The Athletic, Simeone and a necessary change of style

Last update 6 November, 2015 por Alberto Llopis

Not long ago -Two seasons, to be precise- Atletico Madrid was, without a doubt, the team's hottest European football. After having broken a league duality in Spain that seemed inexorable season 2.013/14 and being a mere two minutes from the continental glory in the UEFA Champions that year, the colchonero team entered the main arena of the footballing elite and all who follow this sport began to take more seriously the proposal of a club that Diego "El Cholo" Simeone had risen from the ground up to make it a rival to take up arms for anyone.

Argentina is a symbol of Atletico by his playing days and injected the Madrid club style of play tactically smart, rocky in physical appearance and hawking defensive solidity without neglecting the individual talent of players like Arda Turan, Diego Costa, Diego is the Coke, having Courtois, Godin, Luis Filipe Miranda as a base or back-a team built under the concept of pragmatism.

From the beginning, the imprint of Cholo produced dividends with many titles and breaking the hegemony of his bitter rival, the real Madrid, in games between them after a drought 15 años. But not everything has been rosy for managing Simeone and the last goalless draw against Kazakhstan in Champions Astania Tuesday, without intention of triumphalism, suggests the wear of a formula.

After a course 2.014/15 with mixed results-a third, 4cough Champions and Copa del Rey- which it can only be classified as transient after losses of very important players like Villa, Diego Costa, Filipe Luis (who returned), Diego there Courtois, Atletico made a significant outlay to renovate the campus. And so came promising young players like Angel Correa, Yannick Ferreira Carrasco, Luciano Vietto, canterano addition to the return of your loan Óliver Torres Porto and the signing of Colombian striker Jackson Martinez famed same Portuguese team that Oliver Torres.

All these signings of offensive court, plus the contribution of players like Antoine Griezmann, Fernando Torres and Koke, They should infuse a new club Atletico range of possibilities to vary their methods of attack and thus not get bogged down in his progression as a great team, coupled with a decrease in the team last year to be "discovered" by rival. And although we are just in the early scenes of the season, Now you can see the insistence of the Argentine coach for the old ways of his early years at Atletico already, simply, They will not work with this version of the team.

El Cholo has built a team for the future with a base of promising players like drawings; but whose style of play requires a different approach. The time of speculator style, Atletico raspy and aggressive circa 13/14 no longer fits with players like Griezmann, Carrasco belt or; That's why the team has been so irregular and unable to close out games they should win if they want to win the league again, which already it looks a little distant now that Madrid and Barcelona are away at the tip.

I do not mean to demerit Atletico, Simeone or achievements of both; al contrario, I think it's wonderful to have a team that is a third option in the Spanish league and with such a comprehensive and ambitious squad, It is time to go for a riskier tactical pose. And I'm not talking about formations or "cartoons"; I'm talking about the intentions of the team to go on the court Lately they note increasingly uncomfortable with that style of seeking 1-0 and then fall back when they have the potential to achieve more. When they have proposed more than that, Cons put ropes to Madrid at the Calderon this year where they could have won if not for the Babylonian performance of goalkeeper Keylor Navas.

And much has been rumored about where the future of Simeone will lie with very important teams interested in signing him but I wonder: You are the best choice for Cholo esta incarnation of the rojiblancos? Certainly thanks to its good performance as Technical Director and as a resource manager that the club is in a better state today; but still in the air the question about the viability of Argentine big team coaching, as it is seen last year when he basically lost all three titles by a lack of risks that sometimes he sinned in sweltering and that can be blamed not the loss of key players.

Can Simeone bet on a system that is not based on the stop ball and the defensive solidity? Can you go to stadiums and impose itself as small teams that are favorites? Because I understand that one thing to fall back and maintain the lead in the Camp Nou or the Allianz Arena, but quite another to play with teams fighting relegation or equipment, and I will excuse the term, Tiny as Astania and battle to score a goal. Now more than ever must realize the club and the coach perspectives change once success is achieved and there are expectations and even stronger yearnings at this time by the Atletico fans has been so long endurando vicissitudes he wants more ambition from his boys.

Many parties have seen this year Atletico where the team plays in the same way that in that memorable season and are now adjusting to the style looks, rather than applying it naturally. And it is natural: one Jackson / Vietto / Griezmann is not a Diego Costa and Correa / Carrasco is not a Raul Garcia; defensive breast has remained virtually unchanged, being the binomial Oblak / Moya a more than acceptable replacement goalkeeper Courtois Belgian and Uruguayan Giménez has shown that it can happen to Miranda now does his thing on earth milanesas.

As I have said ad nauseam in this article in several ways, the raw material is there; you just have to understand that players Atletico holds today is a very talented litter and must propose, attack, Search the party with an ideology that is more prone to an offensive attitude.

I'm not talking about football kamikaze to Leicester City this season, but imposed as the team that creates more opportunities, losing the ball on the opponent's area and manages to win the opponents guys with the attitude of a club known large. En cristiano: They can play much better than this. Yes, any team can play better; Only this is playing below their potential.

I have no record rojiblanco friend to me; but most likely it is that this is the best time in the history of Atletico Madrid in the last thirty years and which are best positioned to achieve unrepeatable things. The end of Champions and league title 2.014 They were not flukes; were gains that were achieved through hard work, committed and maximizing the footballing resources were available; have had a little more luck-and if he is called Bale elbowing Juanfran in the goal Ramos-, we are talking about the biggest surprise in European football since Mourinho's Porto who won the Champions League in the 2.004.

Simeone built a competitive squad and that has everything to reap more successes; but it is imperative that mask conservatism and austerity make room for ambition and ability to assert itself as a footballing force to be reckoned on the world stage. Atletico Madrid is in a key point in their history where they can go this time taking advantage of rising wine and roses, or you may waste this opportunity to begin more than natural exodus of players to return to the worldliness that many clubs "surprise" have had to suffer with the passing of the years.