Real Sociedad Latest to Perish from Atletico Madrid's Fast Starts, Set-Piece Art
It was a routine we'd seen before from Atletico Madrid—many times, in fact. It's why it can be labelled a routine.
We watched it unfold with precision against Getafe a couple of weeks ago. A handful of games prior to that, we witnessed it in devastating fashion against Almeria. Hell, we watch it almost every week from Atleti—particularly at home, at the Vicente Calderon.
On Tuesday against Real Sociedad, there it was again, in its particular kind of beauty.
From kick-off, Tiago received the ball just behind the centre circle and thumped it forward. Surrounded by Basque defenders, Fernando Torres leapt into an aerial contest, bringing the Portuguese's high hoof to the ground and battling for it once there.
The ball pinballed around for a few seconds, finding its way back to Jesus Gamez in his own half near the right sideline. Like Tiago, the full-back thumped it forward, to Arda Turan this time, racing after it to support the Turk in attack. Turan fetched it and quickly played it back to Gamez, who won a free-kick.
For Real Sociedad, the dreaded free-kick.
All week, opposing teams make special preparations for Atletico's free-kicks and set pieces. Defenders organise systems and plans to deal with them. Midfielders are expected to help—ditto for the forwards.
The video men analyse them. Opposing managers talk about them in press conferences. It's no secret; everyone knows what's coming.
Atletico have scored 22 goals from such situations this season. The bagger who packs your groceries at the supermarket knows Atleti rule set pieces. Your sibling who wants to change the channel knows it. So does your dog.
There might even be isolated tribes in the Amazon who know it. And even if you've been hiding under a rock, you'd still know it—the rock would have told you.
But somehow, for teams that visit the Vicente Calderon, the prior awareness isn't beneficial; the knowledge of what's coming isn't like one of those "slippery when wet" signs that saves you from looking foolish. Every side arrives prepared, full of plans and well-versed on Atleti's primary threat, and yet it doesn't matter—one after another, they succumb to exactly what they were waiting for.
Thus, a wariness has given rise to a certain kind of trepidation. That visiting teams know it's coming now appears to have heightened the issue—Atleti's set pieces almost seem to paralyse opponents in fear.
And, what's worse, Atletico know it. They prey on it. You sense Diego Simeone's men smell it.
It's why we keep witnessing an ever-growing trend from Atleti that's seeing the team rush the ball forward as fast as possible from the first whistle, just as they did against Real Sociedad on Tuesday. In the first minute, Atletico want a free-kick. A corner. A set-piece situation to get to work on immediately. (When they did it against Almeria, Sky Sports commentator Terry Gibson remarked that it was almost as though Simeone had set a time limit for his team to launch their first assault on the visitors' box.)
Doing so compounds the effect of the situation on the opponent. Throughout the entire buildup, they've concentrated intently on preparing for such moments. Set pieces will have been at the front of their minds. But they also want to get into the game first, play a little, settle down.
Instead, they find themselves facing the biggest danger in a matter of seconds.
You can imagine it might be similar to jumping into one of those cages that are dropped into shark-infested waters. When you're plunged underneath the surface, you'd want a few minutes to become used to the surroundings, to get a feel for being in the cage, to get used to the breathing equipment and to work out your position.
The last thing you'd want is a great white shark hammering into the cage the second you went in. Even though you knew what you were getting into, immediately your thoughts would be in disarray.
Atleti's first-minute set pieces are the same.
On Tuesday, Real Sociedad manager David Moyes watched helplessly on the sideline as that exact process unfolded.
Koke's free-kick following the swift foul on Gamez found the head of Tiago at the near post, with the Portuguese flicking it on in typical Atletico fashion. There at the drop of the ball was Turan, who smashed a shot into the post.
The scrap that followed resulted in a corner, the Basques already reeling. It's hit us already?!
Perhaps unrivalled in dead-ball delivery, Koke sent another menacing ball into the box. Powerful figures Miranda, Jose Gimenez and Torres were all there to meet it. But they didn't need to; the sudden wave of tension that had gripped La Real saw Mikel Gonzalez head home an own goal.
As starts go, it was as bad as it could have been for the visitors. They had prepared for it, yes, but they weren't prepared for it to unfold so quickly.
Before fans were even in their seats, the scoreline read 1-0—because of a dreaded set piece.
The goal, as mentioned, was the 22nd to result from a dead ball this season for Atletico. It was also Atleti's 10th league strike in the opening 15 minutes of a game—the sixth of such kind at home.
Just minutes later, Antoine Griezmann then took those tallies to 11 and seven, respectively—both numbers the best in La Liga, per WhoScored.com.
For Real Sociedad, it must have been alarming. In the midst of enjoying their best run of the season, they'd only just entered the stadium, and they'd already lost. So rattled were they that when the next corner from Koke was whipped in, the visitors—so intent on crowding Atleti's bigger bodies near the six-yard box—left Mario Suarez unattended in the middle.
Koke's ball found him, with Moyes' men fortunate to see the Spaniard fluff the shot. But the miss didn't matter, nor did the last 80 minutes—Atleti, set-piece artists and kings of the fast start, had done all they needed to in the opening 10.
Naturally, Real Sociedad, on their way home, might wonder just what happened.
When reviewing the game, Moyes might reach the same conclusion that was voiced by Pablo Franco. After watching his team suffer the same ordeal only two weeks earlier, the Getafe manager said, as reported by Tom Conn of Inside Spanish Football, "We knew they were going to get off to a very strong start. Our intention was to minimise their amount of scoring chances from set pieces, but in the first several minutes, we conceded a goal and that punished us."
Rather neatly, Franco outlined the problem: You know it's coming, but it still gets you.
On Tuesday, yet another side found out exactly that.
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