Santander League: Valencia and Atletico, in search of lost identity | LaLiga Santander 2019

Thursday,
13
February
2020

20:17

“We are two teams that have been adapting to a course with many casualties,” says Celades, who continues without Rodrigo.

Morata and Coquelin, last October, in the Metropolitan.
AFP

Three points in the classification. The Atletico, fourth, with 39 points and expelled from the paraso of the fight for the League. Valencia, seventh, with 37 looking for the final assault on that Champions square that it seemed was going to conquer with a project that still had no roof. The season was too early for both of them, who today face in Mestalla trying to recover their identity. Diego Simeone seeks her against the vertigo and the anxiety that she produces, not being able to handle games, without the offensive capacity of other times and with whom they must contribute, Alvaro Morata and Diego Costa, shaken by injuries. The first to be in Valencia; The second must wait. Liverpool looks out on the horizon demanding caution.

Opposite to have a safe rival in his stadium, but in search of his balance and with the same doubts. Albert Celades Valencia is still under construction while the season is running. It makes the rubber with the objective of being the reliable team that resulted at the end of the last campaign. The change of style has come accompanied by a plague of injuries that only Dani Parejo has avoided. The rest, all have passed through the nurse.

We are two teams that have adapted to a season with many casualties, recalled Celades. The Andorran is still waiting for a central, which does not arrive, to replace Garay and faces a vital week without Rodrigo and Coquelin, with discomfort, Gameiro and Guedes recently recovered and the only good news that Gay's ankle has responded well to the rest. The burden of minutes accumulated by the healthy ones meant a slab in the last matches, lacking physical and mental freshness, essential elements to compete against the Atlantic and Wednesday when the Atalanta is deployed in San Siro.

32 conceded goals

Celades does not believe that the defeat against Getafe and the expulsion will be symptoms of a negative dynamic, although he does not deny the major challenge that means facing the Atlantic, a team that fits very little, very solid and punishes you to the minimum, without lose sight of what awaits you in Miln. Because in the League there is room to recover, but in the Champions they kick you out, record.

With an offensive baggage better than last season (33 goals against 24), the problem remains at the close: 32 goals are too many, especially since the rivals find them with only two shots on goal. The solid Valencia has vanished.

In this traffic, the two coaches live sealed. Simeone has the first critical voices that seem to begin to verbalize the end of an era. I don't understand being questioned, but we know the world we live in, says Celades. They accompany him from the beginning of his in Valencia. He is a rookie on the benches of a club, but the commandments that guide the lives of the technicians are well known. He has seen how he was sought to replace a champion Copa and Axis coach and how Barcelona fired Ernesto Valverde when he was leader of the League. Simeone is just one more example.

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