Villarreal head coach Marcelino has moved to shift the widespread criticism of his players onto himself.
As much comes fresh off nothing short of a disastrous night on the continent for the Yellow Submarine.
Villarreal marked their return to action late on Thursday, making the trip to France for a Europa League showdown with Ligue 1 giants Olympique Marseille.
And, upon the full-time whistle bringing proceedings to a close, the visitors saw their hopes of securing a spot in the competition’s quarter-finals go up in smoke.
This came as goals on the part of all of Jordan Veretout, Yerson Mosquera (OG), and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (2) guided Marseille to the right side of an eventual 4-0 scoreline.
Speaking to the media post-match on Thursday, the subject of his side’s struggles, in turn, was inevitably put to Villarreal boss Marcelino.
And, in responding, the Spaniard – a former Marseille headmaster himself – was quick to take the blame firmly on his own shoulders:
“We broke from a good dynamic of play and competitiveness that we had been demonstrating. We were well below that level,” Marcelino began, as cited by Diario AS.
“We played against a good team that showed efficiency. We have to congratulate them because they were better and they got it very right. They played better. We didn’t live up to our standards, and I’m responsible for that. I didn’t make the right decisions and I take responsibility for this outcome.
“The opponent was superior in duels, intensity and efficiency. And we played well below our level. We weren’t the team we had been, where we competed at a very high level on the road. This team had been conceding a lot of goals this season and we had stopped that bleeding. But that wasn’t the case today.”
Conor Laird | GSFN
