Barcelona must be wary of increasingly adaptable Atletico
When a team is at the height of their powers, as Luis Enrique’s squad was when they won an unprecedented treble in recent years, it becomes incredibly hard to improve upon the quality on a player-by-player basis.
Barcelona’s transfer policy over the summer is indicative of this very fact, with Andre Gomes, Denis Suarez, Lucas Digne, Jasper Cillessen and Samuel Umtiti not necessarily designed to immediately improve the chances of the Blaugrana in key matches, but rather heighten the club’s potential ceiling.
This situation has allowed for Atletico Madrid to gain considerable ground on their title rivals over the last couple of years, with their business in the summer catalysed by the knowledge that a transfer ban will stunt their evolution over the coming transfer windows.
Marquee signing Kevin Gameiro is a marked improvement on Fernando Torres, with Sime Vrsaljko offering immediate competition for Juanfran’s first-team place. Nicolas Gaitan has been playing for a number of years at continental level and adds further creativity in the wide areas.
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In the past, never more so than during their title-winning year, Atletico were considered the battling underdogs, overwhelmed by Barcelona’s quality but able to compete by sheer fighting spirit and general cohesion. The team could attempt to trump the individual.
Now, the landscape is somewhat different, with a greater onus placed up individual stars to win Atleti’s more difficult contests for them and bigger price tags attributed to players who were previously thought to be individual cogs of what was a hard working unit. The absence of the injured Tiago would have been a key factor to this clash in years gone by, but Atleti’s acquisitions have ensured a progression to a point where the Portuguese is playing second fiddle anyway.
Clean sheets have been a fixture in Atletico’s game for a while, but there is a higher level of technical quality in their squad to ensure that the visitors can compete on a more even playing field - with an added urgency to impress versus Barcelona given the fact that Simeone has recently cut the length of his managerial contract by two years.
Koke and Saul have not been shoe-horned into a four-man midfield week in week out, as Simeone experiments with his wide options and system, with a constant 4-4-2 not the plain reality for Atletico any more. Despite some adjustments, however, Los Colchoneros have still kept eight clean sheets out of their last 10 La Liga matches.
Barcelona have undergone their own philosophical evolution of sorts under Luis Enrique, who has in recent weeks essentially scoffed at the idea of possession being more important than results. Points trump passes for the Asturian coach, who openly admitted that his team’s share of the ball was a moot point after thrashing Leganes by a 5-1 scoreline last weekend.
“Depending on the opponents, there will be complications and we must find these spaces. Possession interests me very little in these games, I don’t care about it,” Enrique told reporters, with the ex-Celta boss likely to take up a similar train of thought for the visit of Atleti.
Instead of worrying about the ball, Enrique instead prefers to leave his opponents to do the worrying when they come up against the formidable trio of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar. As their recent 2-1 shock defeat against Alaves highlighted, having all of the possession is all well and good - until you can’t take enough of your chances to take home three points.
Enrique’s focus will still be on funnelling good service into his forward line, allowing for the triple threat to carve out their own opportunities between themselves. The supporting cast are a little more peripheral, as their purpose when in possession is to circulate possession and stretch the pitch, allowing for Jordi Alba to get in behind down the left and for Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez to have as much space to work their magic in as possible.
The three already have nine goals between them, despite being reunited only recently, but will be facing an uncompromising opposing trio this weekend. Jan Oblak, Diego Godin and Stefan Savic have impressed so far this campaign, with the latter’s performances managing to keep Jose Gimenez out of the picture - earning him a 7.54 average WhoScored rating.
Atletico’s mentality of sitting back and then looking to get forward at pace will likely remain the same, but Simeone can call upon attacking options who are both able to track back diligently and also offer pace and excitement on the break. Antoine Griezmann has four goals in three La Liga outings, after enjoying a summer that saw him next six goals and grab two assists for France in Euro 2016, and has grown in confidence as a result.
Carrasco proved his worth for Atleti in big matches at the tail-end of last season, with his performance in the Champions League final undoubtedly earmarking the Belgian for another step up during this campaign, and Simeone should be unafraid to unleash the ex-Monaco man this week. Just as the tireless and mazy running of Alaves wingers Ibai Gomez and Edgar Mendez caused problems for Barcelona on the counter at Camp Nou, the talented Belgium international should be capable of proving a similar headache.
Keeping it tight at the back has always been the prime focus of Simeone’s Atletico, but Enrique is well aware that dominating the game and the ball can bear little fruit against a team who is so comfortable with absorbing pressure. The Alaves defeat was a timely reminder that certain systems can frustrate the Blaugrana, but Atletico are rather more blessed with lethal attacking options than the Basque minnows.
After a slow start to life as an Atletico striker, Kevin Gameiro has two goals from his opening four league appearances this campaign. Having previously snatched at his chances, recent form suggests that the Frenchman is settling under the heavy spotlight of expectation at Estadio Vicente Calderon.
To out-score Barcelona’s MSN is a huge ask, but Gameiro and Griezmann are more than worthy tools to try and hurt the league champions on a quickly transitioning counter-attack. Wednesday could be the day where Gameiro both announces and endears himself to Atletico’s fanbase - but not if footballing lock-pick Lionel Messi has anything to say about it.
What are your score predictions when Barcelona host Atletico on Wednesday night? Let us know in the comments below
