Plebiscite to Simeone in the Metropolitan

After falling in the Super Cup against Athletic and in the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey against Real Sociedad, Atlético returns to its complicated reality, also a regular tournament, to face Valencia this Saturday in an emergency duel turned into a kind of plebiscite to Diego Pablo Simeone in the Wanda Metropolitano. After ten years of success, the Argentine coach is experiencing his worst moment at the rojiblanco club and more and more voices are advising his resignation because they understand that the team is not performing and the dressing room has gotten out of hand. While criticism intensifies, Cholo appealed this Friday to “union and tranquility”, and assured that he feels “the same illusion” as the first day he arrived.

The party brings them because the contenders cannot afford many more mistakes in this second round if they want to meet their minimum objectives. Atlético comes from six defeats in their last ten official matches played and is fourth in the table with 33 points, far behind Real Madrid and Sevilla, four behind Betis, level with Real Sociedad and one more than Barça and two more than advantage over Lightning. If for the colchoneros it is obligatory to win, even more so for the Levantines, ninth with 29 points and today even out of European positions. They cling to the Copa del Rey route, where they will face Cádiz in the quarterfinals, but they cannot get carried away in the League.

It is doubt and focus of attention Daniel Wass, who has just overcome the coronavirus and can play his last game with Valencia precisely against Atlético, almost certainly his immediate destiny. There is also trouble surrounding the Uruguayan striker Maxi Gómez, whom his coach already left out of the recent call-up against Sevilla and it was leaked that it was because he was overweight. The striker wants to get out of the trouble club sooner rather than later, which for Wanda was left without Gayà due to his expulsion in the recent Mestalla draw against Seville.

“Everything that happened from here to the past cannot be fixed. I ask people to be with the team because we need them and I have no doubt that they will respond. 90% of the players who are going to be against Valencia made us champions,” Simeone emphasized at the press conference prior to this La Liga classic. “Hopefully we can demonstrate on the field all the union that exists within the locker room and the desire to get out of the moment of difficulty that the team has. We were always strong for being all together. You have to calm down, not rush because it leads nowhere. We need strength and stability. Words are short,” he added.

core problems

There are no excuses in the third most expensive squad in the championship, but Simeone confessed that “significant injuries” have negatively influenced his team. In this sense, he was happy because he recovers the central Savic, after nine absent games, and Giménez, although Griezmann is still out. He confirmed the ownership of Luis Suárez, luxury substitute in the last cup events without return, insisted that he knows Bordalás well and warned that “Valencia will be a tough and complex rival, who competes very well.” In Mestalla, Atlético escaped in discount a victory that was tied first with 0-2 and then with 1-3.

The controversy generated by the hostile reception of Atletico in Donosti continues to be talked about, and a lot. Simeone complained to journalists and Imanol Alguacil himself, a local technician, about the lack of police protection in the vicinity of the Reale Arena and was denied by the Basque Minister of the Interior, Josu Erkoreka. “The images in San Sebastián speak for themselves, but it had nothing to do with our defeat,” Cholo settled this Friday, focused only on the next game and on getting performance out of his squad.

In times of crisis for the current champion, the mattress fans demand a greater presence in the team of homegrown players who feel the shield. The coach highlighted the good minutes played by Javi Serrano in the Copa del Rey. “If you continue with humility, work and desire to learn and improve, you will get closer to being able to be stable with us. We feel identified with his game: he is young, we should not rush him, but he has something that is needed: energy”, he commented about a midfielder with character who is already compared to former captain Gabi.