Quique Setién holds extraordinary meeting with Villarreal players amid fallout claims

Quique Setién has held an extraordinary meeting with the Villarreal players amid a rocky start to his tenure.

Setién has overseen four games so far but is yet to secure a win, with Villarreal losing to Athletic Club and Mallorca in La Liga, drawing with Hapoel Beer Sheva and losing to Lech Poznan in the Europa League.

It has not been the start Setién will have wanted after taking over for Unai Emery, who departed for Aston Villa.

And fans were already calling for him to be sacked over the weekend. Beyond that, there have been rumblings of players falling out with the new boss, not convinced by his approach.

In the meantime, Pau Torres has told the media that Setién’s plans are ‘adequate enough’ for the quality of players Villarreal have, claiming the players are not executing well enough.

But something clearly isn’t right at camp, and that was made clear by Setién holding a two hour and 20 minute meeting with his players this morning.

The Yellows were supposed to be training this morning, but the session was delayed significantly by the long and unexpected meeting.

It seems Setién and the players needed to clear the air before progressing, given some of the leaks in the media.

Crucially, though, Setién did eventually lead his players on to the training pitch, so it seems whatever the cause of the meeting, however feisty it may have been, it did have the desired outcome.

Having said that, the proof will have to be in the results, and Setién is going to have to manage an upturn, starting on Wednesday when Villarreal face Espanyol in Catalonia.

UPDATE: Setién has since claimed there was no meeting, and that it was a ‘video session’. Most aren’t buying it, but we will take his word for now.