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Atlético has never looked so good

In recent years, we are entitled to wonder if Diego Simeone is not stuck in a space-time rift. At the start of each year, the Atlético de Madrid coach tries to set up a more protagonist football. We see his players trying to attack all together in the opposing camp, multiply the passes, show patience. We say to ourselves that Atlético is finally on the right track to achieve a necessary change in order to play the title. La Liga has fallen so deeply into this caricature where the big teams have the ball and the small ones spend their time defending that it is impossible for Atlético to play the same football as during the period 2013-2016. Then October arrives and in what looks like a fit of impatience or panic, Simeone ends up backpedaling in front of his team’s failed start to the season, Atlético having become a specialist in ignition delays. Back to the good old methods, back to wait-and-see football, back to realistic ambitions.

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The transition has been made

This season has started off like the last: an exciting victory over Granada followed by two horrifying performances devoid of goals and consistency against Villarreal and Huesca. But unlike in the past, Simeone continued to believe in his original idea and Atlético followed a string of successes, becoming in the process the most attractive team in the championship, surprising as that may seem. The ball circulation is fluid, the passes are progressive, the players are constantly varying their movements. Has Simeone finally found the right vein?

Diego Simeone

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Since the La Liga title in 2014, Atlético has been in a rather strange position. Captain of the club, Koke exemplified it recently: “we will try to do what the club asks of us, that is to say to be third, but internally, we have our objectives”. Atlético is located in a kind of no man’s land. He tries to get involved in the fight for La Liga before invariably having to be disillusioned and say to himself that finally, being third is not so bad: the objective has been fulfilled and finishing second would already constitute an outperformance as the workforce of Real and Barça are superior.

However, it is not currently crazy for the Colchoneros to revise their goals upwards. The two behemoths of the championship are struggling and the unstable state in which they find themselves could continue. Entangled in a process of regeneration which progresses more or less slowly, Barça and Real are capable of the best or the worst: Wednesday, observers believe that the coach has found the formula, Sunday, a new poor performance pushes them to to withdraw. This painful stage of the famous transitional season where it was necessary to compensate with the losses of three-quarters of the defensive sector in addition to those of Griezmann and (“the biggest challenge that we have in these eight years since I have been at the club” Simeone said at the time) Atlético finished it last summer.

The era of felixity

Symbol of these new times, João Félix is ​​living his best days in Madrid. In addition to the admiration of his teammates, he finally seems to have been understood by his coach. For a long time we had

the impression that the two spoke different languages. Simeone verbally criticized the player for his defensive mistakes while João’s creative football seemed to curse the conservative inclinations of his superior. “His dynamic with Simeone is especially funny. By philosophical principles Simeone would like not to love him, but reluctantly he cannot avoid falling in love with him” wrote journalist Iñako Díaz-Guerra in El Mundo. Having now each taken a step towards the other, the two men have gone from incomprehension to cooperation. In this Atlético, more enterprising than usual, João Félix can flourish. More than that, he multiplies the exhibitions. The comparisons with the local idol Futre are more and more audible.

Never far from the Portuguese prodigy, Luis Suárez constitutes the other element of satisfaction of the Rojiblanco autumn. In Spain, everyone agrees on one fact: the Uruguayan will end the season with at least 20 goals. With five goals in six games, he already has the best scoring ratio in the championship. It has become a running gag, with each goal of El Pistolero the pro Atlético journalists chamber their pro Barça colleagues on the arrival of Luis Suárez, whose price will have cost twenty times less than that of Griezmann.

In addition to his contribution on the stat sheets’, Suárez brings a technical quality to the game that perfectly suits Simeone’s desire to have control over the proceedings. A positive externality of this risk-taking in attack, Atlético shines in defense. If the Madrilenians lose the ball, they lose it high up on the pitch, find it easier to squeeze and thus save themselves a lot of problems. Atlético have conceded only two unfortunate goals in the league and unlike past years, they are less dependent on the repeated miracles of Saint Oblak.

40 days to be fixed

Best league defense, best offense, fittest player, evolving playstyle, is everything for the best in the best of all possible worlds? In fact, there are several shadows on the board. Despite unlimited credit with Simeone, Thomas Lemar cannot do it. Diego Costa suffered his 14th injury in less than three years. Sául Ñiguez is unrecognizable and it makes you wonder what he brings to this team. Great satisfaction from last season, the Brazilians Lodi and Felipe are no longer at their level, while at the right-back position Trippier becomes a stereotypical player by multiplying the centers. Without forgetting that in the offices, the leaders are surely rubbing the hands of the 50 million which brought the sale of Thomas Partey, it does not matter if the team finds itself weakened by it. Nevertheless, Simeone avoids the waves and stays on course. Where the opponents sanction the turnovers of Zidane and Koeman, Simeone comes out unscathed. Ángel Correa and Savic come back in favor, Mario Hermoso has never been so good and Lucas Torreira gives the impression of having played all his life in red and white.

The question is on everyone’s lips, can Atlético win La Liga again? Third with two games less than the majority of teams, he has a welcome margin of error (especially since in view of Saturday’s game, Luis Suárez and Torreira will be absent due to covid). The next 40 days will serve as a justice of the peace. The Madrilenians will face Barça, Valencia, Real, Real Sociedad and Getafe. Atlético will be competitive but what face will they adopt? Under pressure, will Simeone be faithful to the style of play that has made him happy since the start of the school year? After all, style matters have never been his domain. “The best style in the world is to win,” he likes to repeat over and over again. El Cholo may adapt, he will always remain El Cholo.

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