Atlético fell to Athletic and Simeone's team may lose their leadership this week if Barcelona win the game they have postponed against Granada. The rojiblanco team lost to Athletic in a match where they made some improper errors in the Atlético category. Simeone, at a press conference, commented that the main failure was his due to the bad first half of the rojiblanco team. Indeed. Atlético had a first period where they did not enter the game well. He conceded a goal early and although he had the ball, he did not exercise great control over the rival. Simeone pointed out the blame for the bad departure of the Madrid team to the field of play, something that is repeated.
Simeone knows that it is useless to charge against anyone. There are players who have been in evidence in some games. And in Bilbao too. Saúl returned to make a bad encounter, slow, imprecise in the pass… You have to demand much more from a player of his quality. The midfielder tries, but it seems he can't … In the second half, Atlético did besiege Athletic's goal. In the first fifteen minutes he had chances to score, but he couldn't. João Félix, Lemar and Luis Suárez entered the field. The Portuguese tried, the French was worse than other days and the Uruguayan hardly saw the ball.
El Cholo tried to revolutionize the party, although he did not quite succeed. Atlético needs these players a lot. It is true that they were returning from injuries, but they are the ones who have to pull the team. There are others who cannot be asked for more. Marcos Llorente and Correa, for example.
The defense, on the other hand, was also very flawed. Athletic arrived little but did it with danger. He scored the first time he came close to Oblak, and already with a goal tie, and with the feeling that Atlético could win the game, he conceded from a set piece at 2-1. Simeone and his coaching staff take great care of this type of action. It cannot be that Atlético will leave Bilbao empty due to a strategic move with less than five minutes remaining. A championship can be decided by this type of action. Atlético was penalized for its defensive fragility in the two goals.
The team, on the other hand, needs to regain that character of the champion of yesteryear.. There are games that have to be won yes or yes. And the one from Bilbao was one of them. Playing well, badly or regularly, the Cholo team needed, at least, to score in San Mamés. It did not succeed. The week is going to be long in the entity of the Metropolitan Wanda. The Argentine coach indicated that whoever is mentally stronger will win the championship. And Atlético has to regain that confidence and determination that it had for much of the season..