Simeone shaped Atletico's golden decade.
The end of the universe is not necessarily Iron Ridge; but the end of the defensive coach is almost always late.
23 December marks the 10th anniversary of Diego Simeone's helm of Atletico. In the era when famous marshals and giants often "flash marriage and divorce", "bandit marshals" and "sheet legions" can be called a model couple who are full of love and affection.
Unfortunately, on this day that should have been celebrated, the Argentines were greeted with a particularly bad gift.
Four consecutive defeats in La Liga, a "re-draw" in the Champions League knockout rounds, manchester United... For atletico fans who were still satisfied last season, they may have seen the team gain nothing half a year in advance.
After reaching the Champions League final twice, although he lost Yu Rong, Simone's iron army could not escape the rust of time, and the anti-reaction system on which he became famous was increasingly penetrated by opponents.
Simone never hid his emotions.
Looking back on the past, the years are thick
On 23 December 2011, Atletico announced Diego Pablo Simeone as manager for a one-and-a-half-year term.
At the time, this was not too exciting news - after all, in the first 11 years of the new century, Atletico changed 13 managers, and the most "long-lived" Aguirre did not last 3 seasons, not to mention ranieri, Aragonés and Bianchi, all of whom fell on Atletico.
In a word, the "Sheets Army" is a full-fledged coach.
At the age of 41, Simeone, although he was less than 36 years old, began to lead the team independently, but whether in the Argentine League or Serie A, the performance is not prominent, his most sensational innovation is the Serie A black horse Catania introduced 12 Argentine players in one go, but in addition, the former Argentine captain really lacks highlights.
Atletico May be the integrity of his team's loyalty, after all, Simeone, who has been in 7 teams in his career, has only played at Atletico twice.
Ten years ago, Simeone joined Atletico.
However, this gamble, which seemed to be extraordinarily risky at first, was exchanged for one of the few 10 years of prosperity in the history of Atletico. Under the joint squeeze of the "Cosmic Team" and "Galaxy Battleship" armed to the teeth at the same time, Atletico Madrid did not repeat the mistakes of the miserable relegation at the turn of the century, but almost took away a "Western Super League" seat with its pragmatic style and unprecedented fighting spirit.
In 10 years, Atletico have won 8 titles – 2 La Liga titles and 2 Champions League finals , all of which are enough to make Simeone one of the first-line coaches in this era.
The years will not lie, look at Valencia and De Coruña, who were still able to win the league championship in the hands of the "Real Sa" at the beginning of the century: the former has been removed from the European war for many years and has become a bloody breakdown every year; the latter has simply sunk into the Spanish third division.
In the difficult environment of Atletico being frequently poached by the giants and often being forced to restructure, Atletico's premise of unchanging changes is precisely the flowing players and the iron-clad bandits.
Looking back on the past, Simone himself is not without emotion: "Recalling countless moments we shared, we have overcome great difficulties and experienced many tragedies and joys. I've always felt like Atletico is my home, and I only know one path to success, and that's to work hard and try harder. ”
Only Simone had Griezmann's "instruction manual".
The defensive coach's last standard-bearer
Even more awe-inspiring than the record is that in this era of rapid tactical change, Simeone coped with almost the same 442 for the entire 10 years.
There is no doubt that at the moment when 433 is constantly evolving and the trend of the three center guards is returning, 442 is really too "ancient" and even backward. But Simeone played this seemingly least technical tactic.
Whether it is the center-back's thunderous staring defense, full recycling, dense penalty area, or clean and concise long passes to find forwards in the counterattack, and the mysterious set-pieces, the chain defense that originated in the Apennines has been inherited and promoted under Simeone.
It is true that there is no shortage of anti-corruption masters such as Lippi and Mourinho in the new century, but both of them "changed their minds" to play a more fashionable 4231 at the peak of their careers, but Simeone was not moved, even if the subordinates cut enough, they must adhere to the 442 unshakable, 10 years of self-confidence and conceit, as always, it is absolutely unmatched.
After Mourinho became more and more employed, Simeone, who stuck to a field of responsibility and occasionally created surprises, was the last standard-bearer of the defensive genre in the football world.
Simeone led Atletico to the Europa League.
Mediocrity, there are early omens
There is no doubt that Simeone, who left the best years of his life at Atletico, deserved to be "benevolent to the fullest", but this almost pious loyalty also brought Atletico to a narrower and narrower one-way line.
Last season, when Real Madrid was plagued by injuries and Barcelona was in constant turmoil, the opening was far away from the opponent's Atletico, almost pulling a double-digit lead in the halfway, but just as the fans were preparing to celebrate the harvest of the season, the 2021 Atletico suddenly pulled its crotch.
