Esteban Granero: David Moyes can take Real Sociedad to Champions League
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Version 0 of 1. There was a moment during David Moyes’s first game as the new manager of Real Sociedad when television cameras showed him standing on the touchline at Riazor shouting at “Stefano”. That would not be unusual except that Real Sociedad do not have a Stefano. They do, though, have Esteban Granero. And Granero admits that, yes, it was him that Moyes was calling to. The footage illustrated the added difficulty of taking over at a club in a new country, particularly with the season underway. It was a glimpse, too, of Granero’s importance. Intelligent, analytical, a Real Madrid youth teamer and an English speaker who played in the Premier League, he understands the new manager both linguistically and conceptually. If it surprised that Moyes should get his name wrong, it was less surprising that he should reach out to him. “It is true that [Moyes and I] have had a few conversations. Over the first few days, I told him how we were doing, what had gone wrong. I’ll help any way I can but my role is just to be a player,” Granero says. “My brother lives in China and his wife is Chinese, so we speak English, and I always tried to learn, listening as often as I could. I’m glad I did. It’s embarrassing that people graduate from university in Spain without being able to speak English. We’re the only country in Europe where they don’t speak English.” That helps to ease the settling in process while Moyes learns the language and about his players. Their names, even. “Of course there are little things that make you laugh, but that in no way affects his authority. Moyes is the boss and we follow what he asks of us,” Granero says. The question, then, is obvious: what has he asked of you? Granero leans forward on a sofa at the club’s Zubieta training ground and explains, speaking softly, slowly and thoughtfully. One word gets repeated often: “intensity”. The morning session is a good example. It is a Tuesday and a Scottish voice carries across the pitch in the valley of the River Oria. It is derby week in the Basque Country and the pressure is on. After three games without conceding a goal, the club’s first clean sheets this season, that sense of progress ended with a 4-0 defeat by Villarreal last Sunday. Seven days on, they face Athletic Bilbao. Communication complicates everything but this is Moyes doing what he does well: coach. There is energy and information, a flow of instructions, mostly shouted in English with occasional Spanish. There is demonstration too. A handful of fans gather round the pitch, some smoking, while la Real play six against six, three teams rotating; three touches, then two, then one. Specific drills follow, Moyes and his assistant, Billy McKinley, walking players through the details. “Intense, very intense,” Granero says. “He wants us to be more aggressive. [Moyes] will have to adapt to Spain but we’re also adapting to him. In the Premier League, if you’re not aggressive then you don’t even get a touch of the ball and he has brought that. But [while] that desire to be more aggressive sounds very English, it’s not that simple and it’s not just about tackling; it’s the way you approach the game. “That identity fits here. If he’d gone to Andalucia it might have been harder. But Real Sociedad has a tradition of British coaches and the Basque country has parallels with the landscape, the weather, the mentality. Climate is a key factor.” Granero has worked with Manuel Pellegrini and José Mourinho, men he says are not as different as many think. He also dismisses the simplistic view of Harry Redknapp as a man who does little more than tell his players to run about a bit as a convenient lie: “Harry doesn’t reveal himself. He’s more studious than people realise.” Moyes, he says, is not out of place and Granero sees parallels with Mourinho’s desire to impose physically. “I talked to Juan Mata about Moyes – he spoke highly of him,” Granero says. “We know what the big clubs are like. They’re dangerous because there’s a huge media spotlight and criticism comes easy. Juan told me the ‘mister’ was unlucky, he would have liked them to have a little bit more patience. But that is how things are ... and it’s good for la Real that we have him now.” For Granero especially. His past two seasons have been defined by relegation with QPR and injury, a torn knee ligament in September 2013 virtually ending the 2013-14 campaign, but he says he that he learned more than at any other time. He describes this as the most important year of his career. Moyes can restart la Real and restart Granero, too. “I’m convinced that this will be a great year. I’m taking it very seriously. Moyes has motivated me a lot. I can learn from him. “He wants me to help control the game. He believes that with our ability, we should be having more possession. If you keep the ball the other team end up deeper and you reduce the danger and increase your threat. That’s his battle. If he is angry it’s because we have much more ability than we’ve shown. “We are ready to learn, humble. We want to improve and we see Moyes as the key to that. From the first day, the very first drill, he’s been very clear. And that’s exactly what we needed. He’s a prestigious coach and he wants a big club. We want that big club to be Real Sociedad. We’re no smaller than Atlético Madrid. But if the chain slips off your bike at the very start of the stage, if you lose the peloton, then it’s hard until you can get back into the pack and build momentum. We need to do that. “This is a club with a proud history and big fan base, over 22,000 season ticket holders. I don’t think the teams near us in the table are thinking about Europe, but we are. The challenge is the Champions League. We’re not afraid to say that. That has to be our [long-term] aim. That’s the challenge, it’s what we all want and what the coach came for.” But la Real go into Sunday’s Basque derby in 14th, 16 points off the Champions League places and three points away from the relegation zone. They need to start winning. For Moyes, it will be a unique experience. “It’s a special game,” Granero says. “Two rivals from the same autonomous region, a country within a country. It’s healthier than a normal derby: fans mix, there’s never any trouble. You really see the difference. It will be a nice game, especially if we win … and I am convinced that we will.” |