Jornada 20: Atlético de Madrid 0 Re*l M*drid 2
Posted by atleti on January 21, 2008
Same old disappointing story with the usual suspects: Raúl, Casillas, poor defending, bad luck, mediocrity, & an awful ref.
Lots of good points about the game were made in the below entry (see the comment section), so no need for me to create a new entry on the game.
Just one very important point I’d like to make here: Los Colchoneros have lost against all top sides so far this season (Barcelona, Villarreal, Espanyol, and twice to Re*l )…
Our next 5 games:
23-January: away to Valencia (Copa)
27-January: away to Mallorca (Liga)
30-January: home to Valencia (Copa)
3-February: home to Murcia (Liga)
10-February: away to Racing (Liga)
Atlético de Madrid 
Ringo said
I have a cunning plan.
How about sending Reyes to Bolton?
(or has he already played in the UEFA cup?)
day1star said
Oh god, we’ve lost Raul Garcia and Simao for the next three games, that’s not good unless Jurado is fit to play, or the other option is to play Aguero in midfield with Mista upfront and Luis Garcia in place of Simao, that could really work.
Armon said
Ya I just read about that, or maybe we could somehow magically get arteta and quaresma
besides, I doubt aguirre would be creative enough to come up with any lineup that doesn’t have aguero up front
day1star said
You’re probably right about Aguirre, Armon. But, it’s a real shame he doesn’t try Aguero in midfield because he’d be equally as good as he is upfront, plus he’d get more of the ball and he could dictate the play, he’s a great passer and also a very clever player, he’d probably score a lot of goals from there as well.
Aguirre also really needs to work on the set pieces with the players coz at the moment they are disgraceful.
day1star said
Well, something good came out of that derby loss, Aguirre has said that we’re now looking for new signings, about time, but i think we need to find a new scout first because looking at some of the signings we made in the last transfer window e.g. Santana, Reyes, Abbiati on loan, we definitely need one.
JOSE I. FERNANDEZ said
Other year, other upset. God is madridista.
atleti said
GREAT. JUST GREAT. I’ve been away from the computer all day, I come home, check the official website, and lo and behold, as you point out day1star, I read that Raúl is also injured (for at least 2 weeks)! In a way, I saw this happening. The guy has been overworked. I think he serves a suspension in our following game, so that comes at a good time.
You’re right about set pieces: with Simao out, they really need to work on them. For starters, Reyes should stop taking them.
day1star said
I don’t think Reyes should play again unless we are really really desperate, his crosses were just awful.
day1star said
One of the reasons why we really f’ed up not signing Riquelme, a genius at set pieces and brilliant passer of the ball.
Armon said
I wish I had an idea of how much the club even has to spend, so I would even know if quaresma and/or arteta by summer would even be realistic haha. By the way, any updates on Lucas Biglia and the other guys that were previously linked with atletico?
day1star said
No idea about Biglia, but i think Sissoko is going to Juventus.
day1star said
Armon, we could buy both Arteta and Quaresma but it wouldn’t do us any good unless the defence is fortified, because it’s not our midfield or our forwards who are losing us these games but our so called defenders.
thomas said
Hello there fans! A couple of points I want to make stand out:
1.- We are in deep trouble without Raúl García, although he has not been the same player that started the league. Maybe he comes back after the injury. He can’t play against Bolton either, cause he was kicked out the last game in UEFA, so as I said, deep trouble!
2.-Aguero midfield? He has never played there, and look at his numbers against Madrid: 16 balls lost! We don’t want a midfield to loose 16 balls!And plus, who is going to score? Mista?
3.-Abbiati has done some pretty good performances in the last matches, I think he was a good sign this season. He has saved balls that were inside, although he could have done more in the second goal…
4.- Riquelme? I think signing him would have been a big mistake! If we had deep trouble against Mandril in the midfield with two fighters like Raul and Motta, imagine what would have happened with Riquelme. 0-4? The midfields of Madrid had always plenty of time to think and pass, and when we had the ball, we had trouble finding the space to hurt them. Raul and Motta is clearly the best pair in the middle, but they need more time playing together, I think!
5.- The awful defending can kick us out of the champions league this year. Pablo had been saving the team in the last matches, but his lack of concentration on Sunday was impressive. We can blame him in both goals. Perea cannot play as a side defender. He is absolutely horrible! I had never thought we would miss Seitaridis! At least he can give a pass! Robinho had one of the easiest matches of his life!
6.- Did you see the first goal! Atleti looses the ball 4 times in 30 seconds!!!! You can’t win Madrid like that!
7.- We also had bad luck!
Sorry it was so long, but I had many things to say.
