Amsterdam Tournament: Ajax 2 Atlético Madrid 0

No one likes losing, even if it’s a meaningless pre-season friendly. That said, I did come away with some thoughts (both positive and negative). 

Brief, random notes (I watched some of the 1st half & all of the 2nd half):

-I’m actually a bit torn between Eller and Perea. If the club don’t plan to change the defence (as in bring in a more reliable centre-back), I honestly don’t know who should pair up with Pablo.

-Raul Garcia and Maniche should pair up in the central midfield (no rubbish Luccin, please). Good game, overall, for Raul.

-Maxi still needs to find his rhythm on the pitch (like most players during pre-season, of course); he’s lacking that extra bit of sharpness. That’s not to say he hasn’t been hard-working.

-Antonio Lopez has so much potential and yet he often has such poor performances.

-Costinha: ship him out already, for goodness sake!

-Braulio is growing on me and I’d like to see him as 3rd choice striker (with aging Mista as 4th, if he stays); decent passing by the youngster and plays with much more desire than Mista.

-Simao– fantastic first performance for the Portuguese winger as a rojiblanco- excellent technical skills, passing, creativity, impressive on free kicks– truly a class act and a much needed addition to the squad.

-Luis Garcia-  true vision and creativity; t’s a shame he wasn’t able to score a goal in the 2nd half-  there was a clear opportunity. He still needs to fine-tune his game.

All in all, the best is yet to come, remember: Aguero, Forlan, and Cleber will not be participating in this tourney.

Of note, Reyes did not play in this game- perhaps Saturday against Lazio?

Also: A lot of Atleti forums have been  alsightly negative over this pre-season result; if any of you are reading this: have a bit of faith, please. Por favor, confianza en nuestro equipo!

Abbiati; Seitaridis, Pablo, Eller, Antonio López; Maxi Rodríguez, Raúl García, Costinha (Maniche ’58), Jurado (Simao ’46); Braulio y Mista (Luis García ’58).