According to Marca, Villarreal manager Marcelino García Toral is demanding the club improve their defence during the summer window, as he believes the club’s poor defensive record cost them European football. On the other hand, Villarreal’s offensive numbers ranked them amongst the most dangerous teams in the league this season.
Striker Alexander Sørloth was the club’s top scorer and helped Marcelino improve the side since his arrival in the dugout. However, the manager believes that the leaky defence was the main reason why the club were unable to secure European football and is therefore demanding changes in that position next season.
In a club statement, Marcelino didn’t hide his discomfort at the number of goals his side conceded this season.
He said: “The truth is that it hurts me. It’s like a dagger stuck in me, a tremendous burden. We corrected it in the second round but we didn’t totally.
“Not by conceding the four against Madrid or the three against Celta we would have been in Europe. It is not normal to concede 65 goals. That lack of consistency also prevented us from advancing in Europe in a game in which we conceded four goals (Marseille).
“We have done a lot of work but we have to make a series of variations in that plot of the field to be more decisive.”
