Diego Simeone's Attacking Emphasis Will Aid Atletico Madrid Silverware Charge

Atletico Madrid kept up the pressure at the top of La Liga with a fine 3-1 win at Valencia on Sunday night, rounding off Jornada 28's weekend action in style.

Doing the double over Los Che in the process underlines Atletico's superiority over other supposed big sides in Spain at present, leaving the gap between themselves and third-placed Real Madrid at four points, though they trail Barcelona by eight.

Despite the big gap, the improved attacking play and positivity from the team and management must give enormous heart to Atleti that they are in place and in form to take advantage if the league leaders do slip up, while also looking prepared to fight for the UEFA Champions League title too as they head toward a last-16 second leg.

Simeone's Gamble

Tied at 1-1 at the Mestalla, many clubs and coaches might have been tempted to bed in and look to accept the point. In isolation, a draw at Valencia is a pretty good result—and earlier in the season, Diego Simeone might well have taken it, too.

Now, though, there is little point, and the manager's shift in mentality was a pleasing indication of such.

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Simeone removed one of his central midfielders, Matias Kranevitter, to bring on an out-and-out striker in Fernando Torres. A reshuffled middle third saw Koke, and thus the team, able to be more adventurous from the centre of the park, while Antoine Griezmann was suddenly granted freedom to roam, take possession between the lines and create danger.

Other than the Frenchman—and Torres—there was nobody on the field who possessed the natural attacking instincts to net the decisive third goal of the game, and scoring as he did on his 300th Atletico appearance was justification for the manager's decision to push for the victory.

The context of the game was all-important. Atleti already had a lead over Real Madrid in the table, and Valencia have been prone to collapsing. A point won't win the title ahead of Barcelona if they slip up, only wins will. Simeone read the situation well, gambled and was rewarded.

Back in Attack

After a mini barren run by the entire team, it's vital that Atletico have some of their attacking players back in form and fitness.

Yannick Carrasco's return from injury is a huge boost; he has been a game-changer for them this season with his pace, dribbling and willingness to get shots away. Despite his late goal being an obvious goalkeeping error, just seeing Carrasco immediately look to take the game to the defence will be an important point for the manager to note.

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Griezmann's five league games without a goal is well behind him after scoring in each of his last three, while Torres and Saul are second and joint-third scorers in the squad and each have now netted in the last week.

Only Luciano Vietto seems unable to find the net, denied against Valencia by one poor miss and one extraordinary save, but the Argentinian forward is contributing heavily at present in build-up play, in linking the attack and in creating shooting opportunities.

Atleti have rediscovered not only their offensive mindset, but their goalscoring touch.

Barcelona and Europe

Silverware is the big aim, though, and after Celta Vigo surprisingly halted Atleti's Copa del Rey hopes, they are relying on either Barca falling off in La Liga, or themselves in the Champions League.

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Winning consistently in La Liga is all Atletico can do now. They need Barcelona to do the equivalent of losing three games (or drawing more) and it will all hinge on the Catalan club's upcoming run after the next game, a basic gimme fixture at home to Getafe. Following that, Luis Enrique's team face defensively strong Villarreal, El Clasico at the Camp Nou and an away trip to Anoeta where Real Sociedad habitually make things hard for them.

It's a lot to hope for that all three could win, but even one or two non-victories by Barcelona keeps things interesting.

In Europe, it's all down to Simeone and his men. Few will expect them to lose the second leg against PSV Eindhoven and after that, the form guide and the luck of the draw will determine how tough the route to the final is.

What's for sure is that no team will find it easy to break down Atletico's ridiculously mean defence, and now, more than a few sides will find it tough to stop los rojiblancos going forward, too.

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