Real Sociedad’s poor finishing allowed Barcelona to escape San Sebastian with all three points on Thursday night. Both Scandinavian strikers, Alexander Isak and Alexander Sorloth, passed up key opportunities to level the match for the hosts. Even so, it was the Barcelona strike-force which came under fire after the match.
Manager Xavi Hernandez was critical of the style of play in the second half and unhappy generally with their performance, even if he did praise their effort and dedication.
Going further into detail however, Xavi placed a good portion of the responsibility on the shoulders of his forwards after the match.
“Until half way through [the second half] we didn’t have a long possession, but it’s the decision-making. It’s holding on, winning the battle, it’s touching it off for someone else… It’s being altruistic, having empathy, but in the end the forwards are missing something.”
Moving onto a more general appraisal, Xavi once again outlined to Mundo Deportivo that the second half was not what he wanted.
“The second half is not the way, the first is. Today wasn’t our ideal of play, but we competed, we are playing for our lives. The effort should be praised but we have to improve.”
However hard-fought the win, it could be decisive blow to Real Sociedad’s top four hopes. With just five matches remaining, the Txuri-Urdin are required to overhaul Atletico Madrid’s six point advantage, although they will have a shot at playing Los Colchoneros themselves on the final day of the season.
