Ronald Koeman was forthright in conceding that a La Liga title challenge is looking increasingly difficult for his side after a totally unexpected, damaging defeat to Cadiz.
The Barca boss believes the poor attitude of his Blaugrana players played a decisive role in their shock 2-1 defeat at the hands of newly-promoted Cadiz in La Liga. Despite being the best player on the pitch with a 9.0 FC Rating, even Messi could not do more to prevent a damaging loss, already their fourth in the top flight this season.
Barca have amassed only 14 points after 10 games, with the Cadiz loss confirming their worst La Liga start in 32 years. Already disconcertingly 12 points behind league leaders Atletico Madrid, Koeman had to bite the bullet and conceded that a title challenge now looks increasingly difficult.
“It’s a giant step backwards in our chances of fighting for La Liga,” Koeman said after the match.
“It’s disappointing, but we have to accept it. A gap of 12 points to a team as strong as Atletico Madrid is a lot.
“There are still a lot of games to play but if we don’t improve our attitude and our ups and downs away from home, we can’t say any more.”
Koeman expressed his frustration with the manner in which Barca conceded the goals, with the second one seeing an ineffectual Clement Lenglet failing to control a simple throw-in, allowing Alvaro Negredo to charge down Marc-Andre ter Stegen and score the winner.
“The defeat is difficult to explain,” added Koeman. “We’ve come here after some good games, but the first half wasn’t good.
“We were better in the second half, but the way in which we lost was incredible. We lost due to an unexpected mistake that you cannot make.
“It came from not being focused. The attitude wasn’t good and not just from the defenders.
“It’s very hard to explain some of the goals that we’ve conceded. I think it might be because of a lack of concentration.
“We lack aggression without the ball and that might be why we concede.
“It’s not easy to explain that second goal. We conceded goals that I couldn’t have imagined.”