Jornada 4: Atlético Madrid v Racing Santander

A must-win game- this Sunday.

Starting 11: Leo Franco; Seitaridis, Pablo, Perea, Pernía; Raúl García, Maniche, Maxi, Reyes; Kun Agüero and Forlán.

Subs: Cleber, Antonio Lopez, Luis Garcia, Eller, Abbiati, Mista, Simao

Reyes starts his first Liga game for the club- let’s see if we note the difference. Will this single change alter the lacklustre performances we have seen in the previous games? Will Aguirre be brave enough to sub out the big names if they are underperforming (eg Forlan, Maxi, and Maniche)? Will Luis Garcia receive some playing time? The Catalan has mentioned in a press talk that he would like to be considered for a starting 11 spot.

Stay tuned.

NB: GAME WILL NOT BE ON TV FOR US VIEWERS.

Mourinho to Atleti?

(See entry below for other replacements mention in the media & by supporters) 

AS has written an article on the possibility of Mourinho to Atleti. They wrote a bit about Mourinho’s managerial history. There isn’t much in the way of ‘evidence’ that he is headed to el Vicente Calderon. It’s just a brief look at the situation of Aguirre:

The Players: for the most part, there has no never been any indication that Aguirre is disrespected or hated by players. More recently, though, Reyes has expressed his surprise that he’s not playing more since his arrival.

The Supporters: Supporters are rightfully not happy with the unconvincing playing style and poor results thus far. On Thursday, during the game against Erciyesspor, many whistled  and chanted at him. Although we won, many supporters–myself included– are not happy with the style in which the players are playing. Ugly, unconvincing and, so far in Liga, completely ineffective (2 points out of a possible 9).

The Management: Atleti board continues to say that they support Aguirre. However, it’s rumoured that his  job is under considerable threat after these string of disappointing results.

I still think there’s a very slim chance this will happen– I think Mourinho’s next move might be to Italy (Juve or Inter, maybe).

Is there any doubt?

That if we lose against Racing this Sunday, Aguirre will be sacked?

Some names being tossed around at the moment: Diego Simeone, Radomir Antic. To a lesser extent, I’ve heard Javier Irureta and Luis Aragones names as well in the mix.

I have a few doubts: Simeone, an Atleti favourite when he played for the club, is 37 years old and has no experience managing a European club. He has had success with Estudiantes, but Europe is a completely ‘different ball of wax’ as the saying goes. As for Antic, it would be the Serb’s 4th time managing Atleti. He’s had some success in the past with the club.

I don’t want us to lose, but realistically, if Aguirre doesn’t adjust his tactics, we will draw or, worse, lose against a very defensively sound Racing Santander.

I don’t want to write a lengthy entry on this–  just ‘thinking out loud’ a bit.

Injury News

Midfielder Jurado will be out for about 2 weeks with an ankle injury picked up during yesterday’s UEFA leg.

UEFA: Atlético Madrid 4 Kayseri Erciyesspor 0 THE GOALS

Very quick video, but all goals shown.

UEFA: Atlético Madrid 4 Kayseri Erciyesspor 0

 

Good result that virtually assures us of progressing to the group stages of UEFA.

GOLS
Mista 12′
Forlan 16′
Luis Garcia 82′
Luis Garcia 91′ (assist by Maniche)

According to match reports, we scored our first two goals during 10 minutes of ‘inspiration’. It’s disconcerting to read, though, that we continued to play unconvincingly (wobbly) for long  portions of the game, especially in defence and midfield. Still, a win is a win and I’m happy.

POST-GAME THOUGHTS FROM LUIS
The main objective was to score  the most number of goals. It wasn’t an easy game because they were  tight in the back…but with 4-0 we will go to Turkey with  [much more tranquility].

A Few Brief & Random Notes:
-Antonio Lopez is completely out of form and Pernia, though mediocre, should continue to occupy that position. Yes, between the two, Pernia is the most reliable at this point.

-Forlan had a fairly good game and with a bit more time will come through for us in Liga. His form in Europe has so far been very good, in terms of goals, then again we haven’t faced stiff competition.

-Maniche, poor, lamentable

-Luis is in good form at the moment; I’d choose him over Maxi because he has an accurate eye for goal. We lack that in Liga– why not bench Maxi and start Luis on Sunday to see if his goal-scoring form in Europe translates well in the domestic league?

