Philippe Montanier has labelled the weekend visit of Espanyol as a must-win for Real Sociedad, in light of midweek disappointment.
The Basques fell to a surprise first leg defeat to Cordoba in the Copa del Rey during the week, something that Coach Montanier sees as needing to be put right, starting with a win in the Sunday lunchtime fixture at home to Espanyol.
“We’re not eliminated from the Cup yet and we will do our best to turn it around,” he assured reporters at today’s pre-match Press conference.
“That game did not reflect our level. We must react to forget this game though. It’s hard to explain what happened because the team was very motivated for this competition and we have had difficulty in digesting it.
“The best way to return to form will be with a win against Espanyol. Playing often is an advantage for us to forget that game, because we want to show everyone that it was an accident.”
It is now three defeats and a draw from La Real’s last four games and it further continued the side’s dismal away form, but Montanier made clear not to forget that it is across two competitions.
“They are two different competitions and we cannot draw parallels between what happened in Cordoba with Valladolid, Sevilla or Betis, for example. In Cordoba it was one bad game.
“At Valladolid we played a good second half and we were about to win. In Sevilla we did well. What is clear is that we are more forceful at home. But we come from a draw in our last trip and it is very important for us to win against Espanyol.”
