«Defensive forcefulness makes you better, offensive forcefulness makes you better and football is managed in those two facets,” says Simeone. Forcefulness is the issue that has been on the Atlético coach’s mind since last Wednesday’s defeat against Lille.
An idea that becomes flesh in Sorloth‘s body. The Norwegian striker missed four clear chances that could have changed the game. Simeone does not want to put the blame for the defeat on himself, but Sorloth is the only one of the eleven who played from the beginning against Lille with whom he has not tried in the starting lineup in recent days.
Cholo tries hard to see the positive side of Sorloth’s mistakes against Lille. «I see it the opposite, that He is connecting much better with his teammates and his teammates are finding him in his best version of the game.. That is a very important step and it is a positive, not negative, situation for the team,” he says.
In four days, the Norwegian has gone from deciding the match against Leganés with two goals to being pointed out as the main person responsible for the defeat against Lille. Last year he was the second top scorer in the championship, but the two goals he scored against Leganés were the first he had scored since the first matchday, in which he scored against his former team, Villarreal.
Simeone has tried these last few days with Samu Lino in the lineup instead of Sorloth. The Brazilian, who was a starter for most of last season, has lost his place in the team in recent days. He has only started from the start in one of the last six games, but Simeone retains faith in him. Cholo asks him for “everything he had last season: enthusiasm, enthusiasm, determination… Above all, determination,” he explains. «He plays in a position on the field where the decision is very important. We need that footballer, because he is very important for our game, whether associative, deep or goal-scoring, because he usually has many goal situations from the game,” he adds.
Simeone trusts in Lino’s associative game to generate football. When he coincides with Riquelme in the lineup, it is the Brazilian who plays in the middle and leaves the side for the youth player. And after a few games away from his level, Simeone sees arguments to give him a chance in the lineup again. “The other day he came in better, with a different rhythm,” he says. Sorloth has to wait.
