The end of the universe may not be Tieling; but the end of a defensive coach is almost always the end of the season.
December 23 is the 10th anniversary of Diego Simeone’s leadership of Atletico Madrid. In the era when famous marshals and wealthy families frequently “flash marriages and divorce”, “Bai Shuai” and “Blanket Legion” can be regarded as a pair of exquisite and affectionate model couples.
Regrettably, on this day that should be celebrated, the Argentines ushered in a particularly bad gift.
Four consecutive defeats in La Liga, a “redraw” in the Champions League knockouts and Manchester United… For the proud Atletico fans last season, they may have seen the team achieve nothing at all six months in advance.
After reaching the Champions League final twice, despite the glorious defeat, the Iron Army under Simeone could not escape the rust of the years. The anti-reaction system he was famous for was gradually being penetrated by his opponents.Simeone never hides his emotions.
On December 23, 2011, Atletico announced that Diego Pablo Simeone was appointed as the coach for a term of one and a half years.
At the time, this was not too exciting news-after all, in the first 11 years of the new century, Atletico Madrid changed 13 coaches, and the most “long-lived” Aguirre had not survived 3 seasons. Notti Ranieri, Aragones and Bianchi and other famous coaches, all fell to Atletico Madrid.
In a nutshell, the “Sheet Legion” is an out-and-out coach.
At the age of 41, Simeone started to lead the team independently at the age of less than 36, but his performance was not outstanding in both A A and Serie A. His most sensational creation was the introduction of Catania in the dark horse of Serie A. There are 12 Argentine players, but other than that, the former Argentine team captain really lacks highlights.
Atletico Madrid fancy, perhaps his team’s loyal spirit, after all, Simeone, who has gone through seven teams in his player career, only played twice in Atletico Madrid. Ten years ago, Simeone entered Atletico Madrid.
However, this initially seemingly risky gambling has been rewarded with a 10-year boom in the history of Atletico Madrid. Under the joint squeeze of the “Cosmos Team” and “Galactic Battleships” armed to the teeth during the same period, Atletico did not repeat the miserable downgrade at the turn of the century. Instead, with their pragmatic style and unprecedented fighting spirit, Atletico Madrid almost took it away. Zhang “Western Super League” seat.
In 10 years, Atletico has won 8 titles of big and small-2 La Liga titles, and 2 Champions League finals, which are enough to make Simeone among the top coaches in this era.
Time will not lie. Look at Valencia and Deportivo, which were able to win the league title in the hands of Real Sagrada at the beginning of the century. ; The latter simply sinks into the Spanish third tier league.
In the difficult environment where Atletico is frequently poached by giants and is often forced to reorganize, Atletico Madrid has the premise of unchanging and adapting to changes. It is precisely the player who is in the water and the strong and handsome.
Looking back on the past, Simeone himself is not without emotion:“Recalling the countless moments we have together, we have overcome huge difficulties and experienced a lot of joys and sorrows. I have always felt that Atletico is my home, and I only know one way to success, that is to work hard and work hard.”Only Simeone has Griezmann’s “instructions.”
The last flag bearer of the defensive coach
What is more awe-inspiring than the record is that in this era of rapid tactical changes, Simeone has dealt with the entire 10 years with almost unchanged 442.
Undoubtedly, when 433 is constantly evolving and the trend of three-center defenders is returning, 442 is really too “ancient” or even outdated. But Simeone took advantage of this seemingly least technical tactic.
Whether it’s the thunderous man-to-face defense of the central defender, full recovery, dense penalty area, or the clean and concise long pass to find a forward in the counterattack, and the magical set-kick, the chain defense that started in Apennines has been passed down and promoted under Simeone.
It is true that there is no shortage of anti-counterfeiting masters such as Lippi and Mourinho in the new century, but at the peak of their careers, both of them “changed their hearts and followed the vulgar” to play the more fashionable 4231, but Simeone remained unmoved. Even if the subordinates cut their feet to fit their shoes, they must persist in 442 unshakable. The self-confidence and arrogance that has been the same for 10 years is absolutely comparable.
After Mourinho became more and more employed, he sticks to a field of responsibility and occasionally creates surprises. Simeone is the last standard bearer of the defensive genre in the football world. Simeone led Atletico to win the Europa League.
Mediocrity
Undoubtedly, Simeone, who left the best years of his life at Atletico Madrid, can be regarded as “benevolence and justice”. However, this almost pious loyalty has also brought Atletico Madrid to a narrower and narrower one-way line.
Last season, taking advantage of Real Madrid’s injuries and the endless civil unrest in Barcelona, the start was far away from rival Atletico and almost opened a double-digit lead in the half, but when the fans were about to celebrate the harvest of the season, Atletico Madrid in 2021 suddenly pulled his hips.
Not to mention the early exit of the Champions League, the La Liga, which originally held the grip, had already shrunk to 1 point before the final 8 rounds.
