Moyes demands mental toughness from Sociedad players

MADRID (Reuters) - Real Sociedad need to toughen up mentally if they are to reverse a poor away record when they travel to Valencia to face Levante in La Liga on Saturday, according to coach David Moyes.

Moyes demands mental toughness from Sociedad players

(Reuters)





Sociedad are yet to win away in Spain's top flight this season and were thumped 4-0 at Villarreal and drew 0-0 at Deportivo La Coruna on their last two trips away from San Sebastian.

With 15 matches played, they are 14th on 14 points, one place higher than when former Manchester United and Everton manager Moyes took over last month.

"It's very important to try to finish the year with a win," Moyes told a news conference on Friday as Sociedad prepare for their final game before the two-week winter break.

"We have to be stronger mentally and approach away games with the idea of getting a win and that's something that we clearly have to improve," added the Scot.

"We need to be tough in defence so that it is difficult to score past us."

"I have to learn from the games at Deportivo and Villarreal and I have to find a way to win games away from home."

Moyes said he had no illusions about the amount of work needed to turn Sociedad's fortunes around and achieve the club's goal of securing a place in European competition for next season.

Sociedad finished fourth in 2012-13 and qualified for the Champions League group stage, where they finished bottom of their pool.

Last season they were seventh and secured a place in Europa League qualifying but were eliminated by Russian side FK Krasnodar.

"The team is not showing that it can compete with the best and that is what I want to achieve," Moyes said.

"At Everton I was fighting for the top places and I want to repeat that here. There's some tough work ahead in the next six months."





(Reporting by Iain Rogers, editing by Mitch Phillips)


Share

2 min read

Published

Source: Reuters


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world