Betis continues to move away from Europe, and what is worse: it shows no signs of wanting to get closer after adding its third consecutive defeat, based on what happened against Atlético and Villarreal. Pellegrini’s team fell fairly in Vallecas when they were overtaken by a Rayo team that dominated practically the entire match to secure three vital points in remaining (2-0). They were also so elemental for a Betis that continues to detach itself from its true continental objective, now more complex due to the streaky goals scored by Lejeune and Camello. Fekir hit the post with a deflected shot in the first act but Betis barely got any closer, despite having profiles like Fornals or Isco on the field at different times, who could not lift the team alone, once again falling for the third day in a row and hinders the team’s mathematical possibilities of qualifying for Europe again, given that with 46 Real Sociedad is sixth with four points more than the green and white, who have 42. The distance with Atlético is already very far away, fifth positioned, with 55 in the absence of a match. Regarding the diagnosis offered by his coach, Pellegrini did not weigh in when evaluating this new defeat. «When you lose three games in a row, it can only be negative. They barely managed to reach the goal, but we also generated very little. The game cannot be positive,” he added, before leaving the most striking message: “We have to reset ourselves and make strong self-criticism,” he insisted. In fact, the Chilean went further, recognizing how Rayo knew how to hit better even though they did not need to have possession either: «In the first half they barely had any attempts and we had the ball but without clear attempts beyond Fekir’s post. The rest was possession but without doing harm. They scored on the free kick and in the second half we improved in activity and intensity on the offensive end, but they scored the second goal for us.” Likewise, Pellegrini noticed some improvement in the second half that did not translate into very clear occasions: «In the second half, we were more aggressive with the ball in the last meters. We generated opportunities that we did not realize and Rayo took the points. There are still 27 points left and we are not going to give up. We will continue working with the same ambition to qualify for Europe. This is decided in the last ten games. “We would have liked to score today, but we didn’t achieve it and we are going to continue fighting until there is the last mathematical possibility.”
2024-03-17 20:36:00
#Pellegrini #reset #strong #selfcriticism
