In the analysis of yesterday’s disaster for Atlético in Lisbon all eyes are starting to turn towards Simeone. The team’s poor away performances are a constant that is repeated year after year and that the Argentine coach does not know how to stop. The numbers speak for themselves: Of the last ten trips to the Champions League, only one has been wonagainst Feyenoord, a team in Europe, while seven defeats were suffered. But the problem is much deeper: Cholo seems more erratic than everwith constant system changes, without a definitive eleven and with players varying their position week after week.
Goals in added time, which already bring seven points (two against Athletic, two against Leipzig, two against Celta and one against Real Madrid) mask a crisis that has been brewing since the first day of La Liga. Atlético invested 200 million euros in the transfer market, but its performances are light years away from what was expected and there Simeone’s responsibility is undeniable. After ten official matches, he still hasn’t found the key,
We had never seen him so disconcerted, with decisions that are difficult to understand. He left the group Llorente, who was the best winger in the League, with goals and assists, to place him in the center of the field, where his output dropped alarmingly, in order to make way for Nahuelwhose favorable treatment constitutes a comparative grievance with the rest of the staff; has Gallagher He has already moved him to every possible position in midfield; has Julian moved it to the left; used his son Jeans stuck to a group; has no recognizable criteria with Sorloth and the last straw was yesterday to take the field for a match of these characteristics Javi Serranowho had not played a single minute, while Gallantwho equalized against Real Madrid in Correa, spent 90 minutes on the bench.
Within the club, very critical voices are beginning to be heard towards Simeone, who is accused of having become obsolete, especially in their management of away matches and the truth is that, given the results, it is difficult to deny that there is a serious problem there. And all that, four days away from playing at Anoeta against Real Sociedad and with the next trip to the Champions League in Paris to face PSG Luis Enrique. The threat of a gigantic crisis once again looms over the Metropolitan when not even a quarter of the season has been covered. It’s time to turn things around, but The first to think is Simeone himself, who is the one who seems the most lost of all.
