Diego Simeone's Natural Caution Is in the Spotlight as Atletico Madrid Struggle
It wasn’t quite as cliched as “keep calm and carry on,” but Diego Simeone wasn’t too far away from rolling out that well-worn phrase in Leganes on Saturday night.
Following a second successive draw against a newly promoted side—with the hosts, from the outskirts of Madrid, playing in a top-flight match at home for the first time—the Atletico Madrid manager is facing both tough questions and a tough reality.
Real Madrid are already four points ahead of them in LaLiga, with Barcelona primed to join them on that number, as they go to Athletic Bilbao on Sunday evening. In a division in which two of the biggest sharks in world football circle, Atletico can’t afford to be swimming too slowly.
.jpg?w=256 "Chiefs Giants Football")
Yet Simeone—as determined as ever—isn’t one to get carried away. As reported by ESPN FC, he said:
"I absolutely think that with work and enthusiasm we will find what we are looking for. This is the way.
In other matches we had fewer chances to score and we scored and in these first two games it's been the opposite. Now, we have to be calm and continue working.
The team is eager to demonstrate the full potential. I'm very happy with the work of the players.
To win we need to create scoring situations and not allow that to happen to us.
I believe that we are creating scoring situations and they are not created against us, so we only need to finish these chances.
"
It all sounds so simple when he puts it like that. But the Argentinian could well be looking at this goalless draw and the dramatic 1-1 draw at home to Deportivo Alaves the previous week and see problems of his own making, relating to two issues in particular.
First is the issue he needs to address immediately.
Again, despite the experience against Alaves a week previously, Simeone opted to pack his midfield for the short trip to Leganes, with Koke, Augusto Fernandez, Gabi and Saul Niguez strung across the centre of the pitch.
And it really was “the centre of the pitch” too, with all four players too often seeking to turn inside, meaning the width could only come from the full-backs Juanfran and Filipe Luis, neither of whom had an especially impressive game.
At least Simeone was able to field both Antoine Griezmann and Kevin Gameiro together in attack this time, but the French pairing had an evening to forget, and Fernando Torres replaced the former Sevilla man just before the hour mark.
The following substitutions saw Yannick Carrasco replace Gabi and Nicolas Gaitan come on for Fernandez—the latter change coming with just 11 minutes to go.
With these moves seeing Koke and Saul move inside, Simeone should be able to see exactly where he is going wrong.
Carrasco and Gaitan are exciting attacking-midfield players who offer more from wider positions than the players picked to start over them, and both should be considered worthy of a start against a team like Leganes.
Yet as we’ve seen throughout world football in the past year or so, teams like Leganes have become far more organised and difficult to play against, and—as the second issue—Simeone has perhaps got something to do with that too.
We’ve recently seen Leicester City win the Premier League in England and Portugal triumph at Euro 2016, both of whom doing so whilst almost actively not wanting the ball and ceding possession to the opposition in a bid to hit them on the counter-attack.
Burnley manager Sean Dyche was almost boasting about how his team had done exactly that when they beat a Liverpool side that had seen 81 per cent of the ball recently, per Neil Jones the Liverpool Echo, and it has almost become a badge of honour to deny top teams the opportunities to break you down.
Dyche said, again per Jones:
"Possession does not win a game. That myth came out a few years ago, that you needed possession to win games. Leicester proved that (you don’t) last year.
Most of the time Liverpool had five or six men in midfield. If I had done that, we would have had a lot of the ball for a long time too I think! But I wanted to penetrate and create and try to take chances.
It takes concentration and focus to see that not having the ball is not hurting them that much.
"
Ironically, it could be said Simeone is one of the poster boys of this tactic, using it to upset the apple cart on numerous occasions—most notably in winning the 2013/14 Primera Division title and reaching two Champions League finals in three seasons.
Yet here he is with the boot on the other foot, left searching for answers over how his side can make the breakthrough against stubborn opponents.
Like Liverpool did against Burnley, Atletico packed the midfield at Leganes.
According to Soccerway, they had 65 per cent of the possession, forcing eight corners and hitting 15 shots. But all of this was in front of Leganes. Simeone’s team needs to evolve and find new ways to break down stubborn opposition.
He looked to have addressed that in the summer with the signings of attacking talents such as Gameiro and Gaitan, but that inherent caution is still there in the manner in which he picks his midfield.
There are too many players in there who do similar jobs, and their selections come at the expense of players such as Gaitan and Carrasco, who could make a difference.
With both Diogo Jota and Oliver Torres loaned out to FC Porto—and right-back Javier Manquillo going to Sunderland—there is space in Simeone’s squad ahead of Wednesday's transfer deadline, and it will be interesting to see whether he opts to bring in a player who can help in breaking down packed defences.
It is far more likely he’ll trust in what he’s already got available, but the opening results mean that trust needs to be backed up with more than a little urgency.
Atletico Madrid are falling behind their rivals, and although the “keep calm” message is understandable this early in the season, they can’t afford many more slip-ups.
With Simeone off to the worst start of his tenure, according to Marca, then the heat is on the Argentinian.
An international break full of soul-searching lies ahead.
.jpg?w=480 "Chiefs Giants Football")
.jpg?w=600 "Browns GM Speaks on Trade Buzz")
.jpg?w=600 "Jahmyr Gibbs' Back Tattoo 🎨")
