Atlético Madrid have bolstered their squad ahead of the new La Liga season which has brought upon optimism among Atléti supporters that they will be able to challenge supreme duo Barcelona and Real Madrid, however are they realistically able to replicate their triumph of the league title two seasons ago?
Diego Simeone has been busy during the transfer period, building a squad that has made Atléti fans anticipating the new season and more importantly, in both La Liga and Europe, cause fear for opposing competing rivals. The likes of Jackson Martínez, Luciano Vietto, Yannick Ferreira Carrasco and Filipe Luís have been added this off-season and provide quality strength to an already impressive Madrid side.
Optimism ahead of the new season from Atléti supporters has surfaced with a belief that they can return the domestic title back to the Vicente Calderón. Atletico have one of the best managers in the world leading a team with established La Liga star players such as Diego Godín, Antoine Griezmann and Koke. Add in potential world stars, Vietto, Jan Oblak and José Giménez, and it’s no wonder the fans are dreaming of glory.
While the strength of the team has vastly improved, suggestions of being able to tip rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid ahead of the league title may prove a task harder than initially imagined.
The first team has undergone a significant ahead of the new season. Mario Mandžukić, João Miranda, Arda Turan and Mario Suárez have departed from the team, and there are rumours of further changes. Left-back Guilherme Siqueira is attracting interest from Champion League finalists Juventus and club captain Gabi is reportedly out of favour with Simeone.
The dramatic shake-up may cost Simeone’s side in the initial first stages of a long domestic season, with new players still getting familiar to one another and the existing starters. Simeone has also been experimenting in pre-season, shown by the manager opting for the 4-3-3 formation that was craved last season in favour of his preferred defensive 4-4-2 approach.
Atléti struggled on the weekend against Sagan Tosu, with only a brilliantly taken goal coming directly from a corner by set piece specialist Koke being able to prevent the La Liga side from a shock loss with Atléti winning on penalties. With the team set up in a new look formation, it was quite visible to see Simeone’s players still adjusting to the new set up.
While Simeone expressed his happiness of the performance of his players, Atléti fans will hope for a swift understanding developed by the new look Atléti side before the season opener on the 23rd of August against newly promoted UD Las Palmas.
“The team is growing. My intention was to change the system to have more options when La Liga starts,” Simeone said.
“We’ll be able to play both 4-4-2 and 4-3-3 as we wish. We’re happy with Óliver [Torres], [Yannick Ferreira] Carrasco, [Luciano] Vietto and [Ángel] Correa. They’re good players and interesting options to add to our team.”
With a little less than three weeks to go, Simeone will hope his side will have gained understanding playing with one another as they face a tough start to the new season. Los Colchoneros face Sevilla, Barcelona, Villarreal, Real Madrid and Valencia in the opening nine fixtures.
However, South American stars Martínez, Godín, Giménez and Luís have only just begun their preparations for the new season following their exploits in the recent Copa America tournament. They will re-join the squad when they return from Asia, but may not have the required fitness levels before round one.
Luckily though for Simeone’s side, is the newly formed depth that previous seasons have been poorly missing. Fernando Torres has led the line in Martínez’ absence for pre-season in what is becoming a vital season for the newly placed number nine. Joining him are new boys Carrasco, Correa, Vietto and Stefan Savic as well as youngsters Lucas Hernández and Óliver Torres, who have all been given the chance to adjust to the team in early pre-season.
The recent encounter with Shanghai SIPG resulted in a much better performance by Atléti, with Griezmann scoring a double and Fernando Torres finishing it off with a neatly timed header all within the first 46 minutes of play.
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However, Barca and Real have been preparing against tougher opponents as opposed to Atléti. Local rivals Real, were recently crowned International Champions Cup winners, competing against the likes of Manchester City, AS Roma, AC Milan and Inter Milan. Real continued thier pre-season in the Audi Cup, defeating Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 earlier in the week before losing 1-0 to Bayern Munich in the final.
Barca have also preferred a pre-season schedule against tougher opponents, playing against Chelsea, Manchester United and ACF Fiorentina in the United States. The Catalan side did so without the likes of Lionel Messi, Javier Mascherano, Neymar, Dani Alves and Claudio Bravo, after their participation in the Copa America.
With seemingly better preparation, the only suggested benefit for Atléti is that of the possible fatigue to occur for both rivals from not only their competitive pre-season but also their heavy travel commitments with short intervals.
Atléti have announced an extension to their pre-season schedule in order to improve their preparations, including a tournament in Butarque against CD Guadalajara and hosts, Leganés on the 8th of August, followed by a friendly against La Liga rivals Real Sociedad on the same day. Finally concluding their pre-season competing for the Ramón de Carranza trophy against Cádiz with a final against either Granada or Real Betis occurring on Saturday the 15th.
With plenty of pre-season fixtures, Simeone will hope by the start of the league, his team will have addressed any issues relating to unfamiliarity of his new look side with the tough opening nine fixtures most likely determining the course of the 2015-16 season and more importantly answering the question, will Atléti be able to recapture the league title?
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