-Simao, pure class and talent, and should take on a greater role during Liga games

Abbiati; Perea; Eller; Antonio Lopez; Ze Castro; Maniche; Luis Garcia; Cleber Santana (Raul Garcia 82′); Jurado (Simao 22′); Forlan; Mista (Aguero 68′)

INJURY NEWS
Jurado was injured in the 22nd minute.  More on this in a new entry.

UEFA: Atlético Madrid v Kayseri Erciyesspor

Here are the chosen 18 for the first leg tomorrow (Thursday):

2 Seitaridis.
3 Antonio López.
4 Pernía.
6 Cléber Santana.
7 Forlán.
8 Raúl García.
9 Luis García.
10 Agüero.
11 Maxi Rodríguez.
12 Fabiano Eller.
13 Abbiati.
14 Zé Castro.
15 Jurado.
18 Maniche.
20 Mista.
21 Perea.
24 Simão.
25 Leo Franco.

According to AS, Aguirre is expected to field this starting 11:

Abbiati; Perea, Antonio Lopez; Eller; Ze Castro; Jurado, Cleber Santana; Maniche; Luis Garcia; Mista; Forlan

AUPA ATLETI! WIN EMPHATICALLY!

Antonio Lopez on Thursday’s UEFA:
…we have a chance for revenge on Thursday: we have plenty of chances to score, and to keep the concessions to zero. 

Aguirre’s thoughts:
[Erciyesspor] is a club with many unpronounceable names…it’s a [team] organised defensively, that plays with two strikers who don’t defend but [thrive on counter-attacks]. We believe that we will have a good game and [will eliminate them] at home.

The [1st leg] should be a party, similar to [the game against] Vojvodina. We should score goals…We should play good, create [goal-scoring opportunities]…we plan the same against Racing because we cannot afford to lose more points. This club has Champions League quality and it’s time to show it.

That’s nice. NOW DO IT. It’s time to ‘walk the walk’, as the saying goes. ESPECIALLY in Liga. We need to create more goal-scoring opportunities and take our chances better. Players, particularly Forlan, need to score goals and prove he was worth the amount we’ve shelled out for him.

In other not-so-new news: It’s been mentioned here on the blog already, but the Spanish press has recently reported it– that manager Aguirre is set to rotate the squad regularly, to keep some players injury-free and fairly rested for all three competitions (the domestic league, Copa del Rey, and UEFA). Aguirre came out and said this during a press conference a week or so ago. My issue? We don’t play well with our current Liga starting 11 (just see our previous two games)– he needs to sort that out. I still believe he should be sacked.

Quick UEFA Reminder

Click here for dates and previous entries on UEFA. We face Kayseri Erciyesspor.

There are no ifs, ands, or buts about the away leg and the home leg– we must and should win both, not only convincingly but also by a large margin. For morale and to put our lacklustre start to the season behind us– as Forlan said in a recent interview. Hopefully a strong win against the 2nd division Turkish club on Thursday will shake up the squad.

Stay tuned.

More Bad News

Motta injured his knee during this (Monday) morning’s training session. His leg gave way when he jumped for a header.

He has a history of knee problems. I didn’t expect him to suffer one so soon into the season. He’s expected to be out for four weeks.

Just awful news.

Jornada 3: Real Murcia 1 Atlético Madrid 1

Anger at the Moment
BYE AGUIRRE. Shut the door on your way out. This was an absolutely embarassing performance; laughing stock of Liga. Atleti were sluggish at times; once we went up by a goal, we simply lacked hunger & desire to score a second goal. We spent a large portion of the game defending a 1 goal lead. There were long periods where we weren’t even remotely close to threatening at goal; very few scoring opportunities. Same old story.

Aguirre’s tactics were a joke:

Leo Franco; Seitaridis; Pablo; Perea; Pernía; Maniche; Maxi; Raúl García (Motta 67 min); Simão; Agüero (Reyes 49 min); Forlán (Mista 79 min).

First, Forlan was having a shockingly bad game. For some bizarre reason, though, he decided to keep him on the pitch and remove the more lively Aguero. Maxi was having a mediocre game and played a full 90…AGAIN.

Forlan, who should have been replaced early on in the second half, was replaced with useless Mista.

Absolutely disastrous.

I’ve tried to be as supportive as possible to Aguirre, but I can’t any more. I was hoping that he would wake up and change his tactics– unfortunately, it’s always the same damn story, over and over again. VETE YA, AGUIRRE!

There are very few positives to take from this performance, except another solid display by Raul Garcia and kun’s gem of a goal.

Credit to Murcia; they played with much more desire and urgency.

GOALS: Aguero (14th minute) and Murcia equalised in the 80th minute.

ATLETI: BENDITA LOCURA…