Antoine Griezmann laments after a setback in the match against Porto. /
Analysis
For now, the presence of the French player is a Chinese in the shoe for Simeone, annoyed by the anger of the fans to the player and anxious about how to adapt to the system
Only four shots against Porto, two of them on target, show that Atlético has not yet found the path that made them champion of the League last year, although in the Champions League they passed the first phase with difficulties and fell in the first crossing. of eighth against Chelsea, then champion. In the tournament of regularity he has three victories and a draw in four games, a remarkable mark that makes him stand next to the best, but it is evidence that it is difficult for him to have continuity and generate offensive play. Against Villarreal he tied almost in the last play of the game for a gift from the rival and in Cornellà he threw the first half completely and came back with Lemar’s goal in 90 + 9.
“We have to keep improving. We must increase the speed in the game, we will work to find it, “explained Simeone at the conclusion of the match against Porto, closed with a draw that leaves the group difficult for the mattresses, who on the next day will visit Milan and then they will measure themselves to Liverpool. Cholo also asked for time, claiming that players like Joao Félix had not participated for a long time due to an ankle operation, Griezmann has just returned to the club and others like Correa or Luis Suárez, very slow in all their movements, started the preseason with a delay.
It is necessary to stop at the Frenchman, a star requested by the coach who, for now, has become a Chinese in the Argentine’s shoe. If last season Simeone found in the novel system of three defenses the perfect formula to stop being predictable and damage his rivals on the wings, with Griezmann doubts have come. He has always been a very versatile coach, capable of playing with up to four different drawings in the same game, but the feeling is that now he is not at all clear.
As much as he manifests that he has no commitment “absolutely to anyone”, the mere presence of Griezmann in the dressing room weighs and determines. Either he acts with a trident in a kind of 4-3-3 or returns to 4-4-2 punishing players like the Frenchman or Correa to the band, or if he keeps the three centrals and two long wingers he does not fit all the players called to make a difference. And we must mention the situation of the Brazilian Matheus Cunha, signed to be able to give Luis Suárez breaks but with fewer spaces when Griezmann arrives at the close of the market.
But there is more. What worries Cholo most at this time is that Griezmann’s return distracts the environment, perhaps also the team, and causes a division of opinions in the stands, at the moment with many more whistles than applause. The Argentine wants to turn the page and for the fans to understand that it is a privilege to have such a figure again, but for the moment he is unable to do so. Hence his discomfort.
“A movie”
«A film is being made and a morbid with Antoine that generates for us the importance of having recovered an extraordinary footballer and that we can have him with us. Hopefully it gets better and can respond to the people who are criticizing. He has a challenge out there », Simeone stressed at the end of the match.
Griezmann was abroncado when his name sounded over the loudspeaker in the prelegomena, he was treated with absolute indifference when he was warming up and received a huge anger when Joao Félix entered with just over half an hour to go. An inverse change to that which took place in Cornellà, an unequivocal sign of Simeone’s doubts.
The Frenchman was nervous against the Portuguese, with some inaccuracies in the passes improper for his level, but he improved the mattress attack and also won applause. From his boots a pass to Correa that could end in a goal and a final run that ended in a free kick that Luis Suárez executed with a shot very close to the crossbar. Griezmann wanted to throw that foul but the Uruguayan showed more gallons.
The best news for Atlético, which already received Marcelino’s tough Athletic on Saturday, was almost the result against Porto. It could have been much worse because the Portuguese finished off the post once and suffered the cancellation of a last goal by Mehdi Taremi by a hand that stipulates the regulations but which was clearly involuntary because the Iranian forward was falling and the ball was already entering the Oblak’s goal.
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