Atletico Madrid: Underachieving Charlatans

I took a keen interest in the Europa League game involving Atletico Madrid and Sporting Lisbon at the Vicente Calderon last night and contrary to what I expected to see, I got an uninspiring game.

Sure, there were the few mazy and eye-catching runs of Sergio Aguero (ably watched by his father-in-law and girlfriend), the unpredictability of Liedson (still can't believe he is in the 30's!!), Reyes (that once amazing talent) who wins free-kicks so frequently, and Ujfalusi's steadfastness.

How Atletico failed to win beats the imagination. One would have expected that the poor performance of Real Madrid the night before would have spurred the arch-rivals on to glory at home, but the usual occurred, as they failed to raise their game and disappointed their huge fan base, one of which I am not.

The problem with the team is huge and they continue to wallow in mediocrity even with the consistent heavy investment over the years.

There is no doubt that Aguero is an amazing talent, and Diego Forlan has that crazy goal touch (Ask ETO!!), but those two do not communicate on the pitch. On many occasions match-winning moments were lost on poor decisions bearing more on glory than the greater good.

They kept on getting in each other's way trying to get the final ball from the midfield, and when they did, decided even in the most difficult of positions to go for goal when the other was better placed to score.

It is understandable that there is no love lost between Argentina and Paraguay, but Milito and Maicon are amazing playing together and even though it's not the best partnership in the world, but Lucas and Masherano look a manageable pair in Red!

The two front men must work hard together to lift the team to great heights, even though it looks less likely in the coming months as it seems one, if not two of them might leave during the summer window.

The club's management must be proper when summer shopping. A host of the team should be sold or allowed to go. They possess too many players who are below average, and this has cost them dearly. Underachieving players like Cleber Santana, Simao, Pablo Ibanez, Juanito, Tiago should go and make room for World Class players.

Quique Sánchez Flores is not a bad coach and he should be allowed to get the players he wants and needs to bring some glory to the club.

The management have to allow the control of football matters in the hands of the Technical team and who knows? Maybe the prestige of the weaker side of Madrid might get back to reckoning.