It is difficult to make a hot analysis when you were playing the note of the season in such a juicy Champions League and it is the unsuspected Leipzig the one that leaves you on the way. Atlético dreamed of the title to put a finishing touch that would have vaporized all the doubts of the season, but perhaps from all sectors they looked too much at the goal and little at the first obstacle, a German team that without its great star sent all the mattress illusions to the canvas.
It must be taken into account that it was a complicated year, of transition as Simeone analyzed from the first day after lose his hard core of the defense (Godín, Filipe, Juanfran and Lucas), Griezmann, star and top scorer in the five seasons at the club and incorporate eight new faces in summer. But undoubtedly the planning has had moles. Something that is demonstrated as you have three right sides and only one left, the pivot that arrives to fill Rodrigo's huge gap and fight for a starting position in the midfield ends up being your star forward, between your two ends they add 21 goals, figures that by themselves already practically disqualify you from fighting for titles and your great winter reinforcement ends up frustrating (Cavani) to end up recovering from China On the last day of the market to a Carrasco who has ended up showing that he has enough level to be a starter at Atlético, but that he has needed two months to get in tune and whose acclimatization could have accelerated signing on January 1 and not on 31.
Without a doubt, it is easy to talk a posteriori, but although it is true that the preseason excited everyone, finally the achieved goal of third place It already seems insufficient even for Oblak himself, who complained in AS that “one is the goal that the club sets and its need and another is the one that I had in mind, my hope. This was to compete more with Barça and Madrid until season finale. It couldn't be, it turned out as it did and the goal was met, but my hope was not “. More than by the result itself, by the way of achieving it, far removed from the rojiblanca competitiveness of other years.
Many moments of the season where the game has not given to generate dangerous actions and to be able to break the ties that have so weighed down the team. Anfield, the great night of the season, was a turning point for the good level shown after the break. Before, a less reliable Atlético had been seen behind and with much less gunpowder above, something completely marked by the absence of Griezmann, the player who defined so many games. And it is that the rojiblanco team came to chain streaks with four out of five consecutive games in the League without scoring and add draws and draws that in February had already left LaLiga unattainable. Many first parts thrown away, second showing a better face, but with the forwards needing too many actions to define and injuries everywhere.
No scorer in sight
Among the new signings, it must be said that several of them have left a great impact thinking about the next year. Against Leipzig, Trippier, Lodi, Herrera, Carrasco and Llorente were headlines arrived in recent months. From the bench came João Félix to give the team another air, finally insufficient despite throwing the team on his back. New faces like those of Lodi, Llorente, Carrasco or Philip have been the best news of the course. The Portuguese for his part will have to take a step forward next season, although he has made it clear that he has plenty of quality. In the case of Trippier, his year has gone from more to less and other new faces like Herrera, Hermoso or Saponjic they have not made the leap in quality.
But perhaps the position that worries the most is that of '9', where Costa has ended up beating Morata despite finishing the course with five goals. If Griezmann left after his worst scoring season at the club by far, he scored the same goals as the two center forwards together (in his best year he reached 32). Before Leipzig there was also evidence of a complete dependence on Thomas in the middle, without Herrera being able to supply him and while the Ghanaian continues without renewing. Other very expensive footballers like Lemar or Vitolo have not taken that step forward either. At such a point, it is necessary to analyze what Simeone can do, already without the Mono Burgos, thinking about the next season.
Diego Costa after Leipzig's first goal.
JESUS ALVAREZ ORIHUELA (POOL / DIARIO AS)
The Argentine coach has experienced perhaps his most difficult season at the club. Adapting so many new faces to his scheme has not been easy at all and if his signings have always needed acclimatization, this year he has had to skip it out of obligation. Perhaps he can be accused of a lack of variants to adapt the style of differential players like João Félix to his style booklet. Cholo suffers against teams that are known to be worse and against defenses with three centrals. There is a bad taste in the mouth after eliminating Liverpool, being much superior in the Wanda Metropolitano and showing an outstanding survival in Anfield, ending up losing to Leipzig.
Simeone will have to work next season to solve the goalscorer's fault. Since your arrival he had had Falcao, Diego Costa and Griezmann at stellar levels. Now he is an orphan of that star. The solution is through a huge leap in quality by Morata and João Félix or going to the market with very few resources to sign a scorer of guarantees based on barters or imaginative solutions. A complicated task where one more year, the other great challenge to be able to fight for titles will be to keep differential players like Oblak, Giménez or Thomas himself.