Diego Simeone Has to Stick to Attacking Atletico Madrid Outlook Despite Defeat
All of a sudden, the league table doesn’t look so nice for Atletico Madrid supporters.
Having gone into the ninth gameweek of the season proudly sitting on top of La Liga, with talk of sustained title challenges and being the best and most in-form side in Europe, Atletico sit fifth and outside of the Champions League places. There are curious looks at the four clubs above them. How did they get there?
But there’s no need to panic.
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Atletico’s first defeat since their penalty-shootout pain in last season’s Champions League final was always going to happen eventually, and it came at Sevilla’s Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The manner of it—with the powerful Steven N’Zonzi bursting through what is usually such a tight defence to score—wouldn’t have pleased manager Diego Simeone, and when the Atleti boss searched for a way back into the game, he was met with the sight of Koke being sent off for a second bookable offence.
He’s not going to panic, though. And nor should he.
As reported by ESPN FC’s Dermot Corrigan, Simeone said after the game:
"We had good chances in the first half to break open the game.
When you have good chances and play as well as we did, it is normal that you go ahead. It didn't happen, though. After half-time the game was heading down the same path, and then came the move from Sevilla. It was a tough game, difficult.
As I said beforehand, both of us are aiming to keep in there competing with Real Madrid and Barcelona.
We were close in the first half to what we wanted to find. I am leaving here pretty relaxed as the team played as we hoped.
"
And that is pretty much exactly what you’d have expected him to say. And for Atletico supporters, it was hugely welcome too.
It is even catching out those of us who watch a lot of Atleti, but Simeone went into the game sticking to the new attacking mentality he has built up in the last few weeks.
Angel Correa played on one flank, and the in-form Yannick Carrasco was on the other. With Antoine Griezmann joining Kevin Gameiro in attack, the ambition was clear.
And for a while, that ambition certainly worked.
Atletico played themselves into the game pretty well, and had Correa been a little more accurate with his finishing, they could have been ahead by the break.
The Argentinian is clearly a talented player, but he is still only 21 and fairly raw. It could well be that his greatest impact should continue to be made from the bench, just as it was in the 1-1 draw at Barcelona in September, when he came on and almost immediately found the net.
Here he had a less memorable time of it.
Simeone would claim, again per that ESPN FC link above, that the decision to withdraw Correa at half-time was because he was on a yellow card, but there is little doubt that his replacement, Nico Gaitan, looks after the ball with more care. That was becoming something of increasing importance as the match started to fall away from Atletico the longer it went on.
One man who also takes loving care of the ball is Sevilla’s Samir Nasri, and the Frenchman was excellent in a central role as the home side gradually took control of the match before N’Zonzi’s decisive moment 17 minutes from time.
The man who provided the former Stoke City midfielder with the assist was none other than Luciano Vietto, on loan from Atletico, but there was to be no glorying in the irony for Simeone and his crop of players.
They’ll wish Vietto well and will perhaps benefit from his increased maturity in the seasons to come, but for now, they’ll curse his role in a goal that was made possible by the sheer power of N’Zonzi, who drove through La Liga’s meanest back four in thrilling fashion.
The visitors' response was muted by Koke’s second yellow card, with his suspension forcing Simeone into a decision over personnel for the clash with Malaga on Saturday, but you won’t find anyone panicking over that or the defeat.
Yes, the league table did look better before Sunday, but credit was given to Sevilla both by Simeone above and his captain, Gabi, who told the media: “Two very good teams have played each other.
"The team that was more accurate has been has been the one to win the game, but I think that nothing can be reproached to our team."
And nor should it be.
The one thing that Atletico—and indeed, the watching Spanish public—should take away from this game is just how good a side Sevilla have become since the additions of Nasri, Vietto, Argentinian manager Jorge Sampaoli and others.
Whether they can make a sustained run at winning the league remains to be seen, but they are certainly making a convincing case.
It is no disgrace to lose to a side such as that, but the thing about a first defeat for a while is how you react to it. Atleti cannot allow this to become the start of a prolonged slip in standards and return to the slow, ponderous form we saw in their first two matches of the league season, the disappointing draws at home to Alaves and Leganes.
For that not to happen, Simeone is going to have to keep his side on the attack.
Malaga at home would seem to be the perfect chance to do just that, with fixtures against FC Rostov in the Champions League and then a tricky trip to Real Sociedad to come before yet another international break. Real Madrid at the Vicente Calderon lurks on the other side of that.
And perhaps that will be the next true test of this Atletico team, a team that has almost taken on a Version 2.0 quality as Simeone seeks to make them more dynamic and dominating in matches they used to just hang on in.
Even the best, most attacking sides can lose football matches, and it just has to be hoped that Simeone doesn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater and decide that the season’s first defeat should mean a reversion to his old ways.
It surely won’t.
On a gameweek when only late interventions won matches for the other members of the top four outside of Sevilla—Real Madrid’s winner came in the 84th minute, and Barcelona and Villarreal’s both came in stoppage time—then it is clear to see this is going to be a tight, enthralling Primera Division season.
Atletico Madrid are still going to be major players in that despite what the league table looked like on Monday morning.
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