Jackson Martinez Criticism Is Misplaced, He Can Still Star at Atletico Madrid

Atletico Madrid have had an up-and-down start to the new season, mixing impressive results and performances with a scattering of defeats, which means they will head into the derby against Real Madrid on Sunday after back-to-back losses.

There aren't too many areas that manager Diego Simeone would point to as needing serious work to aid improvements, but the new-look front line hasn't yet come together in the way hoped for, particularly with regard to Colombian striker Jackson Martinez. The former Porto man is the club's second-most expensive signing ever, having joined for around £25 million, per ESPN.com.

With just one goal to his name this season, Martinez is struggling for confidence as much as anything, and the headlines coming his way have been less than complimentary.

Atleti should keep faith with the 28-year-old, though, as he is one of the names who can help oversee a quick recovery and push towards silverware this season.

Boys of Summer

Martinez isn't the only summer signing struggling to settle in; it could be argued that none of the new faces have hit the ground running.

Stefan Savic has been limited to one game, Filipe Luis has been fine in most games but certainly isn't new to Atletico, Yannick Carrasco has been used as sub for the most part and Luciano Vietto is having an even worse time of things than Martinez is, in terms of both productivity and general play within the side.

It is Martinez, though, who most attention falls on, partly because of his large transfer fee but also because of his greater experience, his reputation on the global scale and his consistency in finding the back of the net in the Primeira Liga during his time with Porto.

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From a summer of positive reports, where some believed he could make a telling difference in Spain, Martinez is now facing an entirely different set of headlines about him. 

Spanish outlet Marca reacted to his failure to score against Benfica in the Champions League with a headline equating to "Another Night of Mistakes from Jackson," noting his missed chances in front of goal as a reason for Atleti losing 2-1.

The piece also states, in pure speculation and opinion, that Simeone potentially wanted to substitute him but didn't want to risk the crowd turning on the striker. Martinez himself, however, said that he still feels the support of the fans, per AS.

Style and Slow Start

In losing Diego Costa, David Villa and Radamel Falcao in past seasons, Atleti have always been able to come up with something new from their strike line to bring the combination of counter-attacking threat, goals and aggression the team needs.

What Simeone hoped Jackson would specifically bring was a combination of all three: Great power and a target to link with outside the box, but also a lethal finishing touch inside it.

Before the start of the campaign, in looking at what the striker would offer Atletico and how many goals he might score, a point to note was his capacity for off-the-ball movement to latch on to passes from those in deeper areas: Koke, Tiago, Gabi.

Those midfielders haven't yet hit the heights of their own form, with Koke injured and Gabi, particularly, swinging wildly from impressive to a liability in the opening stages of La Liga.

There are times when, with Oliver Torres playing a key role from the right side, Atletico might previously have worked space and crossed the ball early for Martinez (or Costa, Mario Mandzukic, Falcao) to attack aerially. Instead, Oliver will now look to exploit that space by dribbling quickly towards the area, playing a short one-two or passing along the ground into the box.

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It's not wrong or worse, just a slightly different style that Martinez will have to adapt to in order to make the most of his chances inside the area.

Martinez started the season as one of the first-choice forwards but has been in and out since then, subbed at half-time on occasions and used late on in other matches. His goal against Sevilla, in the second game of the season, was well taken but, ultimately, just the icing on the cake—the match was already out of reach for the Andalucians.

Since then, there have been moments, flashes of ability or link play with Antoine Griezmann, but nothing of the kind that Angel Correa or Fernando Torres have shown.

At the moment, Jackson is certainly fourth out of the five in terms of understanding, touch, integration in the team.

Simeone Belief

There can't be much doubt that Simeone was happy to seal a deal to bring Martinez to the club, both for the outlay it required and for his words since the Colombian joined.

Speaking to UEFA.com last month, Simeone highlighted why the striker was an important signing:

"

Jackson is a finisher. He's also very strong in the air and good with both feet. He's a bit older than the likes of Ángel Correa, Griezmann and Vietto. 

He has a few years' more experience and that's what we need: People who are ready to play. He can put on the Atleti shirt and play. We have competition for places here with Fernando Torres and now Luciano too. All the players like to compete, which is great for us. I hope and want Jackson to have a great season because that would definitely mean the team and the club will have a great season.

"

A couple of months on, and with Martinez struggling somewhat, the manager hasn't wavered in his iron-clad belief that things will turn for his new No. 11.

Per Goal, it was only following the weekend defeat to Villarreal that Simeone again reiterated Martinez would come good: "We blindly trust him and expect him to appear in the important and decisive moments."

And again, per PA Sport (h/t ESPN FC): "He is a very important player for us, and he knows that he still has to grow, but we have complete faith in him."

That faith won't last forever, of course—not without a return—but Simeone has a history of backing his forwards who initially misfire, and he reminded everyone that a focus on non-scoring strikers wasn't unusual even though losses affected the team overall.

Per F.J. Diaz of AS, Simeone said:

"

That’s quite normal [that more focus is on the strikers]. The same situation occurred when we had Costa and Falcao. Villa had already been playing in La Liga. When new players arrive and they are used to playing in a different league competition they need time to adapt. In time, Falcao, Villa, Adrian, Torres all started scoring, the same thing will happen with Jackson too.

"

The message is clear: Martinez is an important part of the team for this year, and there's no reason to suspect he can't be a big success.

Opportunity

As for redemption and finally flying out of the blocks, Martinez couldn't ask for a better opportunity than the one immediately ahead of him—the home derby against Real Madrid.

Of course, it remains to be seen whether Simeone goes for Martinez ahead of Fernando Torres, with the Spaniard in scoring form in La Liga and having netted against Real last term too, but even off the bench there is an opportunity for Martinez to overpower the defence if he gets the service.

Raphael Varane has been partnered by Nacho for the past two games, with Sergio Ramos and Pepe both absent. Nacho isn't a terrible defender by any means, but there is still a drop-off in quality when Ramos isn't playing.

Score against Real and the crowd will immediately be onside with the Colombian, but even if he doesn't, light remains at the end of the tunnel.

Back-to-back Champions League games against Astana should present opportunities to fire, while a run of Liga games against Deportivo La Coruna, Sporting Gijon and Real Betis all look like further chances for the forward to prove his great worth.

As an experienced player, one who has won titles and scored more than 60 goals in his past three seasons, it's almost unthinkable that Martinez will go the entire campaign struggling in the final third.

When Atletico as a whole begin to click, when Koke has returned and perhaps when the central-midfield pairing are also up to speed, Atletico will look their usual dynamic self.

With dangerous forwards to choose from, rotation and competition for places should be a good thing over the early months of the season, before a preferred partnership or trio emerges as the season goes on.

Don't doubt that Martinez will make up a significant portion of that regular strike force before long.

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