Jornada 6: Atlético Madrid 2 Osasuna 0

Third win in a row! The scoreline flatters Osasuna as we had very clear opportunities to put the game out of reach.

Abbiati; Seitaridis; Pablo; Eller; Antonio Lopez; Raul Garcia; Maniche; Reyes (58′ Maxi); Simao (58′ Luis Garcia); Forlan (79′ Jurado); Aguero

Note that three changes were made in the backline: Abbiati (for injured Leo Franco), Eller (for injured Perea), and Antonio Lopez (for Pernia, no injury, just rotation)

GOLS
37′ Raul Garcia
81′ Aguero (strong candidate for Pichichi!)

1st Half
Great first half with an absolute cracker from long distance by Raul Garcia. We created quite a few dangerous attacks with Forlán and Agüero as active participants.  Osasuna hardly created anything except for sporadic shots by Portillo. We played very well through the center as well as the flanks. Simao was far more effective than Reyes, who appeared to have ‘disappeared’ for some portions of the first half. Kun was unfortunate not to have scored a goal.

2nd Half
More pressure from Osasuna, but we had more clear opportunities at goal: at least 3 opportunities for KUN and 2 for Maxi. Our counter-attacks were quite good– KUN scored his goal from one– another goooolazo.

Men of the Match: Raul Garcia and Aguero

Special mention:Abbiati & 2nd half sub Luis Garcia.

All in all, fantastic win– our third in a row! We are confident, playing well, and the team is coming together very well.

Next up: away to Barcelona!

[Addition: Before then, UEFA 2nd leg against Erciyesspor.]

AUPA ATLETI

Jornada 6: Atlético Madrid v Osasuna

The list is out. 

CHOSEN SQUAD:
Falcón.
Seitaridis
Antonio López.
Pernía.
Cléber Santana.
Forlán.
Raúl García.
Luis García.
Agüero.
Maxi Rodríguez.
Fabiano Eller.
Abbiati.
Zé Castro.
Jurado.
Reyes.
Maniche.
Mista.
Pablo Ibáñez.
Simão.

Eller returns, Jurado is recovered from the injury he picked up a couple weeks ago, and Falcón is 2nd choice goalkeeper since Leo Franco is out injured.

Here’s hoping for a win.

 AUPA ATLETI

Jornada 6: Atlético Madrid v Osasuna

First and foremost, this will be Raul Garcia’s first game against his boyhood club. He looks forward to it, calling it ‘special’ and ‘strange’ to go against his ex-teammates. When asked if he’d celebrate if he scored a goal, he said he would be happy, but he certainly wouldn’t celebrate it, out of respect. Completely understandable. To be honest, I think it’s bad form when a player celebrates a goal scored against an ex-club.

Important Things To Consider
With Perea out, Pablo needs a new centre-back partner. Aguirre has two choices: Eller or Ze Castro. Of the two, I’d choose Ze Castro because he is more reliable than Eller, based on recent performances. AS breaks it down differently: Eller might be viewed as a good option by Aguirre because he’s taller than Ze Castro and could probably clear out aerial attacks better. On the other hand, Eller lacks pace and would struggle against the likes of young striker Portillo.

Maxi back to the starting 11?
I don’t doubt for one minute that Maxi wants to regain his starting position. He is after all, captain of the team! On the other hand, he has been poor for us– should an exception be made for this game? Should we continue to use him as a sub until he shows signs of improvement? Maxi is one of my favourite players and nothing would please me more than to see him back in the squad, playing at the level that he did pre-injury.

Rotations
Will Luis Garcia receive a starting 11 spot this Sunday or soon? It’s unclear, but he’s a constant contributor to the team and has an eye for goal. Let’s see how it goes: Aguirre has said time and time again that he plans on rotating squads in order to keep players fit for all competitions.

Bottom-line: this is an absolute must-win fixture. We travel to Barcelona in round 7, which will be a tough game.

Miscellaneous Hodgepodge

INJURY NEWS
Perea will be unavailable for at least 3 weeks. Leo Franco will not play against Osasuna this Sunday– he hopes to be fully recovered for round 7, in a couple weeks.

We should have Motta back in about by mid-October.

——————–

Meanwhile, Pablo spoke to the press after the away win at Athletic Bilbao:
“The win tonight is very important…We must continue winning…” He also mentioned that there has been a “change of attitude” in the club– I think this most definitely ties in with Aguirre’s current tactics, where he has been more attack-minded in substitutions.

——————– 

In other news, Aguero told the press that he hopes to continue on his consistent goal-scoring run.
His stats so far: 4 Liga goals and 1 Europe goal. 100% workrate– kun gives it his all.

——————– 

And, to end this entry: Reyes spoke to the press as well, particularly on the warm reception he has received from Atleti supporters and ambitions:

I have started just one game for Atlético and things went well, but I still have a lot to prove here…We do not know what we can achieve. We have a great squad and we will battle to win everything. Finishing in the top four would be great.

——————– 

TV-related News: It’s still unclear whether this weekend’s game will be available to viewers outside of Spain. There’s an extremely slim chance, but don’t hold your breath.

Jornada 5: Athletic Bilbao 0 Atlético Madrid 2

Too bad it wasn’t on TV. In any case, it was another great (albeit tough) win– not to mention another clean sheet.  Athletic tried their best to get back into the game: they held quite a bit of possession in the 2nd half, had two goals rightly disallowed, & hit the woodwork twice. For our part,  we started strong (particularly the 1st half), but that fluctuated throughout the game. At the end of the day, it’s a great win for los rojiblancos and I’m thoroughly happy. [GREAT GAME FOR KUN, too!]