True, we haven’t won one of the top teams in the league! But we are still 4th. There is still hope. We never loose HOPE! I’m so innocent that I still have some hope that Reyes will do good one day. I believe he is technically one of the best players in our team.
atleti said
Definitely– defence needs be worked on first & foremost.
atleti said
Ya- overall, passing has been just awful; it’s difficult controlling the flow of the game when we continue losing possession! Too cheaply.
Hopefully everyone will step up their game (although honestly some players are simply not good enough no matter how much they try)– we can’t afford to play and lose like this in our upcoming fixtures.
Leivinha said
Thomas – although I am not one of those fans on the Marca and AS forums who thinks Riquelme is the end all answer to our problems and would have taken us to the Promised Land, I do think that any time you have a chance to pick up a player of his class and caliber, you should get him. He throws opposing teams off balance on defense because he can do some much, he can pass AND he can score (although he doesn’t defend). Just look at him, he hasn’t played at the club level for months and yet he has dominated on the Argentine National Team. The guy is just too good of a player to ignore. The problem is you would need to build your team around him and Atleti chose not to do that. They wanted their offensive midfielders to attack the flanks thus Simao, Maxi and Reyes although the only one who really does is Simao. Again, I am not sure he would make sense for the way the team is built now but I would have supported a move to get him last summer if the strategy was to then build the team around him with the right players. If Kun has 9 goals now, it’s frightening to think how many he AND Forlan would have with Riquelme serving them balls.
At the end of the day, it’s all about having balance WHICH Atleti does not have right now. They will need to address this in the Summer (decent back-up forwards), a creator in the mid-field, an athletic defensive mid-fielder and much much stronger defenders on the back line.
In goal, I also believe Abbiatti has performed well (although every time he goes to clear it with his feet, I cringe) and has filled in well for Leo Franco but I don’t think either of the two are the answer in the long run. Atleti has Falcon who has looked very good in Copa and there are several young keepers coming up in their farm system.
Billie said
Really dissapointing the second part of the match. The worst defense and the goalkeepers. Now the Cup is more important than ever. Without the Cup… the crisis begins.
day1star said
Thomas, Aguero can play as an AMC, when he played for Independiente he played from deep a lot like Messi, since he came to Athletico Aguirre has only ever played him as a striker, doesn’t mean that he could not play in midfield. And with regards to the passes it was mostly the players not being on the same wavelength that mucked them up, but he was arguably our best player on the pitch.
And with regards to Riquelme, if he is in the team the opposition has to man mark him maybe with two players at the minimum, means they can’t really play their own game, and even if you can stop him from making killer passes he can still do you on set pieces.
day1star said
Aguero used to play as an enganche at Independiente, which translates as an attacking midfielder or playmaker, hence the comparisons with Maradona and Messi.
atleti said
“Copa is our priority.”
Sort of good to read that we are focused on winning the Copa, the one competition we have the most realistic chance of winning.
Apparently we’re not signing any new players in January…not even on loan. Is this something we will regret as the season goes on? I hope not…
day1star said
Actually Aguirre said that the sporting director was looking at what is available but he doesn’t feel it’s a big priority, so we could see some activity, we’ll just have to wait and see. I know we’re being linked with Tiago and Katsouranis, but that’s all so far.
Armon said
Ya i saw that too, any of them would be a breath of fresh air compared to any of our defense. Also, the good thing about getting another center defensive mid is that not only would he be cover to motta, but when motta’s healthy, it was said he can play as a defender (and im sure he’d be better than the lousy defense we have now) so when motta’s healthy we could have confidence in the cdm position as well as have one less defender to worry about. Of course, I would prefer we got as many defenders as possible
jonkon said
terrible game, we saw our needs. we need a central defender to partner pablo since perea is not good on the right or in the middle. seitaridis is great, we need him back. riquelme would have made this team unstoppable, with him, aguero and simao, we would have had creativity all around, along with maxi and forlan, we’d have one of the best attacks. not of our creativity now comes through the middle! its all from the wings except for the occasional aguero individual efforts. quaresma is not the answer, who will we drop for him. simao? Maxi is untouchable. unless somehow one of them can play in the middle, he will be a waste. motta and raul are both quality as defensive midfielders, we need an attacking midfielder to compliment them. arteta would be perfect, but riquelme would have been legendary.
atleti said
I think The sad part is that we all saw this coming before the season even started. I must have said a thousand times on the blog, “No changes in the defence?! No creative midfielder?!” The funds they used on Reyes could have been used for a good centre-back.
Coulda, woulda, shoulda.
An Arteta & Raúl midfield would be fantastic! Arteta is the type of player Forlán & Kun need just behind them.