The Champions League is out early not to say, the original hand in hand in La Liga, before the start of the last 8 rounds of the advantage has shrunk to 1 point, if not the Western Super League double male is even more powerless, the tiger tail of Atletico, overturning is inevitable.
The ominous omen that hung over the hearts of Atletico fans finally turned into a disaster this season: after the home defeat to Mallorca in the first league game in December, Simeone's team was deceitful, and after a 1-2 defeat to Granada, the Argentine set a new record for the longest losing streak in Atletico's tenure.
And just this month, Atletico fans who originally expected to make a breakthrough in foreign competitions also experienced a big toss of eating heart-saving pills first and taking antihypertensive drugs: The Champions League group stage finale thrillingly defeated Atletico Porto, and the last round was only escaped, and the funny Champions League 1/8 final draw night, inexplicably became the focus of the whole stadium, and finally still inevitably encountered Manchester United.
Ronaldo was Simone's absolute nightmare.
In the face of the two-line tribulation, Simeone's attitude became more and more ambiguous, almost metaphysical: "There is a debt and a return, this is the law of football; when the centre-back is injured, everything will be fine." The implication is that the performance of Atletico Madrid in the early years was too strong, which belonged to the super level of play; and the shortage of personnel in the team made it difficult for them to cook without rice.
But that's clearly not the case – compared to Sevilla, Betis and Vallecano, who have their points in front of them, Atletico are far above their players regardless of their value and salary.
Especially after the implementation of the salary cap system in La Liga, atletico's transfer fee and salary space at their disposal have far exceeded Barca's; and the shortage of personnel is obviously untenable, a team that Suarez, Griezmann, Oblak and Koch all maintain healthy, even if they are not in the best condition, continuous "sending warmth", it is really abnormal.
A very obvious reality is that Atletico play on the field alone, it is not bad, but since last season, no matter what level of opponents they face, the team has won at most 1 goal, and it is not uncommon to be flattened or even counter-killed.
The bigger problem comes from the defensive end, Jimenez, who should be the axis of the last four seasons has been seriously injured, which also led to the original position sense, both quantity and quality of the defensive line, began to shake completely, until the goal god Oblak began to lose his mind, Simeone's affordable 1-0 doctrine naturally became a castle in the air.
Simone is about to leave class?
Change of coach? Dare to think or dare not do
Four consecutive defeats, placed in other leagues, are enough to make any halo-shrouded manager immediately break the defense, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who was asked last month, is the most stark precedent.
On social media, Atletico fans have shouted out the slogan of the class more than once, and even the Wanda Metropolitano has sounded boos for the manager. However, atletico's top management never seems to have put the change of coach on the agenda, and it is still supportive of Simeone.
After all, the "bandit coach" who has long been highly bound to the team is the most distinctive logo of this team, and the use of "legendary" to describe Simeone is slightly inadequate - after experiencing the blind toss of the old Hill era in the last century, Simeone single-handedly created and continued to deepen the sense of security, which is really atletico's long-lost wealth.
However, no matter how thick the sense of security, in the face of the disillusionment of reality, it also seems vulnerable. Especially under the temptation of beautiful football, atletico's top management is not without ideas about the dry and boring performance of the team. However, many of the young attackers introduced by the team were with Simeone's increasingly rigid anti-counter tactical prisoners.
After Guardiola's "Tiki-Taka", Atletico's 442 has become the most unfriendly tactical system for the team's newcomers.
What is even more heartwarming is that Simeone, who used to have a high authority among players and is not the same, has also been frequently challenged by his subordinates in recent years. Suarez, who also insisted on standing in the same trench as Simeone when he joined, has directly expressed his dissatisfaction with the manager since last season when he played as a substitute and was replaced.
When he lost to Granada in the last round, the "Su Ya", who had no play at all, made no contribution in the starting appearance, and when he was replaced, he was nagging and unhappy...
Simeone and Mourinho.
Next Mourinho?
In the face of management dissatisfaction and player complaints, the usual manager's solution is to take the initiative to change the team, but Simeone has always been the one who crashed into the south wall and never looked back.
442 is not only the foundation of Atletico, but also the political correctness of the beak.
How is this similar to Mourinho, who also played a bus in the same defensive line when he was coaching Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, and relied on the output of star players to solve the battle?
Today, the "special one" in Rome should have been "technical poverty alleviation", the result of the 2-month honeymoon period is less than enough, the team even suffered defeats, the "madman" for the second downward employment, the probability is still going to lose.
In fact, since leaving Real Madrid, Mourinho's coaching career has continued to ruin more than reputation, and that year, he happened to be 50 years old. Simone's fortunes seem to have taken a sharp turn for the worse after the age of 50.
After a slightly awkward "ten-year itch", will Simeone, as the grand master of the anti-anti-current sect, come and run from time to time to avoid repeating the mistakes of Mourinho? (Supine Braces/Yang Jian)
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