Koeman: I told Barcelona players how 'pissed off' I was

2:09pm on Monday 7th December 2020
By Stefan Bienkowski

Barcelona head coach Ronaldo Koeman has confirmed that the club’s recent run of poor form has left him “pissed off” and he told the players as much in training on Sunday.

On Saturday the Catalan side lost their fourth game of the season in a 2-1 defeat to Cadiz in what has now been the club’s poorest start to a campaign in 30 years.

Koeman’s side are now 12 points off league leaders Atletico Madrid after just 10 games, as the Dutch coach faces increasing pressure to turn things around.

Yet, while Koeman accepts the team’s performances are his responsibility, that hasn’t stopped him from telling the squad how unhappy he is at the recent run of results.

"I am unhappy. You have to analyze the defeats and it is different to lose as we did on Saturday or to lose to Atletico,” said the Barcelona head coach.

“You have to analyze how they mark us, how our attack is. I do not do theater and if I am pissed off I will say to the players.

“This is what I told them yesterday in the meeting before training because we cannot accept the goals that we conceded in in these games."

As if things couldn’t get worse for Koeman and his Barcelona side, the head coach now has to contend with being without key attacking player Ousmane Dembele after the French winger picked up another hamstring injury during Saturday’s game.

Dembele joins a growing list of injured players at the club, which includes Gerard Pique, Samuel Umtiti, Sergi Roberto and Ansu Fati.

And when asked about the latest absentee from his squad, Koeman didn’t miss an opportunity to blame the club’s congested fixture list and when the Spanish league schedule Barcelona’s games before or after midweek matches in Europe.

"It's a shame to lose another player due to an injury,” said Koeman. “He noticed something in the second half when he entered. He thought it was nothing.

“It's a shame because he was fine, he has a past with injuries and he must recover and try to be well.

“It is one more reason to complain about the schedule. I don't know who puts them on, but if you have to play on a Tuesday night in the Champions League, for the good of the Spanish teams you can't put the game earlier like this.

“Especially to defend my players, who come home at three or four in the morning. We have played five away games at 9pm at night. It is not a help for a Spanish team if you have to play again in the Champions League on Tuesday. "

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