Jornada 10: Atlético de Madrid 4 Sevilla 3

Atlético climb to 4th in the league table after scoring four brilliant goals!

Leo Franco; Seitaridis, Perea, Zé Castro, Pernía; Raúl García, Maniche, Maxi (Jurado, 88’), Luis García (Simão, 58’); Kun Agüero; Forlán (Reyes, 23’)

BAD NEWS
FORLAN was subbed out in the 23′ with an injury. More on that if it is severe.

GOALS
01′ Maniche (assist by Maxi)
14′ Fabiano (result of a free kick)
16′ Agüero (assist by Forlán)
44’Zé Castro (disastrous og)
69′ Maxi Rodríguez (assist by Agüero)
90′ Jurado (assist by Simão)
92’Fabiano (absolute loss of concentration)

ATLETI: 9 shots, 8 on goal.
SEVILLA: 11 shots, 3 on goal.

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO OF GOALS

Words cannot describe how good I feel at this moment. Not only does the win put us in a Champions League spot (with two points separating us from Valencia), but we are only 5 points away from the top.

Of course, it wasn’t complete bliss: it was another tale of two Atléticos. On one hand, our attack fills me such hope, pride, & happiness. Indeed, we are in incredible goal-scoring form. We have speed, technical ability, and, more importantly, OPTIONS on the bench to reinforce our offence (although we do lack a fit 3rd striker). KUN & Forlán are undoubtedly the best strike force in Liga at the moment. Fantastic game for Maxi, in particular, too.

On the other hand, our defence is still incredibly unreliable, costing us goals. Zé Castro had a disastrous performance, for the most part: not only did he score an own goal, but he also lost possession in dangerous areas. He is not the only one at fault either– we conceded unnecessary free kicks, one of which led to Sevilla’s first goal. Pernía, Seitaridis, Leo Franco, and Perea— all incredibly shaky– you never know when they’re going to have a [relatively] good day or an absolute shocker. There is no sense of security. What’s the good of having the best attack in Liga when we’re leaking goals with suicidal defending?

This is the paradox of Atleti.

At the end of the day, I’m absolutely thrilled that we secured another crucial win.

Next up: home to VILLARREAL.

AUPA ATLETI! PARA SIEMPRE!

Jornada 10: Atlético de Madrid v Sevilla

According to the official website, Aguirre won’t provide the squad list for the game until the day of the game (Wednesday). I’ll post it up once it becomes available, of course.

Some worrying news is that Pablo picked up a slight muscular injury– there is a very strong possibility he won’t be fit enough for tomorrow. Speaking of Pablo, I’ve never been completely confident of his defending abilities. He’s not a ‘top quality’ centre-back, by any stretch of the imagination— the word ‘reliable’ can’t be used to describe him either. I simply see him as an ‘adequate’ one- at least when compared to our other choices.

If he’s unavailable (which I think will be the case), I think this will be our defence:

Pernía–Perea–Zé Castro–Seitaridis

Our defence will need be completely focused & at their best against a Sevilla side coming off of a 3-0 victory over Valencia, with new manager Manolo Jiménez. They will no doubt be hoping to collect another 3 points to make up for their  surprisingly sluggish start to the season. Yes, they’ve lost Juande Ramos, but they still maintain the services of Navas, Fabiano, Renato, Alves, & Adriano– all dangerous in attack. Fabiano, in particular, is one to look out for as he falls quite easily at the slightest touch. As for Kanoute, he was not included in their squad list due to illness.

{UPDATE}
Here’s the squad list:
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.
17 Reyes.
18 Maniche.
21 Perea.
24 Simão.
25 Leo Franco.

RESULTS OF THE PAST FIVE SEASONS:

06/07: ATM 2-1 Sevilla
05/06: ATM 0-1 Sevilla
04/05: ATM 3-0 Sevilla
03/04: ATM 2-1 Sevilla
02/03: ATM 1-1 Sevilla

Here’s hoping we pick up another 3 points– a win that would bring us closer to Champions League football for 08/09.

AUPA ATLETI!
VAMOS VAMOS VAMOS!

29-October Club News/Update

Seitaridis seems to have recovered from the knock he received while playing for the Greece NT: He participated in all training session activities today.

Miguel participated as well, but only in the activities that the physio marked down.

Mista & Motta were the only ones who didn’t participate at all. A bit confusing, no? Last one, Motta was involved, but in this one he was left out. I suppose he still has at least a couple weeks left before he’ll play again. Jeez.

Speaking of Mista, MARCA suggests that he might be on his way out of the club in January, with Real Murcia (located in his hometown) as a possible destination.

REMINDER: Jornada 10 (home to Sevilla) is a weekday fixture on Wednesday.

{UPDATE} Atleti v Sevilla will be available on GolTV for US viewers.

Jornada 9: Levante 0 Atlético de Madrid 1

Early Forlán goal was enough to see off Levante.

It wasn’t the sharpest performance– indeed, we ‘suffered’ through long portions of the game because of the slim lead. The most important thing, however, is that we held on to collect the 3 points.

