MADRID — Former Netherlands midfielder Clarence Seedorf made a losing start to his latest coaching role when Deportivo La Coruna was beaten 1-0 by Real Betis on Monday.
Deportivo, which has now gone eight matches without a win, dropped further into the relegation zone.
Seedorf wasn’t able to bring much of an improvement and his team was jeered off at the end by the home crowd.
"It’s normal. The players have to be able to accept the criticism," Seedorf said. "We have to look at the things that we did well. We were well organized and showed our competitiveness.
"It was a difficult match against a team that plays very well. Everybody is disappointed with the result but we are convinced that things have changed."
It was Deportivo’s sixth loss in eight games, leaving the club second from bottom in the standings with 17 points from 23 matches, three points from safety.
"I think we showed something different today," Deportivo defender Raul Albentosa said. "We created more chances than we did in the last three matches together. We had our opportunities but we couldn’t capitalize on them. We just have to keep working hard."
Betis went up to eighth place after Loren Moron scored the only goal with a close-range shot following a low cross by Junior Firpo in the 54th minute.
"It’s difficult to evaluate Seedorf after a game against a team like ours, which already has very clear ideas and concepts," Betis coach Quique Setien said. "We played a very complete game."
Seedorf, who was previously in charge of AC Milan in 2014 and a second-division club in China in 2016, replaced Cristobal Parralo at Deportivo.
Deportivo’s next match is at Alaves on Saturday while Betis hosts defending champion Real Madrid on Sunday.
Barcelona has a seven-point lead over Atletico Madrid at the top. Valencia is third, 16 points off the lead and one in front of Real Madrid.
[relatedlinks]
