José Alberto blames defensive “facilities” after 7-2

José Alberto, the Racing Santander coach, said the key to the 7-2 defeat against Barcelona was their poor defensive work. As MARCA reported, the Asturian manager summed it up with one main point: “We gave too many defensive allowances.”

Mistakes that decided it

In his assessment, José Alberto pointed to specific damage: “the evidence is the three penalties we conceded and the two goals from long-range shots.” While he acknowledged it “wasn’t our best day,” he stressed that Barcelona punished the game at key times and that when Racing threatened to reduce the gap, the home side “stepped on the gas and pulled away again”: “They’re in an extraordinary confidence moment, which is very hard to stop.”

“I thought we’d compete better”

He also admitted that he expected more competitiveness: “I thought the team would be able to compete at a better level, but we weren’t able to.” Even so, he argued that offensively they were able to create: “in a few moments” they were themselves, and they generated “enough chances to score a couple more,” although he insisted they still need to improve and be “more rigorous” to pick up points in games like this.

José Alberto took full responsibility after making eight changes to the starting XI. With “three matches this week,” his goal was to involve players who had played fewer minutes: “otherwise it’s very difficult to do it.”

Season started, pre-season feel

Asked about why he didn’t make substitutions at halftime, he said it would be “unfair to single out players” and that he preferred to keep continuity after an opening second half he believed started “quite well.” Finally, he reiterated they must be “harder” and warned that LaLiga doesn’t forgive: “LaLiga doesn’t forgive, and we have to compete,” adding that he’s confident the team won’t have doubts for the next match.