The decision to appoint Matarazzo, then a virtual unknown in Spain, probably took even Aperribay by surprise. \u201cI didn\u2019t know him,\u201d the Real Sociedad president admitted to Cadena SER after the cup final victory. He also revealed, \u201cI asked the AI whether he would be a good manager for Real Sociedad. It told me no.\u201d Fortunately, Aperribay ignored the algorithm and trusted sporting director Erik Bretos, who had endorsed the former VfB Stuttgart (December 2019\u2013October 2022) and TSG Hoffenheim (February 2023\u2013November 2024) boss.<\/p>\n
Matarazzo impressed him at their first meeting, \u201cbecause he knew everything about everyone. He had an impressive analysis of Real Sociedad,\u201d praised Aperribay, who ultimately approved the appointment after five discussions. Matarazzo was presented on 21 December, 13 months after his departure from Hoffenheim.<\/p>\n
During his time out of the game, he reflected on earlier setbacks, telling The Athletic, \u201cI used to overload players with information. I\u2019ve since learned to be selective and tailor my approach so they can bring their energy to the pitch without overthinking.\u201d \u201cClarity is crucial\u2014whether it\u2019s verticality, line-breaking, positional play, pressing triggers or overall principles\u2014but if players have too much in their heads, they can\u2019t act instinctively,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
Clarity in his instructions, combined with freedom for players to make decisions on the pitch, has formed the bedrock of his approach, helping him \u201cfind very good solutions to restore a winning mentality and get the team back on the road to success\u201d. The Copa triumph brought the narrative full circle: Matarazzo\u2019s Real Sociedad chapter began in early January against Atl\u00e9tico, and his debut ended in a respectable 1\u20131 draw\u2014the first step toward recovery.<\/p>\n
Four consecutive victories then followed, two of them particularly memorable. The first of those victories required bold luck: in the round of 16 at home to Osasuna, Real Sociedad were 0-2 down with 15 minutes left. Benat Turrientes pulled one back, and only in stoppage time did Igor Zubeldia force extra time. A penalty shoot-out eventually sent them through.<\/p>\n
The second standout win was a 2-1 defeat of defending champions FC Barcelona, with goals from Oyarzabal and Goncalo Guedes. Those results laid the foundation for Matarazzo\u2019s highly successful first four months in San Sebasti\u00e1n. In 20 matches under his command, Real Sociedad have lost only four times: all on the road against elite LaLiga opposition\u2014Real Madrid, Atl\u00e9tico (in the return leg) and Villarreal. The first unexpected defeat finally arrived on Wednesday, when\u2014just two days after the city\u2019s cup celebrations\u2014Real Sociedad slipped to a surprise 0-1 loss at Getafe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The decision to appoint Matarazzo, then a virtual unknown in Spain, probably took even Aperribay by surprise. \u201cI…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13939,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[24,25,10775,10774,962,10773,10772,10771,10776],"class_list":{"0":"post-13938","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ai","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-atletico-madrid-vs-real-sociedad","11":"tag-copa-del-rey","12":"tag-features","13":"tag-laliga","14":"tag-p-matarazzo","15":"tag-real-sociedad","16":"tag-real-sociedad-vs-getafe"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}