With nearly half of the season already over, Los Colchoneros have had somewhat of a mix bag of a season. Critics have left them dry, but fans still endear at the growth of the club in recent years.
Usually, being the only Madrid club as the closest challengers to Barcelona for this season's La Liga would bring accolades for the club. However, Diego Simeone and his boys had a disastrous European campaign which saw them finish third behind the Italians, AS Roma and the Londoners, Chelsea, whilst losing to the latter on both occasions. By comparison, in previous few seasons Atlético topped their Champions League groups while being paired with the likes of Juventus & Bayern Munich.
Atlético have looked miserable on their European outings, which has already ushered some critics into becoming naysayers as the verdict being the lack of creativity upfront. With the transfer ban being uplifted in January, the return of Diego Costa after three and a half seasons is almost wish come true situation for their fans, as his replacement and their top scorer for past three seasons, Antoine Griezmann have almost looked lonely upfront, prompting the Frenchman to go deeper in the midfield to receive the ball.
This was more than evident in the 1-0 loss against Espanyol, as Fernando Torres looks to be enjoying a giant favour by the club for his brilliant exploits early in his career and Kevin Gameiro, who looked awful and seems to labour around the pitch far too often. With not even half of the season done, top of the table have already seen Barcelona taking a nine point lead and stake their claim on the title well in advance. This brings us to the Europa League where Atlético can shine with two great arrivals in Costa, who had a very public dispute with Antonio Conte after the Italian coach sent him the infamous text and Vitolo, the Spanish winger which Atlético signed from Sevilla in the summer transfer window, but could not register him in the team because of the transfer ban, thus was sent out on loan to Las Palmas.
 |
| Antoine Griezmann have looked alone upfront all season. |
With January's first fixture being the Copa del Rey clash against Lleida, everyone involved with the club will be hoping that these new signings will rejuvenate the rest of the team and ignite that passion which the world has seen from them in recent years and triumph the second half of the season.
All cannot be blamed on a single factor as even Diego Simeone have in certain times looked lost during urgent situations. Yannick Carrasco, who was a revelation last term, scoring 14 goals in all competitions has lost his place since September. Constant transfer talks about their star, Griezmann to bigger clubs certainly plays with the mental aspects of the game and this season have seen Simeone's mentality of team over individual take a toll.
These are the rough turns that every club goes through as even their much celebrated Madrid counterparts have seen them tumbling this season after back to back European glories. The question should be as to how will Atlético take the second half of the season. Will they push for the La Liga and put pressure on Barcelona to make a slip? Will they find solace in dreams of lifting the Europa League after failing to lift the Champions League twice in recent years? For all it's worth, Atlético should look at the second half of the season with renewed hope and optimism which could see them lifting some major trophies and few more fans on the way.
No comments:
Post a Comment