Real Madrid versus Real Sociedad match preview
This Saturday Jose Mourinho's boys will travel to San Sebastian to take on Real Sociedad with whom they sit neck and neck in the La Liga standings. After a successful mid-week match at home against Dutch
Eredivisie runners-up, Ajax, Jose Mourinho's sqaud will be looking to improve their league form, and score some goals to kick their 2010-11 into high gear.
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Real Madrid have started the league season slowly managing only a 0-0 draw away to Mallorca and struggled to a slim 1-0 victory over Osasuna last weekend. It's been goals that have been hard to come by
for Madrid as in their two league matches, and one Champions League match, their strikers have only one goal between them. That goal came from Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuain against Ajax. Of the three goals they have scored in that time, one was an own
goal off Ajax's Vurnon Anita, and the other came from the unlikely source of newly acquired fullback Ricardo Carvalho.
Real Sociedad have impressed so far this season in La Liga beating Villareal 1-0 and managing a draw 2-2 against Almeria in a match which Real Sociedad led for almost an hour before a late equalizer from
substitute striker Jose Ulloa spoiled the party.
Players to watch
For Real Madrid the men to watch are going to be those expected to start hitting the target with regularity, and they are Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and the aforementioned Higuain. Look to
Frenchman Karim Benzema and Argentinian Angel Fabian Di Maria to see some action should Ronaldo and Higuain be unable to produce.
For Real Sociedad all traffic goes through midfielder Xabi Prieto who will sit just behind the strikers. Prieto scored the lone goal in Sociedad's victory in their opening match and is the man his team
will look toward to provide that creative spark in the middle of the field. The man who will look to further frustrate Madrid's scoring woes is Sociedad's Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo Munoz who has been outstanding in Sociedad's two previous matches. 
What to expect
Madrid manager Jose Mourinho has yet to get the ball rolling and wholly convince Madrid supporters that he is, in fact, the "Special One" - a nickname he has earned after achieving success in the English
Premiere League with Chelsea and by winning the UEFA Champions League with Porto, before arriving in England, and winning it again last season with Italy's Inter Milan.
Anything less than either La Liga, or Champions League, success for Madrid this season will look like a failure as Madrid fans have become uneasy being regarded as Spain's second team behind title holders
FC Barcelona. Expectations in the Madrid camp are always very high, but this season they are busting out of the stratosphere.
Real Sociedad are at home, well rested through the week, and likely very prepared for a Madrid side who are likely to bring their shooting boots. Expect Madrid to play with purpose, and for newly acquired
midfielder Sami Khedira to keep the midfield in check along with Xabi Alonso. Madrid will prove they are serious contenders with a 2-0 victory.
Jasper Juinen/Getty Images Madrid fans may be stereotypically fickle and quick to get out the pañuelos, but we at Managing Madrid don’t think that there’s any cause for alarm.  Although Mourinho’s first match was underwhelming, disappointing fans that expected to see a crack Madrid squad put the struggling Barralets to the sword, the result is understandable given the circumstances and hardly represents a serious blow to Madrid’s title challenge.  Due to the late start date of the Spanish league, this match will have little impact on Madrid’s rhythm for the rest of the season, as the players will now join their national teams before returning to action in two weeks.   Additionally, because of the way that La Liga does tiebreakers, using head-to-head results rather than goal difference, as well as the gulf in class and consistency between the top two and the rest of the league, the two Clásicos will likely decide the winner.  Real Madrid can likely afford to drop two points occasionally as long as it does not become a habit. While I, along with many pundits, believed that Mallorca’s disastrous financial situation, the loss of several key players in the offseason and their woeful preseason form meant we would see Real Madrid roll over them on the way to three points, Michael Laudrup and his men proved us wrong.  The Danish legend excelled at giant-killing during his time at Getafe and his team was compact and resilient today, relentlessly pressuring us on the ball.  Mallorca were an excellent team last season, finishing fifth partly due to their extremely strong home form, losing at San Moix only to Real, Barça, and Sevilla. Their strength last year was predicated on their tough defense, which has remained mostly untouched by the summer sales.  That was on display today as Dudu Aouate, the Israeli keeper, made a number of crucial saves to keep his side in it, while Rúben and Nunes, the Mallorca central defensive pair, harried and jockeyed our forwards every step of the way. As Mourinho said after the match, the problems are a result of one major factor, the extremely limited amount of time that he has been afforded to work with his players so far.  Because of the World Cup, injuries, and new signings, many players are either unavailable or only very recently became available for selection.  We knew Madrid would not be playing at their best, and in order to win, even under such circumstances, a team must be tidy at the back so as not to concede and take advantage of the chances proffered. Today, Real Madrid did the first and not the second, which was exceedingly unlucky; the team might have put five or six of the chances away on another day.  Had the referee shown a frankly unarguable red card to Rúben for Denying an Obvious Goal Scoring Opportunity (DOGSO) and given a free kick at the top of the box, which is prime Cristiano Ronaldo territory, the game would have been over in the 25th minute and the media would be talking about Mourinho’s sensational debut.  The problems with Madrid’s performance were relatively easy to see. Di María had a poor outing on the left, allowing the Mallorca defenders to heavily mark Ronaldo.  De Guzmán hemmed Marcelo into a defensive role, diminishing our offensive capacity on the left flank.  Mallorca’s high pressing caused us to give the ball away far too often and forced the likes of Canales to come deep to collect the ball.  Our passing was all too often limited to longer vertical passes from deep that often recycled possession too quickly.  Our tempo was slow, which failed to put pressure on Mallorca’s back line, but it also did not have the normal benefit of keeping possession more effectively. But there were also some notable highlights: Mesut Özil looked electric, Canales, Xabi Alonso, and even Sergio Ramos played some utterly sublime angled-through balls, and Carvalho looked assured in the center of defense.  Casillas was strong both offensively and defensively, with his distribution efficiently recycling the ball for counterattacks.  Sergio Ramos had an excellent game marauding down the right and Khedira added dynamism and solidity to the midfield in the place of Lass, who offers little offensively.  There is little reason to panic and great reason to look forward to this young, exciting team coming together in the games to come.
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German Spanish La Liga live another day this season with a day full of exciting games. Each of the teams try to win all three points at stake for climbing the Spanish League qualifying
