Villarreal’s head coach, Marcelino, has sought to deflect the widespread criticism of his players onto himself.
This comes on the heels of the Yellow Submarine’s worst night on the continent yet.
Villarreal returned to play late Thursday, traveling to France for a Europa League match against Ligue 1 giants Olympique Marseille.
When the full-time whistle blew, the visitors’ dreams of advancing to the competition’s quarter-finals were dashed.
Marseille won 4-0 thanks to goals from Jordan Veretout, Yerson Mosquera (OG), and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (2).
Speaking to the media after the encounter on Thursday, the subject of his team’s troubles was obviously raised with Villarreal manager Marcelino.
And, in response, the Spaniard, a former Marseille headmaster himself, was eager to place the burden squarely on his own shoulders:
“We departed from a positive dynamic of play and competition that we had been exhibiting. “We were well below that level,” Marcelino said, as reported by Diario AS.
“We played against a solid team that demonstrated efficiency. We have to congratulate them because they were better and did it right. They played better. We did not meet our expectations, and I am responsible for it. I made the wrong decisions, and I accept responsibility for the consequences.
“The opponent was better at duels, ferocity, and efficiency. And we performed well below our abilities. We were no longer the team that performed at a high level on the road. This team had conceded a lot of goals this season, and we had halted the bleeding. But that was not the case today.
Conor Laird | GSFN.
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