Oliver Torres the Answer to Atletico Madrid's Creative Scarcity

Atletico Madrid lost further ground to La Liga leaders Barcelona on Sunday after drawing 1-1 with Villarreal, while Gerardo Martino's side overcame a difficult start to ease to a 4-1 win over Real Betis and increase their lead at the top to three points.

While the fact that Atletico conceded with 11 minutes to go may make their draw at El Madrigal look like two points dropped, the truth is they were only ahead thanks to a fortuitous early own goal by Mario Gaspar, which was their only shot on target all game.

Villarreal had more than double the amount of shots on goal (16 to Atleti's 7) and had 66 percent possession (via whoscored.com), and although Thibaut Courtois did not have to make many miracle saves, on another day, Marcelino's side might have taken all three points.

While Atleti have been imperious at home (winning every single league and European game at the Vicente Calderon), they have been less convincing away.

They struggled at Granada and only won after being awarded two penalties, came unstuck at Espanyol (suffering their only defeat of the season to date) and were second best at Villarreal.

Part of their problems on the road have stemmed from the absence of Arda Turan, who did not start in any of those three games. The Turkish midfielder's importance to Los Rojiblancos has been highlighted by AS journalist Inako Diaz-Guerra, who writes "without Arda Turan, it's easy for them to come unstuck, unless Oliver is on the pitch".

Who is this Oliver he talks about?

That would be 19-year-old Oliver Torres, the man Diego Simeone needs to give a bigger role to if Atletico are to prevent their problems from the games at Granada, Espanyol and Villarreal from becoming more frequent and further denting their title aspirations.

Torres, known as Oliver to prevent confusion with that other Atletico graduate with whom he shares a surname, is the teenage sensation who got promoted straight from the youth team to the first team at the beginning of last season, skipping the class of Atletico B.

Torres made his debut for Atletico in a 1-1 draw at Levante on the first day of the 2012-13 season as a substitute and trained with the first team throughout the season. Faced with physical deficiencies you would expect given his age, the club used him sparsely, allowing him to play 21 games—14 as a starter—for the B team, but spending the majority of his time training with Radamel Falcao, Gabi, Koke and Diego Costa.

Atletico B coach Alfredo Santaelena told this blogger about Oliver's progress in the B team.

"

“He only played several games with us but his progress was remarkable. He did what was required of him in the league, he made the jump from the youth leagues to professional leagues immediately, which is a big change, as there is much more physical contact.

The club need to be patient with him, but we are all very excited about him, he has an amazing level of individual talent. He has improved a lot since then and will continue to do so because he’s got so much talent, and I both hope and expect he will be a very important player for Atletico in the future.”

"

Simeone clearly agrees with Santaelena about not putting too much pressure on the teenager's shoulders and has only given him one start in the last 15 months.

However, his full debut will not be forgotten in a hurry. Oliver scored against Real Betis after 13 seconds, the fastest goal that has been scored in the league in Atletico's history. But it was not just the goal that caught everyone's attention, it was his all round play, his ability to glide past opponents and to play the simple ball as well as the ambitious long ball.

As former Atletico forward Kiko and former teammate of Simeone told this author:

"

"Oliver's an important player because he has that dynamism. There are many players with his characteristics that are more static but hes dynamic, he improvises, and the most important thing of all is that he always gives the person with the ball an option, he always supports his teammates.

He has a good long ball and a good short pass. And he always listens because he wants to learn. He’s a different player but very much from the school of the current Spanish team, the same style that Vicente Del Bosque’s players have had ever since they were kids."

"

One problem for Oliver is that his style of his play is best suited to a side that longs to have the ball for most of the game, not something the current Atletico side are renowned for.

"

Kiko acknowledges: "Simeone’s philosophy is very different to that of the Spain under-21 side, there the team enjoys a lot of possession, up to 75-80 percent, and Simeone’s sides rely more on defence and don’t have so much possession, which is complicated for Oliver. But if you listen to him speak, he’s very clear about the role the club has designed for him, he knows he has to take it step by step and that he’s not going to hurry, and is very willing to learn.”

"

Despite the stylistic contrasts, it's clear that Oliver is in Atletico's future plans, underlined by the fact that in September he signed a new contract until June 2018, which contains a buy-out clause of 22 million euros.

Yet Simeone needs to start playing him more regularly this season.

With Arda still not fully recovered from injury, the Argentinian coach started against Villarreal with Raul Garcia as the fourth midfielder to complement the fixed trio of Gabi, Koke and Tiago.

Garcia may have shined against weak opposition like Austria Vienna (he scored home and away against the Austrians), and against better teams like Porto when Arda was playing, but when the creative burden falls on him, Atleti suffer, as happened at Villarreal.

This is where Torres' eye for a key pass and ability to keep possession would have come in handy.

It is understandable that Simeone does not want to rush the player into action due to a fear of wrecking his confidence, but he should realise that Oliver, who spent his 19th birthday watching the Villarreal game from the substitutes' bench, is the one player who holds the key that could unlock teams who match Atleti's intensity and work-rate.

Richard Martin is a football journalist based in Madrid. He tweets @rich9908