Setién believes the former Ajax star has been playing in a different way from the past few months.
Maxi Gomez’s strike and a Jordi Alba own goal gave Valencia all three points against Barcelona at Mestalla.
It is Setien’s first defeat as Barcelona manager in just his second La Liga game in charge of the Camp Nou club after replacing Ernesto Valverde some days ago.
“De Jong has not had the best of games,” Setién was quoted by Livesoccertv as saying after the match.
“But it wasn’t just him, it was also the rest of the team. They are not getting what their team-mates are doing, and Frenkie in particular had been playing in a certain way during the past few months, and now we’re asking other things from him.”
Setién added: “We are taking under consideration the position each player had and the understanding they have on our general idea. It’s one thing to see it on the board and a totally different one to do it on the pitch. “
