–11 Copa del Rey
• 2010–11 La Liga

External links

• Official website
• Real Sociedad Fixtures and Results 2010-2011