Oscar Mingueza admits ‘team stopped trusting’ Ronald Koeman, says change needed to be made
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ByEurosport
Updated 19/11/2021 at 14:58 GMT
The 22-year-old did not always see eye to eye with the former Barca manager with reports suggesting he wasn't happy with the way he was substituted against Getafe last season, but says that the lack of trust was team-wide and not just isolated to him. He was also full of praise for new manager Xavi Hernandez.
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Barcelona defender Oscar Mingueza has admitted that the team stopped trusting former manager Ronald Koeman and that a coaching change had to be made.
Koeman was fired at the end of October with the club floundering after a turbulent summer. The Dutchman had previously been told by new president Joan Laporta that he would be dispensed with only to be retained when a replacement could not be found.
However, he didn't last beyond a few months into the season and has now been replaced by former Barcelona star midfielder Xavi Hernandez.
"The dressing room needed a change," Mingueza admitted to Esport3. "There was no atmosphere. Players were not happy. And when you're not well and things don't turn out [well], you need a change.
The team stopped trusting [Koeman's methods] and everyone tried to fix things on their own.
“We weren't good, neither individually nor collectively.
"When the dynamics aren't good, everyone does what they can but we lacked self-belief."
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Real Madrid's Brazilian forward Vinicius Junior (L) challenges Barcelona's Spanish defender Oscar Mingueza during the Spanish League football match between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid CF at the Camp Nou
Image credit: Getty Images
Contrastingly Mingueza, 22, who is a product of the club’s youth system, said things were already better with Xavi and were bound to get better.
"Xavi's training is very focused on the idea of what we want to do on the pitch," the defender continued.
"It is good that we have a clear idea and that we all work in a specific way to obtain a good result as a team.
"I'm sure things will change and get better now. And I don't think we'll have to wait two or three months to see those changes. Starting this weekend, we'll see new things."
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