MADRID, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- FC Barcelona captain, Gerard Pique has blamed his side's irregular start to the season on the poor pre-season planning carried out by the club.
Speaking after Barca had to dig deep to beat Villarreal 2-1 in the Camp Nou on Tuesday night, the defender discussed early season form which has seen Barca suffer away defeats to Granada and Athletic Bilbao, while only drawing away to Osasuna and Pique holds one thing responsible more than any other.
"The pre-season didn't help us get a good start to the competition at all," he said, discussing a summer which saw Barca travel to Japan and the United States to play preparation games, which although lucrative for the club's marketing, didn't help the players prepare physically for the new campaign.
"There was a lot of traveling and very little training. A lot of us are noticing that and we still don't have the physical tone we need," he said, using Lionel Messi's injury problems to highlight the effects of the disjointed preparation.
"Look what has happened to Messi," said Pique, who insisted it was "not easy to change things in the condition we are in and here we can talk about the pre-season because one thing (form) is the consequence of another," he added.
Pique also defended Barca coach Ernesto Valverde, who has been blamed for the start to the season.
"People don't have much of a memory with Valverde, but very few coaches have won two leagues and the cup in the first two seasons," he said.
Meanwhile, Valverde discussed the groin injury which saw Messi replaced at halftime on Tuesday night.
"He had a few problems and we thought it was best for him not to continue as a precaution, but we won't know anything until tomorrow (Wednesday)" said the Barca coach.
