14 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Real Sociedad B this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Unax Agote is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Egoitz Arana
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Tomy Carbonell has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Job Ochieng was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Job Ochieng falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 89. Cultural Leonesa had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Jon Garro is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
It needed Job Ochieng to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Cultural Leonesa, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
In brief
The dugoutÁlex Marchal knocks on the manager’s door
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Álex Marchal is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Gorka Gorosabel had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Almería were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Álex Marchal falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Tomy Carbonell was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Gorka Gorosabel is the division's best young player this month
At 20 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Real Sociedad B will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Real Sociedad B, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Guadalajara for Egoitz Arana was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Álex Marchal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Jon Garro has come out of that comparison in the side, and Real Sociedad B have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.