The Weekly Take, Issue 138: So Much for All of That

Over the opening weeks of the current La Liga season, it seemed as though Real Sociedad might have been mounting a genuine challenge to win their first league title since 1982. The Basque club started the season in red-hot form and even led the league at one stage. However, the Txuri-urdinak's form has declined dramatically in recent weeks, so much so that they now face an uphill battle to even finish in the top four and qualify for next season's Champions League.

Real Sociedad's woes continued with a 2-0 loss to Atlético Madrid. Goals scored by Mario Hermoso and Marcus Llorente handed Real Sociedad (yes, convention dictates that they do not have a "short" name) their third consecutive loss in the league. Real Sociedad are also now winless over their last six league matches, picking up just three points out of a possible 18 over that span.

Even more alarmingly, they have already played more matches than each of the clubs directly trailing them. Villarreal, Sevilla, Granada, and most worryingly of all, Barcelona are poised to overtake Real Sociedad and knock them out of the top four in the process.

It's not as though this is a team without much talent. Real Sociedad have several solid players on their roster including Nacho Monreal, Mikel Oyarzabal, and Mikel Merino. What's more, they have a youngster who has been tipped to have a breakout year soon in Swedish striker Alexander Isak. On top of all of this, they landed perhaps the biggest signing in club history by bringing in legendary midfielder David Silva from Manchester City during the past offseason.

Real Sociedad came into this season with higher expectations than in most previous years. They were building on a season in which they finished sixth in the league, qualifying for the Europa League by doing so. They also reached the final of the Copa del Rey. As was mentioned, the acquisition of Silva only served to boost the mood around the club when the season started.

It looked good at first. After a slow start, Real Sociedad reeled off six consecutive league victories to take possession of first place in the league. However, in spite of all this success, one key fact was overlooked: during this winning streak, the club from San Sebastián did not defeat even one club in contention for either the league title or a Champions League spot except for Granada. From their five matches to date against clubs in the top seven of the league, they have won one, drawn two, and lost two.

In the upcoming January transfer window, it would be in Real Sociedad's best interest to sign another striker. Right now, their attacking line is simply not cutting it. Their strikers have combined for just nine of their 25 league goals to date. To put this figure into perspective, the player who currently leads La Liga in goals scored is Villarreal's Gerard Moreno; he alone has scored eight goals.

Willian José has been especially disappointing in this area. Over the past four seasons, the Brazilian has averaged 12 league goals per campaign. However, with the halfway point of this season approaching, he is on pace for just seven league goals. This would be the lowest haul of his career since becoming a regular La Liga starter for Las Palmas in the 2015-16 season.

That isn't all. If Real Sociedad don't make next season's Champions League, they might very well have to say goodbye to Oyarzabal soon. Clearly their best player right now, the Eibar-born winger has courted interest from several leading European clubs. At just 23, his best years have likely not yet come. Oyarzabal will probably leave soon; however, Real Sociedad can delay his departure by landing their first top-four league finish since 2013.

It may be true that Real Sociedad's hot start to the season was not sustainable. That being said, their recent slump has seen them drop points where they shouldn't have. Dropping points against Alavés, Eibar, and Levante is simply unacceptable for a club with Champions League aspirations. They can't afford many more slip-ups like those.

Though making the top four is still a realistic goal, it doesn't look good at the Anoeta right now.

The Weekly Take, Issue 137: Lads, It's Tottenham

First of all, my apologies to Tottenham fans for the title of the post; however, the opportunity was too obvious not to be taken. I just had to, you know?

Anyway, on to the main point of the post.

The latest set of Premier League features included a showdown between the league's first- and second-placed teams. In a pulsating match which saw much action from opening kickoff to the final whistle, Liverpool beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 at Anfield. Roberto Firmino's header just before stoppage time ensured that the Reds left the match with all three points. The victory also ensured that Liverpool overtook Spurs in the league standings, becoming the new league leaders as they pursue back-to-back Premier League titles.

Despite a valiant effort, Tottenham were once again left to lick their wounds. Even though this season has gone better than most fans of the North London club could have expected at its beginning, their strong league form hit a wall in this most crucial of matches.

There is arguably nothing more difficult in the sporting world than overcoming both history and a mental block. Often, as is true with Tottenham, the two are intertwined. Consider the fact that this is a club which have not won the league since 1961. What's more, Tottenham have not won a trophy of any sort since the 2008 League Cup, and if you restrict the criteria to just major trophies (i.e., the league, main domestic cup, and main European competition), the drought dates all the way back to the 1991 FA Cup.

