Sergio Busquets Says Barcelona's Defending Is 'Worrying' After Leganes Defeat

Sergio Busquets is concerned at the number of goals Barcelona are conceding after they slipped to a 2-1 defeat at Leganes on Wednesday.

Barcelona led at the break thanks to Philippe Coutinho's early strike, but Nabil El Zhar and Oscar Rodriguez Arnaiz struck in the space of a minute to turn things around at the Estadio Municipal Butarque.

Per Sport's Angel Fabregues, Busquets said that "in two minutes they turned the game around, and we lacked intensity."

He continued: "The worrying thing is conceding so many goals. We have to be more solid. These are the details which can take points from you, and we have to improve."

The defeat follows on from a 2-2 draw with Girona on Sunday. Gerard Pique received criticism for his defending in that clash, and he was at fault for Rodriguez's goal on Wednesday after his attempt to clear the ball went straight to the 20-year-old.

Football journalist Rik Sharma and ESPN FC's David Cartlidge gave damning assessments of Pique's performance, not only against Leganes but this season in general:

Busquets stopped short of criticising his team-mate, though, saying: "We're a team. We win and we lose together. We have to look at what went wrong as a team. We play with 11 players, and we all lost the game."

It's a far cry from last year, when Barca almost went unbeaten in La Liga, with their only defeat coming in the final weeks of the season.

ESPN FC's Samuel Marsden noted as much and also took issue with the Blaugrana's defending:

Pique could use a spell on the sidelines to regroup, but manager Ernesto Valverde had little choice but to play him on Wednesday after fellow centre-back Clement Lenglet was suspended following his red card against Girona.

What will also concern the manager is the lack of response he saw from his team after Leganes went in front.

Rodriguez's winner came in the 53rd minute, but aside from a fine double save from Ivan Cuellar to deny Coutinho and Ivan Rakitic, Leganes were scarcely troubled by Barca for the remainder of the match.

If Barca are to defend their title in La Liga and reach the business end of the UEFA Champions League for the first time in four years, they need to improve significantly in the coming months.