In the last few years, it has been hard to think of Atletico Madrid without the image of Diego Simeone gesticulating wildly in his technical area. Dressed all in black, hair slicked back, waving frantically at fans to inspire a better atmosphere inside Estadio Vicente Calderon. The figure of Simeone is synonymous with the club he is in charge of.
The Argentine does have a preferred system and style of play, but the prerequisites of playing under him are much more based on mental attributes. Desire, character, determination and fighting spirit are just a handful of the words thrown around during Atletico’s 2013/2014 title-winning campaign, which saw Los Colchoneros battle their way to a lot of narrow one-goal victories to take the ultimate domestic prize in Spain.
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Simeone personifies tenacity, desire, passion. All high-intensity, draining traits to have. For a man as driven as he, it is perhaps easier to maintain such a demanding personality, but the last six years are bound to have taken their collective toll on a squad that appears to have plateaued - as the peak of the La Liga-winning season was exactly that, a high point.
Simeone’s approach and Atletico’s identity
Champions League runners-up for two of the last three years, Simeone’s approach and demands now seem much more realistic for a shorter tournament format. While a league campaign that is 38 games in length asks for total long-term concentration throughout every minute on the field, it is perhaps easier for players who have already tasted La Liga success and given so much to rouse themselves for shorter spells in midweek, out-of-the-ordinary fixtures.
Atletico find themselves in fourth place at this season’s half-way point, level on 35 points with fifth-paced Real Sociedad and eight points off Real Madrid – with Los Blancos also having a game in hand on their local rivals. Six points separate them from an automatic Champions League spot, meaning that as things stand La Liga is very much a three-horse race.
What was motivating, thrilling and exciting about the Simeone identity and regime has been maintained for such a length of time that it has become mundane. Nothing can be invigorating and enchanting forever. Players need a new stimulus from time to time. While the psychological and physical demands of Atletico have remained the same this season, a switch in terms of style of play has resulted in something of an identity crisis, as a slight re-shuffle has been needed to freshen things up.
Teams are no longer willing to push forward and have a lot of the ball against Atletico - they know that Simeone is probably more comfortable preparing his team to plug defensive gaps than play free-flowing football. As such, the questions asked of his side have changed in La Liga, they need to play on the front foot more often, but as of yet, they have been unable to adapt to the point of having a consistent identity or performance level.
There are glimpses, brief flashes, of what Simeone now imagines his Atletico side to be. When winning the ball back in or around their own penalty area, they immediately burst into action. A pacy attack led by the likes of Kevin Gameiro and Antoine Griezmann is spring-loaded, while the likes of Nicolas Gaitan, Angel Correa and Yannick Carrasco can offer invention and trickery down the flank. In two, maybe three, passes Simeone’s men can be bearing down on goal, relying on Griezmann and Gameiro to be clinical.
The problem?
The problem is, neither of them have been prolific so far. Both Frenchmen have gone through lengthy goalless spells this season, with December being particularly bleak for Los Colchoneros. And while the attack takes a while to acclimatise, leaving Atletico with the same goal scored figure as this time last season, things at the back haven’t remained solid.
Atletico have conceded twice as many goals at La Liga’s mid-way point, compared to last year, as Jan Oblak and Miguel Angel Moya have seen 16 goals flash into the back of their net rather than a meagre eight. Diego Godin is still world-class at centre-back, with Filipe Luis ever-present on the left, but the rest of Simeone’s back four is yet to be set in stone.
Perhaps most importantly, Atletico have lost the ability to believe that they are the underdogs. No longer are they simply the noisy neighbours of Real Madrid, as they shouted the loudest back in 2014. Sevilla have taken their label of the ‘surprise package’, armed with a similarly fiery Argentine coach, and a unique approach to taking on Spain’s duopoly.
Much of Simeone’s aura would be most persuasive and influential in an underdog situation, but after a league title and signing big-money players, the romance isn’t quite there anymore. Perhaps it is now best for both parties to recognise their achievements together and then go their own separate ways.
