Xabi Alonso Tactics In-Possession At Real Sociedad B – Tactical Analysis

It’s perhaps no surprise that Xabi Alonso has moved into management.

Alonso seemed to get better with age and was highly valued by Pep Guardiola in his final playing years due to his intelligence and vision on the football pitch and his similar football ideals to Guardiola.

The former Liverpool, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich midfielder has returned to the club where his playing career began to start the next chapter in his life  as Head Coach of Real Sociedad B.

Real Sociedad’s first team are, of course, flying this season in La Liga, currently sitting in third place.

At the time of writing, Sociedad B sits in eighth place in their league, the Segunda Division B, essentially the Spanish third tier.

Following a disappointing dip in form, they are still only five points off the top and have a game in hand.

Unsurprisingly, Alonso’s side plays an exciting brand of possession-based football.

This Xabi Alonso tactical analysis will highlight some key facets of Alonso’s approach in possession by examining their overall principles and patterns of play that help them achieve these principles.

Xabi Alonso attacking shape

According to Wyscout, Real Sociedad B have predominantly played a 4-2-3-1 formation under Xabi Alonso’s tactics.

While his side most often looks like this, or perhaps plays with a 4-4-2 initially, out of possession, when they have the ball, their shape in front of their back line is fluid.

Given that this piece is examining Sociedad B in possession, we will focus on their shape when they have the ball.

If we look at the three images below, we can see the variations of Sociedad B’s shape.

If we take them “lining up” in a 4-2-3-1, this might be how they press in this particular game.

However, as soon as they win possession, there is a transition into one of the other two shapes.

For clarity, I have retained the labels of each player from the 4-2-3-1 image, allowing us to see where each player moves to.

Interestingly, in the fluid 3-3-2-2 formation, where the pivot drops between the two centre-backs, the right-back then has the freedom to push forward as well, allowing the right-winger to drift inside and provide an immediate option in the half-space. 

Sociedad will switch between the 3-4-3 and this 3-3-2-2 frequently throughout the game, and the players have the freedom to move into these areas when the opportunity arises.