22 Oct 2019 12:18:40
Ed001.

Was looking at results recently and how well athletico have not done in the past few years despite spending an incredible amount of money on players who are terrible at the moment like Morata and Diego Costa. They also seem to have some unreal players including last years midfield of rodri and Saul yet didn't do anything in the league and started terribly again this year they also can barely score any goals. Is this simeones fault? And are the board close to getting rid of him? Surely this year they should have Allready be a top of the league.

{Ed001's Note - well Simeone has to take some of the blame, a large part of it in fact. Even though they have invested heavily, the team is not moving forward and developing together. He has done some brilliant stuff, but it has been at the expense of entertainment. If you are playing terrible football but getting results, fans will put up with it and just enjoy the wins. However, the minute you stop getting the results the quality of players should be getting, then it is difficult for anyone to support the style of play.

They have always had the players to compete at the top but Simeone has never developed a style of play to suit the players he has. It is always been about shoehorning players in and hoping they will adapt. That is why the flair players so often fail to work out. Hard work is essential, but it has to be at the right times and right place. If your winger has just chased back 40 yards to track a full-back and then the ball is played forward, even if he can get to it and get into a dangerous position, there is a chance he is going to be gasping for air and make a mess of his cross, pass or shot.

The weather in Spain is much hotter than England, which takes its toll as well. Simeone never seems to take any of that into account and only concentrates on making sure they work hard defensively and just leave the attack to end up becoming mainly long balls and counters. His attitude is that of a manager who has a team that is much weaker and needs to run themselves into the ground to counter that. He needs to adapt to the fact that he has quality players and figure out how to get the most out of them on the ball.}

1.) 22 Oct 2019
22 Oct 2019 20:53:51
ah thank you very much for the reply, they only just scraped through today. my go to bet used to have been athletico 0-0 half time whoever they played, becuase their defence was solid and never use to go forward much first half. bit strange felxi decided to go their with the way they play. and also i completely get why now they don't seem to do well despite having very good players, and the lack of much quality out their in that league and even in the champions league.

{Ed001's Note - very welcome mate. It is a shame, they have the quality in the squad but they just aren't making the most of it.}