Inquest into Team's Performance: Transfer Needs and Tactical Failures

The inquest has already started, and it begins where most modern autopsies of elite teams do: in the transfer room and in the defensive structure.

Speaking after the defeat to Real Madrid, the coach cut through the noise. The market, he insisted, is not a vanity project but a constant, cold assessment of what this team needs.

“I said it during the transfer window, we always talk about what’s best for the team, how we can improve it. It’s something we’re working on. We’ll see. We have a few weeks left before the transfer window opens. We’ve discussed it with Deco, Bojan, and my staff. That’s how we do things. If we can, maybe we will.”

No promises. No grand declarations. Just a clear admission that the squad is under review and that the conversations with Deco and Bojan are not cosmetic. They are looking for solutions.

But the coach did not hide behind the market. The criticism quickly turned inward, towards the basics his side failed to execute in the clásico.

“Ultimately, defending isn’t just the defenders’ job; even the striker defends. Everyone is involved. To begin with, we can’t lose the ball easily. We lost possession a few times against Real Madrid, which isn’t good. It’s something that happens to us often, and we need to play more intelligently, more focused.”

That line cuts to the heart of the problem. This is not just about a missing centre-back or a full-back out of form. It is about collective responsibility, about a team that too often hands the ball back and invites pressure at the worst possible moments. Against Real Madrid, those lapses were punished.

The coach’s frustration was tactical as much as technical. His team did not just lose the ball; they then failed to react with the sharpness required at this level.

“When we’re defending in our own area, it’s also important to mark our opponents well, and we didn’t do that either. We have to improve in these situations. We train it, we take it into account, and we talk about it with the players.”

They drill it. They analyse it. They speak about it in meetings. Yet in the heat of a clásico, the organisation inside their own box cracked.

So the path is clear and unforgiving. The club will keep scanning the market with Deco and Bojan, weighing whether reinforcements can shift the balance. On the pitch, the demand is even more stark: smarter with the ball, harder without it, and no more cheap invitations to the biggest rivals on the biggest nights.