Atletico Madrid’s 3-5 aggregate Uefa Champions League quarter final capitulation at the hands of Borussia Dortmund is the latest example of why Diego Simeone made a monumental error by transforming his side from an attritional defensive counter-attacking side to a front foot outfit.
The Argentine gaffer won two Liga Santander crowns and reached a couple of Uefa Champions League finals playing suffocating defensive football akin to the kind invented by compatriot Helenio Herrera who won two ‘Big Ears’ with Inter Milan in 1964 and 1965 playing the famed catenaccio in which opposing strikers were afforded no attacking space. It’s a system that had worked a treat for the Argentine.
In his 12 full seasons as Wanda Metropolitano boss, Los Colchoneros have been Liga Santander’s best defensive outfit on seven occasions, more or less guaranteeing the country’s third best supported club a place in the top three. Matter of fact, 2011/12 when Simeone joined the club mid-season (in December 2011) was the last time Atleti finished out of the top four.
In that season, they conceded a staggering 53 goals and a finished with a negative 7 goal difference, having netted a paltry 46 goals. The next nine years witnessed a complete evolution in which they conceded an average of 25 goals per season, laying the foundation for the club’s reemergence as a power in both La Liga and Europe where they won three Europa League crowns.
The 2015/16 campaign in which Simeone’s side conceded just 18 goals is a benchmark almost identical to Chelsea’s 2004/5 record setting campaign in the English Premier League in which Jose Mourinho’s west Londoners let in only 15 goals though the Spanish club finished third three points behind eventual Liga Santander champions Barcelona despite collecting 88 points.
2023/24 is the first season in a decade whereby Atletico Madrid’s position in the top four is not guaranteed after 33 rounds of action. This is mostly attributable to their decline as a defensive force. Ahead of their winner takes all clash with Athletic Bilbao, Atleti were the sixth best defensive outfit with the 38 goals they’d conceded after match day 33 a whole 16 goals worse than champion elects Real Madrid.
Simeone’s problem could the absence of central defenders blessed with the same skills set as former skipper Diego Godin, Miranda and Jose Gimenez whose hard as nails uncompromising man marking is the stuff of legend. However, no number of alibis can excuse the presence of Axel Witsel, a midfielder in central defense. Simeone is either a manager losing his marbles or has lost his sense of direction in an attempt to catch up on the craze for counter-pressing football.