Real Madrid coach Santiago Solari has said that “everything is fixable” but that his team were deservedly beaten 3-0 at “superior” Eibar on Saturday.
Goals from Gonzalo Escalante, Sergi Enrich and Kike Garcia brought the Basque side’s first ever competitive victory over Madrid, and it could have been worse but for excellent late saves from Fabian Orellana and Charles Diaz by Thibaut Courtois.
Solari’s first game since becoming full-time Madrid coach was as bad as anything during predecessor Julen Lopetegui’s reign.
“We did not play well, evidently, and we accept that,” Solari said. “We must improve for sure. Eibar played very well, everything went for them, we must congratulate them. The result is tough, for sure, we expected to come here and win.
“We must work to improve and fix the things that were not right today, that is clear. It is not about finding people to blame. Everything is fixable. We had won four straight games, done some things very well, and we must return to that.”
Having started his interim spell in charge by calling on Madrid’s players to show their “cojones” in a Copa del Rey game at Melilla, Solari said that his side had not matched Eibar in the physical battle.
“I don’t think there was a lack of attitude,” he said. “The kids worked hard, the players I should say, for they are not kids. Nobody gave less than they had. But we were not up to the task today.
“We lost some small battles at the start of the game, and it kept going from there, along with some other details which tipped the balance. Eibar put their two balls into it, for sure, they played very well. In total, they were superior, and we should congratulate them on a very complete performance.”
The loss was the first suffered by Madrid against a side in the bottom half of La Liga this season, but Solari said it was not the worst defeat for the club this campaign.
“I don’t know about that,” Solari said. “But it’s the worst of the last five for sure.”
Santiago Solari was not too disheartened in light of Real Madrid’s 3-0 loss at Eibar.
The Madrid dressing room was feeling down after a fifth defeat in 13 La Liga games this season, Solari said, but he said there had been enough positives in his own four games in charge so far to remain optimistic about their season.
“To take conclusions from just one game, to change everything, is not right,” he said. “I look at the five games since I arrived, and take the conclusions from there. For sure there is no carnival in the dressing room after the defeat. But we know there was a lot from the last games to be optimistic and positive.”
Madrid have already conceded 19 goals in those 13 league games, their worst record this century at this stage of the campaign.
“We must stop conceding so many goals, and score more goals, as we had been doing recently,” Solari said. “That is the job of the coach — that you concede few, and score a lot, and it is what we will aim to do.”
Solari was not asked about Friday’s Der Spiegel report which claimed that captain Sergio Ramos gave a positive result in a doping test after the 2017 Champions League final.
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