Tuesday 10 November 2015 10:41, UK
Guillem Balague says there are plenty of questions to be answered and lessons to be learnt after David Moyes' sacking by Real Sociedad.
The former Manchester United and Everton manager took charge of La Real in November 2014 and led them to a 12th-place finish in La Liga.
But this season they have won just two matches and are hovering just above the relegation zone after four defeats in their last five games.
That poor run of form led to Moyes being sacked on Monday, and former Barcelona assistant coach Eusebio Sacristan has been named as his successor.
"We all know Moyes is good but he didn't show that at Real Sociedad," Balague told La Liga Weekly Podcast.
"It's the identity; he didn't maximise the potential that the side has. Understanding the club and the culture, that's the biggest lesson for me. Was he prepared to come to Spain to make an impact? Does the culture he belongs to prepare you to go abroad and succeed?
"The question David Moyes has to ask is did he try to bring a British model to Real Sociedad? A lot of what he did was what he would have done at a new Premier League club, but why didn't he try to apply some of his methodology to the Spanish model?
"It's very difficult to adapt, but there are a lot of things British coaches will have to look at and say why did he fail? What can we learn from it?
"Is it to do with the culture that Moyes came from or was it him personally and how he answered the questions put to him by Real Sociedad and the new league and culture?"
Moyes' last game was Friday's 2-0 loss to recently-promoted Las Palmas and he was sacked a day short of his one-year anniversary with the club.
The highlight of his time at the Anoeta was a 1-0 win over Barcelona in January, but Balague thinks he could have done more with the Basque club.
"Clearly he was disappointed with the quality of players at Real Sociedad, but all the focus was how he could get better players and not so much how he could get these players better," he said.
"He is a good coach, there is no doubt about it, but at Real Sociedad he needed to do more. This was never going to be a David Moyes team so that's why you didn't see it."
Balague also thinks the change in culture was a major issue for the Scot to contend with.
"This isn't Spanish culture, it's not even Basque, it's Guipuzcua, which is part of the Basque country," he said. "They think in a different way, act a different way, work together in a different way to most clubs, you have to understand that and to do that you don't have to speak Basque, but you have to speak Spanish.
"It was partly players not responding to a style of management, players not fitting a style of management and a coach that needs to work harder at adapting to a culture."
