Athletic Bilbao coach Marcelo Bielsa says poor defending cost them as they slumped to a 5-3 defeat to Real Betis on Sunday.
Betis went three goals up inside half an hour through Jorge Molina, Ruben Castro and Benat Extebarria but Oscar de Marcos’ strike and a double from Mikel San Jose in the second half levelled the scores for Bilbao.
However goals from substitute Pozuelo and a second from Molina sealed the win for Betis, and Bielsa was left to rue some sloppy defence.
“The first 30 minutes of the match caught us off guard and confused us. We went to half-time in better shape,” Bielsa said.
“And in the second half, our team gave a reaction, but we suffered from a lack of effort. We should have been patient and taken the advantages we had in the match.
“We didn’t seem to be powerful enough in defence and we were not able to deal with the chances that Betis created.
“I don’t think the defence played well as we let five goals in.
“We had some problems in our system. Inigo Perez was playing well at the back and I thought we needed him more in the midfield.
“So I changed it and we had more movement (despite conceding two late goals).”
