Ronald Koeman called out young midfielder Nico Gonzalez after Barcelona’s defeat to Atletico Madrid.
Koeman is a man on the brink after a disastrous run of form for Barca, winning just one of their last six games.
The latest of those outings was a 2-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid in which the home side cruised to a win.
The goals came from Thomas Lemar and former Barca man Luis Suarez, but Koeman was unhappy with the way one of those goals was conceded, in particular.
And after the game, he decided to call out young midfielder Nico, who was making only his second La Liga start of the season at the Wanda Metropolitano.
“You cannot leave so much space when we lost the ball,” Koeman told Movistar. “We had spoken exactly about that, our midfielders needed to follow their men – and Nico let Lemar run for their opening goal.”
Koeman often takes credit for the youth talents he has brought through, and that could be his parting gift in many ways when he does leave.
But amid intense pressure over his position, and with fans keen to see him take responsibility for results, calling out 19-year-old inexperienced players in post-match interviews is not going to do him any favours.
It’s shameful to say the least.
BARCELONA PRESIDENT AND DE COACH ARE ALL STUPID.
Yes. Terrible to say in public. I too saw Rico do that, I was equally mad at him, but Koeman should have given him ( or any other player for that matter) the wake up call behind closed doors. Pique didn’t exhibit any experience in the 2nd goal either. There was a point he could have made a move to keep suarez offside( as that was the only feasible hope to stop that goal…I have seen defenders do it, or at least attempt to). There was that point he could have run towards Lemar to attempt to allow Suarez go ahead, or at least make lemar delay his pass, or be forced to take his luck and run solo…instead he kept a meaningless run forward. Even when he went to cover the goal line, he stood directly behind Te Steven, leaving the sides)… A lot of mediocrity in our team…part of the prob is the coach, while majority is the personal we have…the bad ones have made the efforts of the few good ones useless…and the result is that everyone ( good or bad) is declining in confidence. This is where I’m asking koeman to think and scratch out some respect with this team, show us a pattern and give us reason to have patience with him for future reward…for no one in the right frame of mind would ask him to win la Liga or champions league with all these guys.