Barcelona’s RCDE Stadium fell quiet after Espanyol’s 3-1 home defeat to Elche, a result made more damaging by the fact that the visitors played almost the entire match with 10 men. Elche lost Redondo to a sixth-minute red card, yet still left Catalonia with the points as Manolo González’s side endured a second successive display he described as unacceptable.
A lost afternoon despite Elche’s early dismissal
- Elche were reduced to 10 players in the sixth minute when Redondo was sent off.
- Espanyol nevertheless made a poor start, conceding twice before half-time from counter-attacks that González believed should have been dealt with far more easily.
- The home side pulled back to 2-1 and briefly found a route into the contest.
- Three minutes later, Elche struck again for 3-1 on another break, ending Espanyol’s hopes of a recovery.
González did not seek refuge in the numerical advantage his team had held for most of the afternoon. “We were dreadful,” he said. “If you perform like that in the top division, there is not much else to say.”
The Espanyol coach identified the opening 45 minutes as the decisive failure. “The first half was terrible. Their first two goals came from counter-attacks that we defended very badly. They were relatively simple situations to manage, but they scored twice with very little.”
Those setbacks brought anxiety into Espanyol’s play, he said, and the urgency became costly. Although his team reduced the deficit, the response did not last. “When we got back into it at 1-2, the 1-3 arrived three minutes later. It makes no sense.”
Fans spared blame as Espanyol seek a reset
The coach reserved sympathy for the supporters inside the stadium, who continued to encourage the side despite occasional whistles. “I understand the fans. It is normal that they are angry with us,” González said. “We cannot ask anything of them today. They supported us and helped us; it is we who have to change our mentality and compete.”
Espanyol had begun their league campaign strongly, with González pointing to the performance against Osasuna as evidence of the level his side can reach. But he acknowledged that the last two matches have represented a marked decline.
“We are not competing,” he said. “Something is going wrong and we have to turn it around. We started the league very well and had some very good games, including Osasuna, but for two matches we have not been right. We are not competing as we should, and we cannot continue that way.”
González said Espanyol had tried to stretch Elche through circulation of the ball and patient passing, then create chances with deliveries into the area. Yet that approach could not excuse allowing an undermanned opponent space to counter. “You cannot let them break on you,” he said. “That 1-3 situation finished us.”
The forthcoming international break now offers the Barcelona club time to reassess. González said he would take responsibility for finding the source of the recent slide, adding that he has an idea of where the problems lie. The objective, he said, is to restore Espanyol as “a recognisable team,” the version that had characterised them earlier in the season.