Leo Franco; Perea, Pablo, Zé Castro, Antonio; Raúl García, Maniche, Maxi, Luis García (61′ Reyes); Agüero (89′ Jurado) and Forlán (66′ Simao)

Goal
26′ Forlán (assist by Kun)

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO OF GOAL

A Few, Random Notes
-the goal did not change Levante’s approach to the game (they didn’t do much)

-for long portions of the game, we held 60% possession

-13 shots in total, 5 at goal for Atleti

– Our best chances came in the 2nd half; Kun, Maxi, & Simao all had golden opportunities to score an insurance goal

-No new injury worries (always a good thing)

-Forlán adds to to his impressive goal tally

All in all, it wasn’t  a big win as I would have liked, but I’m satisfied that we return to Madrid with 3 crucial points. We climb to 5th place. Villarreal’s loss at Zaragoza keeps the top half of the table tight, which is great.

 Next up: Home to Sevilla!

AUPA ATLETI

Jornada 9: Levante v Atlético de Madrid

Confirmed Starting 11: Leo Franco; Perea, Pablo, Zé Castro, Antonio; Raúl García, Maniche, Maxi, Luis García; Agüero and Forlán

SUBS: Abbiati, Eller, Valera, Cléber, Jurado, Reyes, Simao

Maxi, Luis, Maniche, & Perea all return to the starting 11. Great to see Luis among the chosen, of course. Zé Castro (fully recovered from his stomach illness) is chosen over Eller. Reyes is fit enough to be included, but only so far as the bench. Pernía is unavailable due to suspension, which comes at a good time, I think: he has played 90 minutes for each game since Spain’s friendly against Finland.

Here’s hoping for another high-scoring win!

Edited with corrections.

[UPDATE] This game is not available on TV or the Internet.

Jornada 9: Levante v Atlético de Madrid

We face a very woeful Levante with 1 measily point– a game we should absolutely win (no ifs, ands, or buts). Anything less than a win would be a massive disappointment. At the same time, I wouldn’t underestimate them: Levante are desperate (ravenous, even) for 3 points. We can’t let our guard down for this encounter at all.

Brief, Random, Unstructured Notes

Reyes, Zé Castro, Motta (hell froze over?), Miguel, & Valera were all fit to participate in today’s (Friday) training session. [NB: Seitaridis and Mista are still unavailable.]

When I read that Mista was still injured, it made me wonder if Batres would occupy a spot on the bench again, to fill the role of 3rd striker. [I’d support that decision wholeheartedly- I like to see canteranos given an opportunity to play with the top team. That’s how we found Torres, after all.]

With Seitaridis out injured, it might be a good idea to start Valera as left-back (instead of Antonio)– he had a restful time in Madrid while the team traveled to Moscow.

Oddly, there’s no mention of Perea at all in the article. I guess we’ll have to wait until the squad list is released to see if he’ll be available. If Motta is deemed fit enough, I think he should occupy a spot on the bench. It’s time to get him back in action, for goodness sake.

Luis, Maxi, and Reyes (if 100% fit) should be included in the starting 11.

I’ll post up the confirmed 11 once it’s available, of course.

Also: Check out the below entry to see names of possible centre-backs that might interest the higher-ups.

Atlético de Madrid: Goal Tally So Far

LIGA GOALS
Agüero-5
Forlán-3
Maxi-2
Raúl Garcia-2
Pernía-1
Simao-1
Luis García-1

UEFA GOALS
Agüero-5
Forlán-5
Luis Garcia-3
Maxi -2
Raúl Garcia-1
Mista-1
Jurado-1
Seitaridis-1

TOTAL
Agüero-10
Forlán-8
Maxi-4
Luis García-4
Raúl Garcia-3
Pernía-1
Seitaridis-1
Simao-1
Jurado-1
Mista-1

15- official games played
34- goals scored
13- goals conceded

9 wins, 3 draws, and 3 losses.

UEFA: Locomotiv Moscow 3 Atlético de Madrid 3

Kun, Kun, Kun!

Brief wrap-up of the game since it was been discussed quite a bit in the previous entry (check comments). 

TACTICS: Christian Abbiati; Antonio López; Pablo Ibáñez; Eller; Pernía; Cléber (65′ Maxi); Raúl García; Jurado (75′ Maniche); Simão (69′ Luis García ); Forlán; Agüero

GOALS
16′ Agüero (assist by Jurado)
27′ Bilyaletdinov
47′ Forlan
61′ Odemwingie
64′ Odemwingie
85′ Agüero

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEOS OF GOALS!

It’s disappointing that our defence was atrocious and cost us the win, but the important thing is that we left Russia (never an easy place to play) with something– a crucial point. 

 Positive news: Our two strikers– Kun and Forlán— scored the goals, something we desperately lacked last season.

Other positives? Jurado had a very good 1st half, which included a shot at goal that hit the woodwork. In the 2nd half, he disappeared for moments at a time, so it was a good decision to sub him out and put Maniche in his place. Also: another solid display by Raul, truly one of my favourite players this season- always focused & composed.

