Luis Enrique admitted Barcelona's defence was "fragile" as he took responsibility for Saturday's 2-1 home defeat to Alaves. Goals from Deyverson and Ibai Gomez either side of a Jeremy Mathieu header helped the La Liga new boys stun the Spanish champions at Camp Nou. It was the Catalan side's first defeat of the new campaign and leaves them three points adrift of early front runners Real Madrid. Barca boss Enrique felt Alaves benefited from more than a little help from a makeshift defence which included Aleix Vidal and an out of sorts Javier Mascherano.
"We were fragile in defence and we will have to go over that," he admitted in his post game news conference. "It's an area where we've been strong in other years, but we also lacked fluidity and precision. "The second [Alaves] goal, after another error by us, hit the group hard and did a lot of damage because it was a demonstration of our defensive fragility. "It's good for us to evaluate things and to recognise how difficult it is to compete in this league." Enrique had taken the decision to leave Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba and Sergi Roberto out of the side following the international break.
Alaves stunned Lionel Messi and Barcelona at the Camp Nou on Saturday. Further forward he also left Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Andres Iniesta on the bench before throwing the trio on in the second half as things went downhill. "It is what it is," he responded when pressed on his changes. "I'm the most responsible for that and I accept [the criticism]. "Everything bad that happens is my fault, but it's easy to criticise with hindsight. "This season we don't just move forward with 11 players, we move forward with 22."
Midfielder Sergio Busquets, who was one of the few regulars to maintain their place in the starting lineup, backed his coach's decision to rotate. "The manager decides who should play," Busquets said. "He made the changes which he felt were right for the team and it's not a question of going over it. "We have get ourselves back on track as soon as possible. Things have only just began -- there's a long way to go in the league. "Now we have to think about the Champions League and Celtic on Tuesday."