Unfortunately, there is a reason why "lads, it's Tottenham" has become an inside joke among football fans the world over. Time and again, Tottenham have folded when the stakes have been at their highest. The most striking recent example has to be the 2015-16 Premier League season. For most of that season, Tottenham were embroiled in a tight battle for the league title with Leicester City. However, in the final stretch of the season, Tottenham's form declined so dramatically that they not only surrendered the league title to the Foxes; much to the chagrin of their fans, they even lost second place in the league to North London arch-rivals Arsenal.

The very next season, while they did not implode as they had a year before, they again lost the Premier League title in a way that detractors would say "only Tottenham could". In 2016-17, they scored the most league goals while conceding the fewest at the other end. Their points tally of 86 was the highest in the club's history, and by finishing second in the league, they obtained their highest final league position in 54 years. Harry Kane also claimed his second consecutive Premier League Golden Boot.

In spite of all these factors working in their favour, Tottenham somehow managed to lose the Premier League title to London rivals Chelsea. They finished seven points behind the Blues, missing out on yet another golden opportunity to snap their league title drought. On top of this, they were knocked out in the group stage of the Champions League, then were subsequently upset by Belgian club Gent in the Europa League's round of 32.

At this point, it's clear that many of the issues plaguing Tottenham right now are mental. On paper, they seem to have it all - perhaps the greatest coach of all time in José Mourinho, a superstar duo leading the line in Kane and Son Heung-min, and a solid supporting cast featuring players such as Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, Tanguy Ndombele, Hugo Lloris, Eric Dier, and Toby Alderweireld. Yet, as always seems to be the case with this club, it just feels as though a cloud of uncertainty continues to hang over Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

This is exactly why I believe that the hiring of Mourinho to take over from Pochettino was an absolute masterstroke. There is perhaps no coach in world football today who is better at playing the mental game than the Portuguese legend. That being said, he faces a challenge in this area unlike any other he's ever faced. Inter Milan, Real Madrid, and Manchester United are all clubs with glittering histories full of titles upon titles. While Chelsea's history hadn't been as trophy-laden as those three clubs, they had won an FA Cup in 2000, just four years before Mourinho's arrival. Even Porto had a European Cup title to their name in 1988. None of these clubs were battling the burden of history to the extent that Tottenham are.

It's still early in the season; however, Tottenham's loss to Liverpool is definitely a worrying sign. It seems as though they're not quite over their mental block.

The Weekly Take, Issue 136: They Surely Can't Fire Him Now

The standout fixture of the latest La Liga matchday was the latest edition of the Madrid derby. Real Madrid emerged with an impressive 2-0 victory over city rivals Atlético Madrid. Casemiro opened the scoring in the 15th minute. In the second half, an own goal scored by Jan Oblak off Dani Carvajal's shot that struck the post ensured Real's victory.

Real's win put Los Merengues within three points of Atlético, who currently lead the league. It also eased the pressure on head coach Zinedine Zidane. Rumours that Zidane might soon be fired have been circulating for some time now. They only intensified after a recent slump in form.

However, the events of the derby showed that not only would it be a colossal mistake on Real's part if they were to fire the Frenchman; the club's top brass ought to pull out all the stops to make sure that Zidane remains in the Santiago Bernabéu dugout for the foreseeable future.

Consider the fact that although Zidane was going up against one of the top five overall coaches and perhaps the best pure strategist in the world in his Atlético counterpart Diego Simeone, it was in large part thanks to Zidane that Real Madrid came away victorious. His tactical setup was on point, his substitutions were timely and effective, and he ably adjusted to everything Simeone threw at him. It's not often that a great coach like Simeone is so decisively countered. Yet, that's exactly what happened against Real.

I'd actually say that "Zizou" is the most underrated coach in world football at the moment. After all, no one else has ever led a team to three consecutive Champions League titles - that fact alone speaks for itself. While his detractors may claim that his Real Madrid team of 2016 to 2018 was carried to those titles by Cristiano Ronaldo, consider this: to win those three straight European crowns, Real beat Simeone's Atlético in 2016, Massimiliano Allegri's Juventus in 2017, and Jürgen Klopp's Liverpool in 2018. For those counting, that would be two all-time great coaches and one excellent one.

Last season was Zidane's first full season in his second stint at the helm of Real. Notably, it was also his first full season as Real head coach since Ronaldo's departure for Juve in the 2018 off-season. Despite having a squad which was clearly weaker to that of his first go-around, Zidane led Real to the league title, finishing ahead of arch-rivals Barcelona by five points. This league triumph came despite key players such as Eden Hazard and Gareth Bale missing large portions of the season through injury.

