Real Madrid vs. Real Sociedad: Breaking Down How Moyes Can Stop Bale and Co.
Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez? No problem.
Admittedly Messi and Neymar were only used at second-half substitutes, but David Moyes still managed to mastermind a Real Sociedad win in his first-ever game against Barcelona.
"We've talked about Barcelona at my past clubs, at Everton and at Manchester United," Moyes told the BBC earlier this month after beating the Catalans.
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"I've watched them with admiration and we used to wonder how to possibly get a result."
Moyes went on to explain how he wants his side to be competing with Barca, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid at the top of the table in the long term; in the short term, he'll get a shot at Real Madrid on Saturday.
It's a different test to the one posed by Barcelona, not least because this time they'll be playing away from home, at the Bernabeu.
However, La Real won't have to worry about how to stop Cristiano Ronaldo—he won't be strutting his stuff this weekend.
The Portuguese forward's frustrations boiled over in Madrid's last league game against Cordoba and he received a red card for kicking Edimar.
By this point, he was already fortunate to be on the pitch after throwing his hand in the direction of Jose Angel Crespo’s face.
He was handed a two-game suspension on Wednesday, per SPORT, and will miss matches against Real Sociedad and Sevilla.
His anger had come from Madrid's failure to break down Cordoba.
Locked at 1-1 and down to 10 men, it looked like Madrid would cede ground to Barcelona and Atletico in the race to be crowned champions of Spain's top flight.
Despite Ronaldo leading the Pichichi with 28 goals, Carlo Ancelotti does have other players he can count on.
Last weekend Gareth Bale saved his blushes, as Sid Lowe explained in The Guardian:
"[Bale] produced the run that led to the foul that led to the free kick, which he took, that led to the hand ball in the wall that led to the penalty, which he took, that led to the goal, which he scored, that led to Madrid somehow getting a 2-1 victory and maintaining their lead at the top of the table.
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So while Moyes doesn't have to preoccupy himself with the world's best footballer—according to the Ballon d'Or voters—he will have to have an eye on the Premier League's best player from 2012/13.
Moyes will know the Welshman well, given he spent over a decade in England's top division in charge of Everton and Manchester United.
On top of Moyes and Bale, there’s more British interest in this clash: Englishman Paul Clement is on the coaching team at Madrid and Scotsman Billy McKinlay is working as Moyes’s No. 2.
Aside from Bale, the Madrid No. 11's supporting cast may be less familiar.
Karim Benzema, who scored the equaliser against Cordoba, will carry a big threat, while Colombian attacking midfielder James Rodriguez will also pose problems.
Then there is Toni Kroos and his gift for passing, the mesmeric Isco, if he is fit, which he should be, and young forward Jese Rodriguez, who is chomping at the bit to prove himself after returning from a lengthy lay off.
Asier Illarramendi may even feature against his former employers.
To stop them, Moyes' side will have to do what Moyes' sides have traditionally done very well: defend.
At Preston North End and Everton his early days in management were underpinned by his ability to eek out 1-0 wins, as Martin Baker, who is writing the Scot's autobiography, wrote in The Independent recently:
"It feels like vintage Moyes. When the players are playing as he wants them to, they never give up. His Preston North End and early Everton teams played like steroid-fed misers—nothing was going to prise an advantage from their grasp.
At the conference Moyes confirms that “the performance reminded me of my early days as a coach. The best thing is to win 1-0. If we are competing and conceding no goals, we’ll always have a great chance of winning.”
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The win over Barcelona was a throwback to those stages of his career.
Against the likes of Madrid and Barca, though, Moyes will need a slither of luck in addition to an organised defensive unit where everyone knows their jobs.
Inigo Martinez was particularly magnificent in the win against Luis Enrique's superstars, but Real Sociedad's defending has notably improved under Moyes.
Before he took the job, the San Sebastian outfit had not kept a clean sheet all season.
In the 13 matches since he took up his Spanish residency, the opposition have been shut out on six occasions.
If you ignore the matches against Villarreal, who have scored seven times in three matches against Moyes and could already be considered his bete noire, he has only conceded four goals since taking the reins.
The stats show that Real Sociedad's strength is certainly in defending—they only average a goal a game since Moyes' arrival and are often dependent on Carlos Vela.
But even if they defend as well as they can, Bale and his chums will still create chances.
That's where Geronimo Rulli comes in.
One of the biggest decisions Moyes has made at Anoeta is to make the 22-year-old Argentine his No. 1 goalkeeper.
Rulli has repaid the shown faith in him by producing a string of impressive performances between the sticks—most notably against Barcelona, when he kept Suarez out twice in the final 10 minutes.
For Moyes to complete what would be a remarkable double—wins against Barca and Madrid—he will need his keeper to be at his best.
But even without Ronaldo, the odds remain stacked against Real Sociedad.
Los Blancos are unbeaten in their last 12 games at the Bernabeu, a run which include 11 wins and a draw against Atletico in the Copa del Rey.
On five occasions during that unbeaten streak they have scored five times, while they’ve also scored four times once and three times twice—that is the size of the task facing Moyes.
It’s one thing to know how to stay focused, how to defend as a team and keep your shape, but to execute it against Real Madrid is another thing.
If Moyes is smiling after the meeting like he was after the game with Barcelona, then it will be mission complete.
