Atletico Madrid: no more rebels or just another mutiny?

Atletico Madrid have won nine La Liga titles during their eight decades of existence, and as many Cup finals. But yet, they have always been undercut and belittled in comparison to their lavishly decorated cross-city rivals Real Madrid.

Well, quite understandably so. But the Rojiblancos made no fuss and chose to look at the bright side of their situation. They went about painting themselves as the ‘Rebels of Madrid’, therefore effectively marketing themselves as the ‘underdogs’ or the ‘good guys.’

After all these years living in the shadows of Real, however, a glimmer of hope has flashed at the Calderon. The light projecting from across the Atlantic, all the way from Colombia.

When Radamel Falcao was signed from FC Porto breaking the club transfer record in the summer of 2011, we couldn’t help but laud and commend the genius of then manager Quique Flores, in getting hold of an individual, who not only replaced Sergio Aguero, but who would undoubtedly have a massive impact and influence the club’s fortunes more than any other name on the squad would have done (with 16 goals in the Liga alone this season).

But with Flores gone and Simeone having been put in charge last year, Atletico Madrid have undergone a remarkable transition phase, emerging as a confident new threat to Spanish football’s equivalent of the Old Firm.

So, Radamel Falcao apart, what has changed so much about the Rebels that has turned them into cocksure but efficient title contenders? Let’s just attribute a slight tweak in the team’s footballing philosophy to this nouveau-riche bounty of success the team has enjoyed under Simeone.

Starting with the fantastic positional play the new coach has infused into his men. Over the last two seasons, Atletico have developed into a fast-breaking, nearly impossible to catch counter-attacking team. Naturally, this means that they have had to sacrifice any degree of possession football they employed previously.

50% of average possession in the previous season has dropped considerably to 45% of the ball seen on average this season. But the sacrifice has been made in order to make room for a more penetrative playing style, which has evidently reaped far richer benefits.

Atletico Madrid started their season off with a draw away at Levante. Since then, the only three matches in which they haven’t emerged triumphant, have been away losses at Valencia, Barcelona and Real Madrid. Yes, good, continue with those calculations in your head. They are staggering figures indeed!

13 wins out of 13 games played otherwise. Meanwhile Real have been losing at Getafe, Sevilla, and Betis, where Atletico won 4-2. And quite a lot of this success has owed to the fact that the team has embraced the mantra of ‘you only score, if you shoot’, averaging around 14-15 shots per game. They have completely shunned the idea of keeping the ball at their feet, instead feeding them over to Falcao, who just know how to score better than most others.

Their shape off the ball is pretty standard, but they are very hard to break down, because of their indifference towards ball possession. In Gabi and Mario Suarez, they have two very effective deep-lying central midfielders, who can never possibly get caught out of possession because they rarely spend time in the opposition half, instead moving the ball up the pitch immediately.

And if they are unsuccessful in their attack, they are going to be least affected by a counter-attack because their positional play is second only to Barcelona. Diego Simeone has oiled his machines commendably. In addition to this, they average over 20 tackles per game, which indicates their desire to win the ball back before long.

It is what they do after they win the ball back that has the opposition defence tied up in a knot. After watching a couple of Atletico games with squinted eyes, I’ve noticed that the wing-backs narrow the field of play, instead of expanding it, and the wingers keep very little distance between themselves and the wing-backs. When the ball is recovered, they immediately break away, and the ball is fed to them.

Atletico have averaged over 20 crosses this season, with the primary reason for their preferred wide play being the hard to catch movement of Falcao. Defenders are left scratching their heads if the burly Colombian would come from in behind to head the ball or if he’d slip past them, move near the near post for a tap-in. Falcao takes full advantage of this indecisiveness from the defenders to slam goal after goal past the hapless ‘keepers.

Although nearly half the season is past the Rojiblancos, it will be too naive and probably a hostage to fortune to suggest that Atletico will actually challenge for the title, let alone win it. But finishing above Real and defending their Europa League title would pass of as more realistic – albeit challenging – tests.

In order for that to happen, Atletico must believe in themselves, hold onto their start hit-man in January and forget the three domestic away losses as false blips on an otherwise impressive radar. Failing to qualify for the Champions League, however impossible it may seem at the moment, would definitely mean that the team has let down everyone at the Calderon.

Who knows? Maybe the mutiny will be successful and with Ronaldo and Mourinho reportedly leaving this season, they can overthrow the dominant majority and take over Madrid.