GOLS
11′ Aguero
78′ Forlan

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE GOLS!

Great to see Forlan score a Liga goal- AND WHAT A GOAL IT WAS! Plus, Kun continues on his sharp goal-scoring form.

Here’s Aguirre’s tactics:
Leo Franco; Seitaridis; Pablo; Perea (46′ Ze Castro); Pernia; Simao (58′ Maxi); Raul Garcia; Maniche, Reyes (65′ Luis Garcia); Aguero; Forlan

OPINION: it’s reassuring to see that Aguirre did not resort to negative (aka defensive) tactics when we were 1 up. It’s also good to see Reyes start again.

I also worry about Maxi‘s form. I wonder why it has been so poor– it’s been quite some time since he recovered from his long-term injury. What’s the deal?

MINOR OBSERVATIONS: Good game for Luis Garcia, even though he only came in as a sub. Reyes, good, although there is some discussion that he ‘disappeared’ for moments of the game. Simao, it seems, still needs some more time to fully adjust; we know what he can do, it’s only a matter of time that he finds his niche.

INJURIES
Perea picked up a muscular injury on his thigh and was subbed out in the 46th minute. Leo Franco was also struggling towards the end– more on that if it’s severe. At least we know we have a solid 2nd choice goalkeeper in Abbiati, if it’s anything long-term.

Again, it’s great to win our second in a row.

 AUPA ATLETI

[Next up: Home to Putasuna-- whoops, I mean OSASUNA! ]

Jornada 5: Athletic Bilbao v Atlético Madrid

It’s tomorrow, 20.00 local time. 

CHOSEN SQUAD:  Seitaridis; Antonio López; Pernía; Cléber Santana; Forlán; Raúl García; Luis García; Agüero; Maxi; Abbiati; Zé Castro; Reyes; Maniche; Mista; Perea; Pablo Ibáñez; Simão; Leo Franco.

UPDATE (forgot to mention this): Note that Ze Castro was chosen over Eller. I can’t help but wonder if the Brasilian will be shown the door in January. His poor performances outweigh his good performances– most of his troubles on the pitch have been due to lack of pace. He also, crucially, occupies an extracommunitarian spot. Stay tuned for that.

Given Maxi’s mediocre form, this is Aguirre’s starting 11:

————–Leo Franco————-

Seita——Pablo–Perea–Pernia—–

–Simao–Raul Garcia–Maniche–Reyes

———Kun——–Forlan——-

SUBS: Abbiati; Antonio Lopez; Cleber, Ze Castro; Luis Garcia; Maxi; Mista

If we win, we’ll be even on points with Barcelona (moving up to 5th place), thanks to Espanyol beating Sevilla  today, 2-3.

AUPA ATLETI

[We must keep an eye out for Susaeta, a very talented Athletic player this season.]

[TRIVIA: Aguero scored his first goal as a rojiblanco in this fixture last season.]

Injury Update

Quick Entry. 

Miguel De las Cuevas, Motta and Jurado all trained very lightly today. Jurado was incorporated into the full squad, but didn’t do anything too strenuous. Miguel is still recuperating & training on his own. Motta , injured 18- Sept, has  began working with the physical therapist, which is great.; He did specialised exercises & walked around the pitch.

It’s important to have them back to full training because we are competing in three different areas: Liga, UEFA, and Copa (soon)!

Jornada 5: Quick Reminder

Last season, Liga was the last European league to end, or at least it seemed that way. 07/08 is different:  tighter and more weekday games.

Jornada 5 is a weekday fixture, away to Athletic Bilbao, currently sharing the same amount of points as us (5 pts).  Last season, we beat them 1-4 (of course, now they have a new defence with the additions of del Horno & Aitor Ocio).

Stay tuned.

Minor Blog News

I’ve reached a little over 10,000 hits on the blog after only 4 months of opening it (see right margin). A considerable number of hits since I only focus on my favourite club, Atlético. It’s great to know there are many folks out there interested in the club.

Thanks to all visitors of the site!

FORZA ATLETI SIEMPRE

[See thoughts on today's game below.]

Jornada 4: Atlético Madrid 4 Racing Santander 0

Thoroughly deserved victory over a Racing side that did absolutely nothing prior to and after the sending off of Jordi in the 64th minute. We had the better chances throughout the game.

GOLS
Raúl García 11′
Kun 69′ [Assist by Reyes.]
Forlán 76′ [Assist by Kun.]
Simao 86′ [Assist by Luis.]

Here’s Aguirre’s squad:
Leo Franco; Seitaridis; Perea; Pablo; Pernía; Maniche; Raúl García; Maxi (Simao 59′); Reyes (Luis Garcia 75′); Kun (Mista 86′); Forlán.

Reyes made an absolute difference and I think he has earned himself a starting 11 spot for our next fixture; hard-working & creating opportunities. Aguirre was brave enough to sub Maxi out after another mediocre performance. He didn’t make a negative substitution, thankfully, and brought in Simao. Great game for Kun too.

Aguirre breathes a sigh of relief.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT: The sending off of Jordi helped us considerably. There’s still much work to do in terms of style of play and scoring more goals against a side with 11 players (and holding on to our lead).

See more thoughts on the game (while it was live) in below entry in comments.

 

Raul can’t contain himself after scoring the opening goal.

Check out the official webpage for post-game thoughts (available in English & Spanish).

AUPA ATLETI