I thought the substitutions (Maxi, Luis García and Maniche) were spot-on; note that Aguirre did not remove players that were doing well.  They reinforced our attack– to make sure we didn’t leave empty-handed. Our defending was atrocious, but since we had no defensive options on the bench (Seitaridis, Perea, Ze Castro, & Motta out injured and Valera unavailable), Aguirre had no choice but to leave the back four for the entire 90.

THE UGLY
As mentioned for the umpteenth time, horrific defending; soft goals conceded. I think I speak for all supporters when I say we need to desperately revamp the defence in January. Why on earth do we have Brasilian Eller occupying a crucial foreign player spot when he’s absolute rubbish? We need to offload him in January! He lacks pace & concentration. I saw most of the 1st half and was extremely disappointed with Pablo, Antonio, & Pernia (to a lesser extent, which says A LOT, as Armon points out in the entry below). Judging by descriptive accounts of the game on other blogs, it didn’t get better in the 2nd half.

I hate to end on a negative note, so I will say once again, all things considered, it’s not a bad result. Thank goodness that we have a great attack and equalised.  KUN KUN KUN!

AUPA ATLETI

UEFA: Locomotiv Moscow v Atlético de Madrid

CONFIRMED STARTING 11:  Abbiati; Antonio López, Pablo, Eller, Pernía; Cléber Santana, Raúl García, Jurado, Simao; Agüero and Forlán.

SUBS: Leo Franco, Maniche, Maxi, Luis, Simao, Batres, Quillo

Raul, Pablo, and Pernia are my only concerns (particularly Raul), in terms of exhaustion & injury. If we find ourselves in a favourable position at HT, it would be a good idea to sub Raul out so that he is fit (and not overexhausted) for this weekend.

REFEREE: Englishman Mark Clattenburg. He is actually suspended for one week in the English Premier League because of poor officiating in the Merseyside derby (Everton v Liverpool). Yikes- I hope that he has a good game tomorrow!

Some of Aguirre’s Pre-game thoughts (who has watched video of Locomotiv’s previous 4 games):
…We want to win our home games and we don’t want to lose our away games. At the same time, we aren’t interested in playing for a draw. We came here to win, that’s the most important thing[…] We love that we’re playing in the UEFA and we hope to follow the ‘same line’ as other Spanish clubs, like Espanyol and Sevilla.

Maniche’s Pre-game thoughts (reminder: Maniche has played in Russia):
Lokomotiv are one of the great clubs in Russia. It will be a complicated game because they’re a club that are strong at home[…] If it’s very cold that night, they will have the advantage, but we are in very good form[…]It’s important that we begin UEFA with a win. We are certain we can win[…] I want to win this game.

I think it’ll be a tough test for us, but I’m confident of a positive result.

‘WINTER TRANSFER PLAN’ (RUMOUR)

Remember when I mentioned that the club might be interested in Lucas Biglia? The rumour has resurfaced again. AS has now suggested that Atleti might send Cleber (non-Euro passport player and very low in the pecking order) on loan and sign the 22 year old central midfielder (excellent field vision & very good passing skills). The article points out that he might also (understandably) catch the eye of the likes of Inter or Barça. I think he’d relish the thought of reuniting with ex-teammate Agüero though. Let’s see what happens in the coming months, of course!

UEFA: Locomotiv Moscow v Atlético de Madrid

Atleti B players, Batres (striker; 8 goals this season) and Álex Quillo (midfielder; described as a ‘complete footballer’), will travel with the top squad to Moscow! Fantastic news because we’re dipping into the B team for talent, players who are hungry to prove they are worthy of top squad inclusion.

Here’s the full squad headed to Moscow: Antonio López, Pernía, Cléber, Forlán, Raúl García, Luis García, Agüero. Maxi, Fabiano Eller, Abbiati, Jurado, Maniche, Perea, Pablo, Simao, Leo Franco, Batres and Álex Quillo.

Unavailable due to injury: Motta, Mista, Miguel, Seitaridis, and Reyes.

Defence-wise: No Ze Castro either, but he isn’t listed at all on the site; he’s still recovering from his ‘gastroentinitis’. If you’re wondering why newly-recovered Valera isn’t included, please see the comment section of this entry for links on that. This leaves us with few truly defensive options on the bench.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Aguirre will once again rotate the squad So far, it has been working well, which is good.

Mundo Atleti claim this might be a possible starting 11: Abbiati; Antonio López; Pablo; Eller; Pernía; Jurado; Cléber; Raúl García; Simao; Forlán; Agüero

Antonio López Interview (excerpts):
It’s been a long time since we’ve played in Europe. Now, UEFA is a reality and we must be concentrated in order to have a [game against Locomotiv].

On his season so far:
I’m fine, but what every player wants is more playing time […] if I’m given an opportunity to play, I’m happy[…]

Reminder: It’s this Thursday, 25-October.