I have never lowered the
Atlético de Madrid
of Diego Simeone his percentage of victories in a season below 55 percent, dropped to 48 in this recently completed course, the worst of the entire era of the Argentine coach, concluded with the frustration of the irrefutable elimination of the Champions League and below expectations in almost all competitions.
Nor in the League, even if the objective of the pass to the Champions, because he did not compete for the title very early; nor in the Copa del Rey, removed by the Cultural Leonesa; nor in the 'Champions', Even though he has reached the quarterfinals. Maybe only in the Spain Supercup, the team has lived up to its expectations.
Or what is required of a set of such caliber, which is what it is today for Diego Simeone, undoubtedly, the man who reestablished the hierarchy, the condition and the history of a team that had walked adrift, amid irregularity, since its relegation to the Second Division, but that needs more than this course or the season has shown. above to fulfill the aspirations with a staff that has also grown in power and variety.
“It has been a complex season, with the position of third place that allows us to be in Champions, improve what was done last year, which was to be out in the round of 16 and this time in the quarterfinals and try to improve next season ”, said the coach at the telematic press conference after the painful defeat against Leipzig.
But the year of “transition” of which the coach spoke, for that of replacing decisive names in the past such as Antoine Griezmann, Diego Godín, Filipe Luis or Juanfran Torres by younger ones, with special emphasis on Joao Felix or Renan lodi, for example, has ended up with the worst figures under his leadership.
The numbers are what they are, no matter how many nuances there are in the how or why, in the changes in the squad, in the unusual number of draws, in the atypical campaign or in moments without fortune such as the rebound that was the 2 -1 for Leipzig, although there is no doubt in anyone from the Madrid team that their opponent was better this Thursday.
1- THE LEAST WINNER
Of his 50 games this year, the Athletic has expired 24 – 48 percent. He is the least winner of the entire era Simeone; seven points below the coach's worst records so far, 55 percent from the 2014-15 season, with 31 wins in 56 games. Then he was also third in the League and also fell in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, but he won the Super Cup.
The rest are above. In 2017-18 and 2018-19, with 57 and 58 percent, respectively (34 out of 59 and 30 out of 51). That is, the last five years contains the four least winning courses of this entire era, with the sole exception of the 2015-16 financial year, when it did exceed expectations, it was imposed in 64 percent of its matches (37 of 57), it competed La Liga and reached the final of the Champions. He was runner-up of Europe. So, Simeone spoke of “failure” for having lost his second final of the League
of Champions.
The most winning season, the imposing 2013-14, when he was champion of the League and second in the 'Champions', Shoots the winning numbers to 68 percent; 20 points above the course just finished. An atrocity. As is the number of draws that the Athletic in the current campaign: 18.
It's 36 percent of their matches across all competitions, the reason why the Athletic has not competed as it should, or to where it should, for the League, from which he moved away too quickly, and a figure unknown in all previous years of the Argentine coach, who at most had equaled 27 percent of his crashes (16 of 59) in 2017-18, when he was proclaimed champion of the Europa League.
2- MORE THAN A GOAL PROBLEM
Because defeats are in the acceptable range of each season since the Argentine coach directs Atlético. His eight games lost in 50 games – 16 percent – are not the best data (11 percent in 2013-14, with 7 out of 61) nor are they the worst (19 percent in 2012-13 and 2014-15, with 11 of 56 in both cases).
The reason for such imbalance is largely in the indisputable goal problem that the team went through all year, especially in the first section, but also in other more interpretive aspects, such as the lack of ambition in certain games as a visitor, especially at first; certain defensive oversights, some from set pieces; and a lot of irregularity.
The numbers also represent Atlético's least scorer of the entire era this season. Simeone. He has scored 68 goals in 50 games, an average of 1.36 per game. The lowest so far was 1.56 from 2015-16, when he fought for the League until the penultimate date and reached the last match of the Champions League, but then his defense was unapproachable, with only 0.54 goals against per clash.
