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Ronald Koeman has taken the blame for Barcelona’s defeat at the hands of Atletico Madrid on Saturday in the 2020-21 La Liga.
The Blaugrana went into the game desperately needing a victory to stay within touching distance of the league leaders but ended up enduring a third La Liga defeat of the season at the hands of Diego Simeone’s men.
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Barcelona did little to warrant all three points in the game before getting undone by an uncharacteristic error from their goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen. Koeman’s wards went behind in the third minute of injury time at the end of the first half, with Yannick Carrasco scoring the only goal of the game.
The Blaugrana never recovered from that setback and failed to take the game by the scruff of the neck. The Catalans did have plenty of opportunities to score but failed to capitalise on their opportunities. To make matters worse, Gerard Pique picked up a knee injury and might remain sidelined for a while.
These are testing times for Ronald Koeman, who has seen his Barcelona team slip down to tenth in the La Liga table after their latest defeat. They are nine points behind Simeone’s team after eight games, and things are not looking pretty for Barcelona's Dutch manager.
Barcelona cannot concede goals in such fashion, fumes Ronald Koeman
The match against Atletico Madrid brought forth a plethora of problems in the Barcelona team as Ronald Koeman provided a scathing assessment of his team’s performance. The Dutch manager assumed responsibility for his team's defeat but admitted that Barcelona need to improve.
"Like any coach, I am responsible. We know we have to improve results and grow in confidence. We are working hard. We have to improve things in defence and attack," said Koeman in the aftermath of the Atletico Madrid game.
Koeman, however, did not appear worried about Barcelona falling way behind the league leaders, acknowledging that his team needs to win games.
"I try to put out the best team we have available. The players have done everything to get a result, and we have to continue in that way. I am not worried about the league, although we know we need to win games," observed Koeman.
The Dutchman also pointed out that his team cannot afford to concede goals from errors, accepting that such mistakes make it hard to win matches. Koeman said in this regard:
"A team like Barcelona cannot concede a goal in the way we have done. We played well in the first half. We dominated without creating many chances against a team that defends well. If you commit errors, as we have done, it’s even harder to win the game."
