How Can Diego Simeone Improve Atletico Madrid Without Spending Big in January?

Top of the Liga table and keeping the twin forces of Barcelona and a new-look Real Madrid at bay for now, Atletico Madrid have entered 2016 with a spring in their steps.

Diego Simeone’s side have won nine of their last 12 league games to leave plenty connected with the club dreaming of another unexpected title success a la 2013/14, but Simeone will only be too aware that the hard work starts now.

He needs to keep on drilling, motivating and improving his side if they are to fight off arguably the two biggest clubs in the world, but how can he do that over the next month and beyond?

Here are three things he could consider:

Let His Team Off The Leash

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Simeone and Atletico have got as far as they have done as a partnership because of the respect that one has for the other. The Argentinean coach is fiercely loyal to the club and their principles, while his players have certainly bought into his ideals.

There remains a suspicion, though, that the coach could let his team off the leash on occasion and let their attacking play flourish.

Atletico have only scored more than two goals in a La Liga game on one occasion this season, and that was back in August. Their tally of 25 league goals in 2015/16 is the same amount as 8th-placed Eibar, almost half the amount of Real Madrid’s 47 and 15 less than Barcelona’s total of 40.   

The flip side to all that, of course, is that Atletico have only conceded eight goals in their 18 matches compared to Barca’s 15 and Real’s 18 (Malaga have the second-best defence in La Liga, conceding 14 goals).

However, the problem with failing to establish a clearer lead in matches means that the concession of goals can often lead to a loss of points.

That was certainly the case in the loss at Malaga before Christmas and the draw at Deportivo in October, and going on the attack more often could resolve it.

Put More Trust In Thomas Partey

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As Atletico’s last two La Liga games have shown, the Ghanaian midfielder Thomas Partey can certainly make an impact when called upon, and selecting him from the start more often would give Simeone more of the midfield thrust that his side can sometimes lack.

Thomas came on against Rayo Vallecano last week to set up a late goal for Angel Correa, before grabbing the winner against Levante last time out in the league.

Perhaps Simeone sees the 22-year-old’s athletic style as more suited to making an impact off the bench, either with an assist or a goal.

However, with a couple of defensive midfielders added to the squad this January already, perhaps he could afford to allow the former Mallorca and Almeria loanee to get closer to the attackers and break into the box more often.

There is little doubt that Thomas still has a lot to learn and that his talents can still legitimately be described as “raw.” However, trusting in him more often would perhaps give Atletico something of an X-factor in the second half of the season.

Give Up On Fernando Torres

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Ever since he scored his 99th goal for Atletico Madrid way back in mid-September, the club’s fans have been waiting patiently to toast Fernando Torres’ next goal for the club and celebrate him bringing up his century. Four months and 19 appearances later, it still hasn’t arrived.

Torres still works hard—something that he can always say he’s done wherever he’s been—but as his season-and-a-half loan deal enters its final third there must be the temptation from Simeone to leave him out more and more.

Once feared in his heyday and rightly considered one of the best forwards in the world, Torres’ career and performances have really been going downhill ever since the recurrence of an old knee injury while playing for Liverpool against Benfica shortly before the 2010 World Cup.

With pressure on him to play in South Africa, his struggles for fitness and form there have pretty much been constantly repeated ever since, to leave him looking like a shadow of his former self.

With this Atletico squad jam-packed with impressive attacking talents such as Antoine Griezmann, Jackson Martinez, Angel Correa and Luciano Vietto, Torres can often give the impression of an odd man out.

Atletico can’t wait forever for their player to recapture former glories, and Simeone really needs to phase him out of the team.