The ominous omen looming in the hearts of Atletico Madrid fans finally turned into a disaster this season: after an upset home defeat to Mallorca in the first game of the league in December, Simeone’s team was deceived and lost to Gera 1-2. After Nada, the Argentine set a record for the longest losing streak in Atletico Madrid’s tenure.
And just this month, Atletico fans who originally expected to make a breakthrough in the foreign war also experienced the big toss of taking heart-relief pills first and then taking anti-hypertensive drugs: the Champions League group stage final match thrilling defeat of Porto’s Atletico Madrid, the last 1 The turn of the day escaped, and the comical Champions League 1/8 final draw night, Atletico Madrid inexplicably became the focus of the audience, in the end still inevitably encounter Manchester United. Ronaldo is an absolute nightmare for Simeone.
In the face of the double-line tribulation, Simeone’s attitude became more ambiguous, almost metaphysical: “If you owe and pay, this is the law of football; when the central defender is healed, everything will be better.” The implication was that earlier. Atletico Madrid’s overpowering performance in the year is a super level performance; and the team is short of personnel, it is difficult for one’s own clever women to cook without rice.
But the reality is obviously not the case-compared to Sevilla, Betis and Vallecano, who have points in front of him, Atletico Madrid, regardless of player value and salary, are far beyond.
Especially after the implementation of the salary cap system in La Liga, Atletico Madrid can control the transfer fee and salary space far more than Barcelona; and the shortage of personnel is obviously untenable, a team of Suarez, Griezmann, Oblak, Cork has maintained a healthy team, even if it is not in the best condition, continuous “sending warmth” is really abnormal.
An even more obvious reality is that Atletico Madrid’s performance on the field alone is not bad, but since last season, no matter what level of opponents they face, the team has won at most one goal, was flattened or even counter-killed. Scenes are not uncommon.
The bigger problem comes from the defensive end. Jimenez, who should have been the axis, has a history of serious injuries in the last 4 seasons. This has also led to the original strong sense of position, both quantity and quality of the defense line, began to shake. When the door god Oblak started to lose his mind, Simeone’s economical 1 to 0 doctrine naturally became a castle in the sky. Simeone is about to end get out of class?
Change of coaches?Dare to think or do
Four-game losing streak, placed in other leagues, is enough to make any halo-shrouded coach immediately break the defense. Solskjaer, who was questioned last month, is a clear precedent.
On social media, Atletico fans have chanted slogans for the end of get out of class more than once, and even Wanda Metropolis has booed at the coach. However, the change of coaches by Atletico’s top management seems to have never been on the agenda, and despite the support of Simeone, he still supports.
After all, the “brilliant handsome” that has long been highly bound to the team is the most distinctive logo of this team. The description of Simeone as “legendary” is slightly insignificant-in the old Hill era of the last century. After the fuss, Simeone created and continued to deepen the sense of security, which is indeed the long-lost wealth of Atletico.
However, no matter how heavy a sense of security is, it seems vulnerable to the disillusionment of reality. Especially under the temptation of beautiful football, Atletico’s top management is not without ideas about the team’s dry and boring performance. However, many of the young attackers introduced by the team were against Simeone’s increasingly rigid anti-countermeasure tactics.
Following Guardiola’s “Tiki-Taka”, Atletico’s 442 has become the most unfriendly tactical system for the team’s newcomers.
What’s more worrying is that Simeone, who used to be highly prestigious and unique among players, has been frequently challenged by his men in recent years. Suarez, who also insisted that he was standing in the same trench with Simeone when he joined, directly expressed his dissatisfaction with the coach when he played on the bench and was replaced many times since last season.
When he lost to Granada in the last round, “Su Ya”, who had no play, made no contribution in the starting game, and was babbled and unhappy when he was replaced…Simeone and Mourinho.
The next Mourinho?
In the face of management’s dissatisfaction and players’ complaints, the usual coach’s solution is to take the initiative to change the formation, but Simeone has always been killed on the south wall and never looked back.
For Atletico Madrid, 442 is not only the foundation of one’s life, but also a political correctness that cannot be discussed.
How similar is this to Mourinho, who used the same defensive bus and relied on the output of star players to solve the fight when Manchester United and Tottenham coached?
Today, the “special one” should have been “technical poverty alleviation” in Rome. As a result, within the two-month honeymoon period, the team was even defeated. The “madman” was employed for the second time, and there was a high probability that it would still be defeated. Return.
In fact, since leaving Real Madrid, Mourinho’s coaching career has continued to ruin more than his reputation, and that year, he happened to be 50 years old. Simeone’s luck seemed to have taken a turn for the worse after he was 50 years old.
After embarrassingly ushering in the “ten-year itch”, as the great master of anti-rebel genre, Simeone will come and go from time to time to avoid repeating Mourinho’s mistakes?Return to Sohu to see more
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