Tuanis
10 years ago
They say a Captain should sink with its ship and crew but in this case Mr Simeone is to good of a manager to keep on this ship for too long. I honestly dont think that Atletico Madrid can do much more without a complete renovation and without the help of Simeone. They wont hold on in top class football for much longer. In other words it is a lost case, the team will sink and Simeone needs to leave while the team is still on the top of the league with all the prestige he still has.
With just over one third of the La Liga season gone, defending champions Atletico Madrid are preparing themselves for the possible departure of their most prized asset—their manager, Diego Simeone.
Rumours—and let me stress that at this stage that is all they are—have started to circulate around those closest to "El Cholo" that he could well be planning on "doing a Pep" next season and, just as Guardiola did, taking a one-year sabbatical in the United States.
This is a line thrown by his closest allies in the press to test the waters. No decision has been made yet, but it is something he is considering.
What is a fact is that Simeone is learning English at the moment, and it’s pretty fair to assume that’s probably more about him wanting to try his luck in the Premier League than about improving his language skills for his holidays.
Not surprisingly, the name of Manchester City is being whispered by some, although, personally, I have always felt that Joachim Low would be far more suited to the role. Nonetheless, both men have been discussed as possible successors to the Etihad hot seat, post-Manuel Pellegrini.
We’ll see. What is clear, however, is that the first steps are being taken by Simeone’s inner circle to prepare his path away from the Vicente Calderon sometime in the future.
In the meantime, both Simeone and the club have a job to do, both on and off the pitch.
On it, we are seeing a totally different Atletico than the one that took the title last year. A 4-4-2 system with a deep defensive line and a lightning-fast Diego Costa up front fitted the bill perfectly last season. But with Costa gone and Mario Mandzukic the man chosen to fill his boots, Simeone has had to change.
Mandzukic is a lethal striker but quite simply isn’t fast enough to play the counter-attacking game. As a result, Simeone has had to go over to a high-pressure style, particularly in the early stages of each half, and with that comes a high defensive line.
What that has allowed us to see is the development of Diego Godin into one of the best centre-backs in the world. He's a player who can defend deep and against set pieces but is also fast and brave enough to play a high line.
Atletico have had to make their attacks much more elaborate, with more passes and more movement, especially in wider areas, while Mandzukic has fought his way into scoring positions.
So far this season, he has scored 11 goals, and every one of them has been just one touch. There’s certainly nothing wrong with his finishing, but what he does need is the right service, either from the flanks or from the likes of Koke and Arda Turan finding the space between the lines.
While Atletico at this stage may have scored fewer, conceded more goals and earned fewer points than last time around, that’s all part of the transition that is taking place, and Simeone has at least proved himself to be a more versatile manager than some gave him credit for.
On the playing front, Antoine Griezmann has still to fully find his feet and exert the major influence on games that he should be doing—ditto Alessio Cerci and Raul Jimenez in attack.
Off the pitch, it looks like at long last both Atleti and the authorities finally want to change the culture of violence displaced by the club’s "ultras" groups.
The death of a fan before the club’s match against Deportivo thrust the club into a very unwelcome spotlight, and their initial reaction was pretty weak.
To be fair, since then they have been pretty proactive, banning members of the Frente Ultra group of fans from the stadium. It should also be noted that all clubs in Spain are "infected" with ultra groups, and it would be incorrect to single out Atletico.
What worries me most is that before clubs and authorities are going to be able to take steps to lance this carbuncle on the face of Spanish football, there is going to have to be a massive sea change in footballing culture and in the way fans approach the game.
Football should be a celebration of sport, not a declaration of war.
By Guilleme Balague, 5th december.