What Zidane had to deal with upon his return to Real cannot be overlooked either. When he replaced Santiago Solari in March 2019, Real were a club in disarray. They were nowhere near either Barça or Atlético in the league. They had also been knocked out of the Champions League in the round of 16 after an upset loss against Ajax. Fast forward almost two years later and Real, despite currently trailing Atlético in La Liga, are likely to claim back-to-back league titles for the first time since 2008. They also topped a tough Champions League group containing Inter Milan, Shakhtar Donetsk, and Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Real's front office is notorious for being trigger-happy with regard to coaches. However, if they break with their history and retain Zidane's services for an extended time period, the club will be likely to experience much current and future success. Given Zidane's track record to date, there is no reason why he shouldn't remain at Real for at least a decade, racking up titles along the way while establishing himself as perhaps the greatest coach in Real's history - and maybe, just maybe, of all time.

It is beyond crucial that Real do not act in their usual knee-jerk manner, especially if results start going against them later in the season. Zidane has clearly built up a body of work which clearly proves that he is an outstanding coach. Firing him would be an epic mistake of almost unparalleled proportions.

The decision should be obvious. Only one question remains: will Real finally "get it", or will they revert to type?

The Weekly Take, Issue 135: The Newest One-Man Team?

The most recent Champions League matchday saw Borussia Dortmund and Lazio play to a 1-1 draw. Raphaël Guerreiro opened the scoring just before halftime to put Dortmund a goal ahead. Ciro Immobile would later secure Lazio a share of the points against his former club by converting his 67th-minute spot-kick.

However, probably the biggest talking point of the match was not about who was on the field, but rather, who was not: none other than Dortmund's young ace Erling Håland. The Norwegian centre-forward missed the match with a hamstring injury. He will be out of action until January.

The difference between Dortmund with Håland and Dortmund without him was glaringly obvious against Lazio. Die Schwarzgelbe lacked that final touch up front which Håland would normally have provided. In place of the Yorkshire-born number 9, Marco Reus started up front. While Reus is a solid player in his own right, he does not even come close to approaching Håland's level. Moreover, Reus is neither a natural centre-forward nor a false nine. He was well out of position against Lazio, and it showed.

Dortmund's performance against Lazio also raises a pertinent question: has the team from the Rhine region become too dependent on their young star? Consider the fact that Håland alone is responsible for almost half of Dortmund's Bundesliga goals thus far this season.

The gap between Håland and the rest of Dortmund's players is not only larger than many might think: as Håland is still just 20 years old, this gap will continue to grow until he hits his prime or (and it pains me as a Dortmund fan to say this) inevitably leaves the club.

Any team overly dependent on just one player is playing with fire. We've seen this story before with many other clubs. Think of the following examples: Luis Suárez at Liverpool, Lionel Messi at Barcelona, and Gareth Bale during his first stint at Tottenham, just to name a few. What happened when the superstar couldn't play? And in the cases of Suárez and Bale, what happened to the team after they left? That's right - the team ended up playing nowhere near its full potential.

For Dortmund, it would be especially disappointing if they have, in fact, become too reliant on Håland. Dortmund have an intriguing group of youngsters including Jadon Sancho, Jude Bellingham, and Gio Reyna. While these players' potential is obvious and they will likely go on to successful careers in their own right, it is somewhat concerning that already, in many situations their modus operandi appears to be "let Håland take care of it". This mentality certainly won't be to their benefit as they go forward in their careers.

This is a Dortmund team which on paper, you'd have expected to easily handle Lazio even in Håland's absence. The fact that they were unable to do so is not a good sign for the coming weeks as Håland goes through an extended spell on the sidelines.

Although it's never been the "Dortmund way", if Dortmund are to make a serious push for a first Bundesliga title since 2012, make a deep Champions League run, or both, they might need to take out the big bucks and make a splashy signing in the January transfer window. They need a player who, while not necessarily on Håland's level, is one who will be the clear-cut second-best player on the team. Such a player will not only benefit the team in general; he would also give Håland the help he needs. If Håland were to miss a match or have a below-par performance, this other guy could step in, take charge, and lead Dortmund to the win.

Considering the fact that Dortmund is a small-market, relatively unglamorous team, Håland will probably leave Signal Iduna Park at some point. Thus, time is of the essence with regard to finding his sidekick. With the right running mate for Håland, once Dortmund's youngsters develop more, this team could potentially contend for titles.

It's not as though this is a Dortmund team without any hope. After all, the draw against Lazio did seal their place in the last 16 of the Champions League. However, if they are to come close to the glory days of the Jürgen Klopp years any time soon, they need to get Håland some help, pronto.