The Real
Betis signed his worst game of the season this Monday in San Mamés, falling with a crash before a Athletic that he had only scored seven goals in the previous eight games and scored four in just one hour of play as he could do several more, as the Betic team gave tremendous defensive facilities from the opening whistle. Before conceding 1-0 at 8 minutes with an own goal from the unfortunate Víctor Ruiz, the people from Bilbao had already generated three scoring chances over the goal of Claudio Bravo.
Manuel
Pellegrini He was not at all satisfied with the defensive weakness shown by the team, especially its centrals, who had already suffered two expulsions (Mandi) and two penalties committed (Bartra), details that the technician mentioned on television – along with some minor annoyances that he said that Bartra dragged during the week- minutes before the clash in Bilbao as reasons that led him to decide to completely renew the central pair, although the Algerian could not play this match of San Mamés due to suspension and for testing positive for coronavirus.
Pellegrini chose to also leave Marc Bartra out and opted for an unprecedented pair made up of Víctor Ruiz – who made his debut as a starter – and Sidnei, who had not played for a minute together, and began to make water from the initial pitio. Víctor Ruiz was about to make it 1-0 in the 7th minute with a bad clearance and ended up doing it in the 8th with another, while Sidnei could only see Williams's registration on the play of the second goal and both in the third and fourth both Muniain and Belenguer finished from inside the area with little opposition.
Carvalho finished as a midfielder and on the wings, offensive people
The loss of Canales was not covered by Pellegrini with a more defensive player such as Guarded – who he lined up as a starter all the preseason and has just come out of an injury – and opted for the talented Rodri in the midpoint. The boy showed a lot of self-confidence, forced several dangerous fouls – in one of them Guido tied in 12 ', but Víctor Ruiz's offside play was annulled – and he never hid, although this led to William Carvalho playing again mid-center -their defensive shortcomings there are evident- and on the wings and ends there were only people with an offensive vocation and very little defensive sacrifice, such as Emerson, Álex Moreno, Joaquín and Tello. The early 1-0, in addition, broke all the Betic approach, because as a result Athletic was able to play against it and the deficiencies in the axis of the Betic rear were even more exposed before the speed of the Bilbao points.
The tough defeat and the 21 goals conceded in ten games should make Pellegrini and his entire coaching staff reconsider. The Chilean already advanced after the 4-0 that “perhaps we are pretending to be an overly offensive team” and that this “abysmal defensive fragility” must be corrected as soon as possible. For the clash next Monday before Eibar, changes will be necessary, because Pellegrini's formula with high pressure and theft that worked in the first two games is no longer working and the whole team, with a very offensive attitude, on paper, is has become a strainer.