Real Sociedad boss Imanol ‘convinced Villarreal defeat will be good for us’

Real Sociedad head coach Imanol chose to focus on the positives, on the back of his side’s defeat at the hands of Villarreal on Friday.

La Real, of course, marked their return to action yesterday evening.

Fresh off a timely return to winning ways at the expense of Mallorca last time out, Sociedad welcomed the aforementioned Villarreal to Anoeta, hopeful of making it two wins on the spin.

When all was said and done, however, such efforts ultimately fell flat.

Owing to a double on the part of Santi Comesaña, followed by an injury-time strike from Alexander Sørloth, the evening’s hosts were condemned to the wrong side of a 3-1 result.

As much means that Real Sociedad will head into the 2nd leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final tie with Mallorca amid a run of just one win in seven.

And yet, as alluded to above, post-match, boss Imanol was in altogether defiant mood.

Drawn on the mental toll such a result could have on his squad ahead of such a crucial outing, the Spanish tactician assured, as per Mundo Deportivo:

“I have already told you that mourning has to stay in the shower, just like when we won. I am convinced that this will be good for us for Tuesday. We have to change the ship and we are not that far from winning.”

Conor Laird | GSFN