On the other hand, in that sense, his current season is more or less within the most common numbers in his own goal, although among the worst. His 40 goals against in 50 commitments, 0.8 per duel, only worsened by 0.86 last year, but several are close (0.76 in 2012-13 and 2014-15, and 0.79 in 2016 -17). And others far away: 2013-14 (0.73); 2015-16 (0.54) and 2017-18, with 0.61.
3- LESS POINTS THAN EVER IN THE LEAGUE
“A difficult season. Even so, we have carried it forward. We have been third, we have reached the quarterfinals of Champions, which is difficult to say so, and we have played the final of the Spain Supercup. Everything will continue. To get up as we have always done, reset and return next season with greater enthusiasm ”, he values Koke Resurrección, the captain of the rojiblanco team.
It is true that for the eighth consecutive season he will be in 'Champions', With the economic and sporting stability that this implies for the entity, which had never achieved so much constancy and, in fact, was not among the top three since winning the' doublet 'of 1995-96 until it arrived Simeone.
As much as it is that this time he has achieved third position with more trouble than ever or that he has done it with the worst score of these eight seasons.
He reached it with 70 points. He never added so few at the close of the league tournament. Not in 2012-13, with 76; nor in 2013-14, with 90; nor in 2014-15, with 78; nor in 2015-16, with 88; nor in 2016-17, with 78; nor in 2017-18, with 79; nor in 2018-19, with 76.
Nor with such a low number of victories: 18 in 38 days. He had never come down from the 22 wins with Simeone in the 38 complete appointments of the championship. Not in 2012-13, with 23; nor in 2013-14, with 28; nor in 2014-15, with 23; nor in 2015-16, with 28; nor in 2016-17, with 23; nor in 2017-18, with 23; nor in 2018-19, with 22.
He was third, within the goal set, but more was expected. “Our objective is accomplished, because we have entered Champions, but at the beginning of the season we were looking for something more, although in the end it was not possible. Before confinement we were sixth and at the end of the season we were third. An objective achieved, but it is certainly not what we have sought and wanted ”, he said, for example, Jan Oblak, second captain, on August 7 on the club's website.
4- THE ELIMINATION OF THE CUP AND THE FINAL OF THE SPANISH SUPER CUP
Nor had the Athletic of Simeone so soon in the Copa del Rey like this campaign: in the round of 32, when he fell in extra time against a Second Division B, the Cultural Leonesa, 2-1 and a single game. At best, his earliest goodbye had been in the eighth; last season against him Girona with two draws (1-1 away and 3-3 at home), although also with the nuance that until now he had always played a double shock.
In the Spain Supercup in Saudi ArabiaInstead, he did compete until the end. Winner 2-3 against Barcelona in the semifinals, when he came back in the last minutes, in the final against the Real Madrid had the title very close, until the penalty shootout, when the rojiblanco team was defeated from eleven meters.
And in the Champions LeagueAgain, for the third year in a row they have not reached the quarterfinals. It is true that he improved last season (round of 16) and the previous one (group stage, then he was champion of the Europa League), but none of the previous four. Neither 2013-14 nor 2015-16 (in both finalists) nor 2016-17 (semi-finalists) nor 2014-15, when he was also eliminated in the quarterfinals.
5- EXPECTATIONS HAVE GROWN
Also, with the anticipation that I had this year, the defeat against Leipzig has triggered the feeling of disappointment. “A difficult night for us and for all the Atlético. We had many illusions in this Champions For everything we have been doing, for having eliminated the champion, the expectations were very high, but it could not be. We have not been up to our game. They have been better from the first half until they have scored the goal, then we have remade ourselves with the goal of Joao, that the team was well, and when the team was better, the second goal came that killed us and destroyed us, ”he explains. Koke.
“The pain is because after having done a season with so many pressures, with so many needs, with so much search to insert many new people, we came to this game with great enthusiasm and with great respect for the rival,” he explained Simeone.
In the background, the following campaign appears: “It will be tough, because there are very good teams, very good coaches and we will have to continue improving, because the difference that we saw years ago is beginning to close, which was seven or eight points. . We already finished the same as the fourth this year and all that is going to be a responsibility for us as a coaching staff to improve next season ”.