David Moyes said he was content with getting a point from his first game as Real Sociedad coach in a goalless La Liga draw at Depotivo La Coruna on Saturday night.
Two teams low on confidence after poor starts to the season served up a dull enough encounter, with La Real having the better of things in the first half, and Depor being on top after the break, but neither goalkeeper was given very much to do.
The former Manchester United and Everton coach, who was presented as the fourth British coach in La Real's history just over a week ago, told his post match news conference that in the end the draw had been a fair result.
"I am not happy with the point, I want to win, and I came here tonight expecting, hoping and doing everything possibly can to win," Moyes said. "But in the end maybe a draw was the fair result. I was disappointed with second half, I thought we played well enough in first half to be in the lead. We started second half slowly, gave possession away too easily and too many times, Depor got momentum from that and were better team after the break."
Possibly the most excitement in the game was a first half incident in which Depor's physical preparation specialist Roberto Cabellud took exception when a decision by referee Eduardo Prieto Iglesias went against his side. From his own technical area Moyes gestured with his hands to advise the obviously heated Cabellud to relax, and got told to mind his own business -- presumably in Spanish.
The Scot, who was also spoken to briefly by Prieto Iglesias without any action being taken, said he was still not really sure what had sparked the incident.
"I do not know, I was in my dugout and he was in his," Moyes said. "I do not know what happened. But he seemed quite angry about something. I thought referee did his job fairly and very efficiently. I had no problems at all with him, thought he was very good on the night."
Moyes said his first game in charge of his new team had given him plenty of things to work on over coming training sessions and games.
"I really enjoyed it, was really looking forward to managing in La Liga," he said. "I do not know the players well enough to give a comprehensive view on all of them yet. But I was really pleased to be here, I have seen things where I can make the team better, improve them. It will take a bit of time, but hopefully we can get some quick results and see some improvement in the team over the coming months."
Having to go into his first game without both previously first choice central-defenders Inigo Martinez and Mikel Gonzalez, and also injured midfielders Xabi Prieto and David Zurutuza, had not been ideal, Moyes said.
"Very little has changed as I have only had one week to work," he said. "There has not been much time to change it, the process takes time. But unfortuantely today we had four key players missing. That was disappointing, but overall I was really pleased with players' attitude, how they went about things tonight."
