Thomas Lemar closes a year of great footballing memory … despite having to face injuries. The Frenchman, who was starting the 2020-21 season on the market, managed to take that leap forward in its benefits, with a change of role since on November 28, 2020 the team was thrown on its back in Mestalla (in its second title of the course), until January as an increasingly key piece in the new Simeone system.
The Argentine coach was modifying the team tactically and finding the position where Lemar could finally feel comfortable as an interior with much more influence with the ball. The 26-year-old player already explained it in an interview in France Football, back in January 2021: “There was a lack of adaptation on my part. I said. It took me a long time to adapt to Atlético’s system and style of play. Now that I understand and understand everything better, things are much better. I feel like I have this DNA in me. “
“I have worked a lot on my weak points. I wanted to focus on my work to play again, have more fun, get back to my level and play for Atlético. It depended on me. I have spoken a lot with the coach. He asked me what we could do to improve my situation. He listened to me, I listened to him, I always told him that he was an axis player, on the inside. This change to the environment allows me to be more free “. And they weren’t empty words. Lemar was growing in that center of the field, going down to receive and being key when breaking lines and applied himself at work and in pressure to avoid a decompensation in the team.
If Cholo needed to give back to the band, even as a lane, the Frenchman responded without question, but without a doubt. he had found his ideal position on the inside and the influence on the game of the team that Atlético had come to look for when they joined him from Monaco weeks before lifting the World Cup. And Simeone has rewarded his evolution by giving him the keys to ownership … until the injuries have slowed him down. Total, Lemar has participated in 34 games in this year 2021 and has started 26 of them. And their substitutions have been cheated, since several of them have occurred on their return to the pitch after overcoming those physical problems.
Some injuries that have tarnished his year, with a total of five mishaps, four muscular and positive for coronavirus, who had him in the dry dock for 16 games (Atlético played in eight of them) and They prevented him from playing the last three days of the last league where Atlético was proclaimed champion. Lemar had fallen after 13 minutes of the game at the Camp Nou and could not recover in time, although he took a small revenge this season against Barcelona with goal and assistance in the 2-0 against the Blaugranas. In this almost half of the 2021-22 season, Lemar has been a starter in 13 games and a substitute in four, with his capital entry against Espanyol (goal) and Milan (direct participation in both goals) and without being able to change course in the defeats against Real Madrid and Mallorca, despite being one of the best in the derby.
Until now adds three goals and four assists, equaling his record for goals at the club in the campaign of his arrival and placing himself two passes on goal from reaching his best figure. And add three more assists in 2021 to a direct participation in 10 goals. The challenge is to continue increasing its benefits, be more and more influential in the final meters and get rid of those ghosts of injuries. Without a doubt, one of Lemar’s great wishes for the new year will be that his physique does not weigh him down and achieve continuity that allows him to maintain the high of 2021. One of the Atlético players with the greatest progression in the last 12 months and who looks to 2022 with the desire to continue growing.