Simeone is going through his most difficult moment since being coach of Atlético. The KO in the Super Cup is another wound in a very complicated season, where not only the results are failing, but a unexplained football and identity crisis, above all because the team was champion of the League eight months ago. But now nothing comes out, not the game, not the performance of his pieces, not even luck. El Cholo turns to his philosophy of “work, work, work” and accepts that there are many things “that cannot be hidden” to improve. But the calendar is advancing at full speed.
In search of the plan and eleven
The coach does not hit the key. The feeling is that, in mid-January, Simeone is still looking for the plan. The idea with which he won the League now does not completely convince him. That is why, for example, Atleti has been alternating in recent weeks between 5-3-2 and the classic 4-4-2. What could be translated as tactical richness, versatility and versatility of the players, is now rather understood as doubts, tests and recomposing on the fly. Y It’s hard to see that Atlético cholista that he could be more or less right, but he was always recognizable and a competitive beast. Without football or soul.
Without a fixed scheme, there is also no eleven type. To find this, Simeone encounters frequent obstacles. Injuries complicate every lineup. And the individual performance of their footballers doesn’t help either. There are very few players who are scratching at their best level. And many are far below expectations. Responsibility is shared between the squad and the coach, who has always been characterized by improving and revaluing his pupils.
A fragile team, individually and collectively
So, at this point in the season, Atlético has lost more games than in the entire previous year. The rojiblancos closed 20-21 with eight defeats and in this one they have already had nine: Riyadh, three in the Champions League that almost cost them elimination and five in the League that have them very far from the leader and with the qualification for the next European Cup in question. “The lack of aggressiveness in the areas deprives us of being in more important places”, Simeone explained after losing to Athletic, in a match where, at least he said publicly, he liked what he saw.
Attending his last press conferences, what most worries Cholo is the forcefulness both in attack and defense. The equipment exhibits a very serious fragility. Of the last nine games, he conceded two goals in six and lost five of them. Many players have spoken of “lack of attention”. Oblak was very critical in Arabia: “We score a goal, we get back and wait. Well, if we wait, these things happen.” Simeone does not find solutions and on top of that now he sees how one of his starting defenders has left (Trippier) without knowing yet who will come for him and when. The reinforcement will no longer arrive for the Super Cup and in a week Atleti will play it in the Cup (Real Sociedad).
club endorsement
The reality is that Simeone now has a short squad (20 effective), unbalanced (six defenders for five forwards) and with several headgears (Griezmann, Savic, Kondogbia and Llorente). And the team on the field is not solid, it does not generate football other than arreones and it is not lethal in attack either. Suárez’s slump has hurt and is a hot potato for Cholo, because number 9 is a footballer with stripes in the locker room. In Riyadh he entered with the score in his favor, in a context that did not favor him and neither he could help the team much nor vice versa.
While, the confidence in Simeone continues being total on the part of the club, who sees the Argentine as the right person to get Atleti out of the pothole. Because he has already shown that he can get out of complicated situations and, without going too far, because with most of this group they won the League in May. Because the message is not believed to be exhausted, although Simeone’s gestures (the snort of Cádiz, the teary eyes before Osasuna…) have been able to convey a feeling of overwhelm. The entity remembers the 2020 break, when the team was sixth with 11 games to go, but accelerated in time to finish third. On this occasion, although the impressions are very bad, there is time to wake up and meet the minimum objectives.