Saul Emerging as Key to Atletico Madrid Midfield After Another Stand-out Display

Atletico Madrid went back to the top of La Liga on Sunday night with an important 2-0 win at Celta Vigo, with Antoine Griezmann and Yannick Carrasco on the scoresheet.

Following big wins for Barcelona and Real Madrid on Saturday after lower-key opposition, the pressure was on Atleti to bring a performance and the end product to go with it to maintain their recent good form and keep their spot at the top.

While the overall display was impressive in its own right against a side challenging for European spots this season, one man in the centre stood out again for Atletico: Saul Niguez, a big performer in three different roles across the 90 minutes.

Balaidos

Atleti have chopped and changed the midfield around plenty in recent weeks, with Diego Simeone trying to offer a balance of pace and creativity with his usual mix of tenacious and aggressive options. Against Celta, a top-six side for most of this season, he eschewed any of his usual attacking options for a more solid quartet of Koke and Saul starting in the flank roles, with Gabi and former Celta man Augusto Fernandez centrally.

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The first 45 minutes saw Saul be one of the most progressive players on the pitch, helping knit together nice periods of possession for Atleti and be one of the few midfielders who actually penetrated the penalty area with his runs forward. He was involved in good link play with Griezmann and often switched flanks to double up with Koke and create overloads.

After the break, Atleti went 4-3-3 for most of the second half, leaving Saul central. He operated both as the central runner and the holding player, deepest out of the three, and most impressively of all excelled in each of the roles on the night.

Simeone made three subs and gave one new face—Augusto—his Liga debut for the club, but none of the alterations came at the expense of Saul.

Recent Run

Technically impressive, full of running and with a good turn of pace in both directions, Saul has shown the perfect combination of Simeone-approved traits in the past few weeks as well as pitching in with goals—something the rest of the midfield doesn't do nearly enough.

His ability to pop up in the area and either shoot or compete aerially makes him a worthwhile inclusion alone, but his all-round game in the middle third has been more impressive than either Gabi or Koke recently.

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The 21-year-old had to wait for an opportunity earlier on in the campaign, only starting twice in La Liga up to the last week of November, but since the match at Espanyol in Jornada 13, he has featured in seven league games in a row, playing 90 minutes in all but one, as well as playing in all three Copa del Rey games and playing (and scoring) in the Champions League win over Benfica.

Saul is in the side on merit, and his versatility means he can adapt to whichever role is asked of him by Simeone.

With 1,336 minutes of game time so far this season, he has already nearly matched last term's tally of 1,591 minutes across four competitions. 2014-15 saw Saul score four and assist two; this campaign, he already has five goals with one assist, highlighting his improvement in end product.

Pecking Order

The battle for places in midfield will be phenomenal once Atleti have all players fit and integrated. It's not just the quartet at Celta nor sub goalscorer Carrasco who has to fit in, but also new signing Matias Kranevitter and regular starter Tiago, currently sidelined with injury. Add in the likes of Oliver Torres and Griezmann, who played the second half at right wing, and it's easy to imagine Cholo might opt for 4-3-3 as his go-to system for much of the rest of the year.

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That goes for double if the strikers, Jackson Martinez and Luciano Vietto included, do not begin to score more often.

Atleti remain top at the halfway point and have a great chance to add more silverware to their collection in at least one competition this season, and they'll need their big squad to achieve it. Those who perform, though, tend to remain in the side under Simeone, and Saul is definitely one who is giving everything every time he takes to the pitch to remain in possession of one of those midfield shirts.

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