Matchanalys: Förlust mot Betis

På grund av tidsbrist följer här matchanalysen för Madrid Atléticos på engelska. Undertecknad lovar att sköta sig bättre efter jul- och nyårsuppehållet!

Despite another chance to cut in on the teams above Atlético couldn’t manage to beat Real Betis at the Calderón. The team, if you could call the eleven men that considering their non-existing playing style, failed to take control of the match and seem disillusioned once again. Is our season over?

With half of the season gone we find ourselves at the tenth spot, ten points behind Levante at fourth and four points ahead of Sporting de Gijón who sits in the relegation spots. Atlético, who looked so good and inspired at the beginning of the season is now a fatal disaster without any kind of style, joy or inspiration. Yesterday was just another performance that left a lot to wish for and even Falcao missed two sitters that he had to bury if anything good would come out of the match. Domínguez’s slip ahead of the 0-1-goal is unfortunate but it didn’t help that Godín lost the ball to an opponent shortly before the Captain’s bad luck which could see Betis counter attack and finally take the lead.
While there’s still a hope of reaching the fourth spot, considering the fact that we play many difficult matches at home this round (Valencia, Barcelona, Bilbao, Real Madrid) it’s still a huge disappointment that the team, with this quality, couldn’t deliver better result when in December. Dropped points against Osasuna (H), Granada (A), Getafe (A) and the failure of giving teams like I mentioned above a match, a tough fight, is not at Atlético’s standard and should never, ever, be. Gregorio Manzano is the one that should be held most responsible, at least in my opinion. While it’s true that he didn’t get a proper pre-season with the whole squad it can’t work as an excuse considering the quality of the current squad, with players like Godín, Domínguez, Filipe, Arda, Reyes, Diego and Falcao. Also, we didn’t hear the argument about the pre-season when we were trashing Celtic, Sporting and Racing on a throt.

Continuing on Manzano. “Goyo” arrived with the intention of “changing Atlético’s playing style” but has time after another failed to set his impact on the team, who’s, in my opinion, only played three good games this season against Sporting, Racing and Udinese. The players seem nervous and without any clear ideas, and the thing that disturbs me the most is the lack of pressure against the opponents. How is it possible that a professional club, and a big club as Atlético, haven’t got an existing defence and pressure? The defence is twenty meters behind their midfielders, leaving a space between the lines that any opponent is too good to not exploit. Some players are pressuring, some players are don’t and what comes out of it? Manzano pretty much summed up his tactical skills yesterday when he subbed both Arda and Diego, man of the match, for Koke and Reyes. WHAT?! We were trailing, at home, and he’s not taking out a defender or a defensive midfielder? Embarrassing match coaching and, including what I wrote above, a mystery that a professional manager haven’t got that thought or vision. Manzano VETE YA!

Pre-match
Courtois got the nod ahead of Asenjo and Juanfran replaced Perea as a right back with the Colombian not having fully recovered from the blow he received against Rennes. Assunçao stayed but Gabi replaced Koke despite the fact that the latter didn’t fail against the French.

                    Courtois
Juanfran-Godín-Domínguez-Filipe
         Gabi-Assunçao-Arda
                      Diego
               Adrián-Falcao

Squad news
Sílvio and Diego Costa’s still injured. Joel, Pulido and Pizzi didn’t make the squad.

Positives
-


Negatives

• Courtois’s a very good goalkeeper, there’s absolutely no doubt about it, but to train a goalkeeper for Chelsea frustrates me. It’s embarrasses our club, our status and our history. With the Belgian starting yesterday I can’t see that there isn’t a clause in the loan-contract, and that makes me even more angry and ashamed. Asenjo, and let’s not forget Joel, have fought hard to take a place but haven’t got any. What really happened to Joel? He looked a bit shaky at some times but not anything that he deserved to be benched for, not at all. Ánimo, Asenjo y Joel!
  
  The same scenario happened to Koke. What does Gabi offer that Koke doesn’t? Creativity? No. Experience? Apparently not. Passing game? No. It’s such a cowardness from Manzano to don’t play Koke, and also Pulido. It can’t be much worse, can it?
   
• With Falcao scoring his two clear chances yesterday it would be a different game, but it also shows how voulnerable and how bad we are when the crosses don’t work. Adrián didn’t have a good game yesterday and actually didn’t get that much to work with and without any presence in the final fourth it’s impossible to create any danger. Diego tried but held the ball too long for most of the time, Arda did the same and didn’t use Filipe’s constant over-lapping. Juanfran also tried but failed with the crosses that barrely reached the first defender.
   
• Falcao has scored quite a few goals and assisted also, but was he really the player we needed? I don’t doubt his goalscoring qualities but what else is there? He isn’t a dribbler, a player that could take the ball from midfield and forward, and isn’t that fast either. Shortly, he isn’t a player like you-know-who. With that said, El Tigre really is a monster in the box and the fact that he isn’t as good as he was in Porto could simply be explained with the lack of service. Simple as that.
   
• We’ve already mentioned it, but it certainly “deserves” to be taken up again. We’re playing at home and get one behind ten minutes into the second half. The time goes on and everyone’s waiting for Manzano to do something and it surely does – when Arda and Diego’s being replaced by Koke and Reyes. The Brazilian was the best player of the game and Arda is very helpful in the offense but “Goyo” subs them off and falls for the pressure of playing Reyes who, quite frankly, doesn’t deserve too considering his constant bad attitude and performances this season. Embarrassing, yet again, and another action without any idea.
   
• Pozuelo got expelled with twenty minutes left but this season it’s apparently not an advantage for Atlético because it sure didn’t help with Betis comfortable in all spaces of the field. They could even attack and pass the ball around at our half. AT THE CALDERÓN!!!

5 kommentarer

Joakim Jönsson2011-12-19 10:06:00