MADRID, 4 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The coach of Atlético de Madrid, Diego Pablo Simeone, assured this Wednesday that Cacereño, his rival in the second round of the Copa del Rey Mapfre, plays the games “very well” at the Príncipe Felipe Stadium, something that could already be seen “two seasons ago against Real Madrid”, a duel this Thursday for which the red and whites will not be able to count on Antoine Griezmann.
“Tomorrow we will put the team that we believe can hurt Cacereño, a competitive team, a team that, especially at home, responds very well with very good results in this last period. It will compete, I have no doubt. We have already done so seen two seasons ago with Real Madrid, who competed very well and I can’t imagine any other situation than what I see in the videos,” said Simeone at the press conference prior to the cup duel this Thursday in Extremadura.
For this second round match, the Argentine coach confirmed that French striker Antoine Griezmann “will not be” available after being absent from the last two training sessions due to an intervention to remove a tooth. “Hopefully he will rejoin the team on Friday,” he said.
The one who does seem like he could be in the squad is Robin Le Normand, after overcoming the head trauma with subdural hematoma suffered in the derby. “He started to get in shape, and he is now ready to start competing tomorrow. From the enthusiasm he transmits and the enthusiasm, he is very happy and eager to help the team,” he said.
“The club and the doctors have been behind that situation as obviously the first measure and from there, then the player appears who started to get in shape,” he explained about the centre-back, with whom he has always thought “about the health of the professional”.
In relation to the roster of footballers that Atlético has this season, Simeone stated that “the greater the competition, the club and the team win.” “I’m not waiting for surprises, I’m waiting for realities and the realities are that we have to train in the best way and compete as they have been competing. It is clear that there are a lot of footballers who have been in the locker room for many years and know what the path is. “he highlighted.
“Our motto is ‘wearing the Atlético de Madrid shirt in every game is a great opportunity’ because many would like to be in the place where we are and we need to have this absolutely inserted within us,” he stated.
Despite the good streak that the red and white team is going through, Simeone insists that “there are still things to improve.” “The team grows from a block that is neither defensive nor offensive, it is a team block and from there we need to have that consistency that is the most difficult thing to sustain within the season,” he declared.
“Within the game we vary the system quite a bit depending on what each game needs. It’s not that we play with four, sometimes we play with three, sometimes we play with two, sometimes we play with six, depending on what the game asks for,” he analyzed. .
What does seem to have recovered is defensive solidity with several clean sheets in recent games. “I believe that there is no team that emerges as champion with many goals against. Normally, those who emerge as champions have either the least defeated goal or the second least defeated goal with many goals. There are few cases in which a team that receives many goals already wins wins. From there we built a work in which we have been showing for years,” he reflected.
The Argentine coach asked for “time for the new players to join the team in the best way”, one of them in Conor Gallagher. “Connor reminds me a little of the Koke from when we started on this long path that we have traveled. That inmate who works on the wing, adds one more inmate on the inside, player who reaches the goal, player who makes numerical superiority for his work, recoverer of balls, a lot of things that the team gives him. I hope he can keep him because of his characteristics,” he concluded.