Piquerez apologises for Palmeiras’ shameful display: “We played in fear” | OneFootball

Palmeiras suffered a crushing defeat on Tuesday night. The Verdão was defeated by Novorizontino 4-0, away from home, in the fourth round of the Campeonato Paulista. Playing the full 90 minutes, Piquerez apologized to the fans and described the team's performance as "shameful."

"The first thing that comes to mind is to apologize to the fans who came to support us here today. It's a shame what happened today. A completely unrecognizable team on the field, everyone played with fear, no one wanted to take the ball. Unfortunately, this happened. We have to work a lot now. It was a very hard blow, but the next game is a classic, at home, we have to turn the page and swallow this very strong defeat that happened today. Again, I want to apologize. Today, the team was a disgrace," the defender lamented in an interview with TNT.

Piquerez also insisted on demanding self-criticism from the alviverde squad, which suffered the worst defeat of the Abel Ferreira era against Novorizontino. In the Uruguayan's view, the entire group is responsible for Tuesday's "shame."

"What we are going to say in the locker room will stay there. We are a very big team, everyone has responsibility here. The younger ones who have just come up, and those of us who have been here longer, we have to have self-criticism and feel ashamed of what happened today, because it cannot happen. We need to work internally to turn the key," the player concluded.

Palmeiras will need to quickly pick up the pieces, as they already have a classic ahead. Verdão hosts São Paulo this Saturday at 6:30 PM (Brasília time) at Arena Barueri, for the fifth round of the Paulista.

Standings Situation

With the result, Palmeiras suffered their first defeat in the Campeonato Paulista and lost the chance to take the lead, which could have happened in case of victory and a slip by Red Bull Bragantino. The Alviverde fell to third place, remaining with the same nine points from the start of the round.

This was also the worst defeat of the Abel Ferreira era. During his five years at the club, the coach had never suffered a loss by four goals difference.

Upcoming Palmeiras Matches

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.