Diego Simeone has been Atleticos coach since 2011. During this time, the Rojiblancos have earned the reputation as the disgusting package of the Champions League. There is hardly a more unpleasant opponent in knockout games than Atletico. Physical tough and offensively sometimes mercilessly efficient thats Simeones football, even if it can be observed this season that Atlético generally acts offensively.
The task for the performance at the Etihad Stadium last week, on the other hand, was clear: get a reasonable result to throw the Skyblues out of the competition in front of their home crowd in the second leg. Atletico defended in a very disciplined manner, made excellent ball-oriented moves and had the right response to all the hosts quick attempts. Simeones concept worked for a long time. It was a really tough game. Atlético plays so defensively. But thats their style and they do it well. Its very difficult for us to create chances, said De Bruyne on Amazon . Ultimately, Simeones plan was thwarted because Manchester City did have that one brilliant moment. Atlético was denied that. Since the 2003/04 season, the Rojiblancos have become only the fourth team not to find a shot on goal in a Champions League game.
In this tactical analysis, we want to get an overview of Simeones tactics. We will also see in this analysis how he changed several things this season.
Formation
Simeone is known for his low-risk style of play where team organization and tactical discipline course about anything else. He has put the team out to win the ball in dangerous areas or if the opposition make a mistake. Examples are: an opposition player takes a poor touch or if the opposition go into wide areas. When the opposition side is able to stay in possession for a longer period, Simeone likes his side to drop deep. They often allow the opposition to have the ball out wide and stay in the centre where they prepare for opposition crosses with numbers in the box. This also means that Simeone’s side often play on a counter and in a sense rely on individual talent in the offense. This is also one reason why his team is one of the most frequent that is caught offside. The base for this, of course, is the 4-4-2 formation. It has aspects of the game that Simeone is most known for. Of course, Simeone has played other formations (4-2-3-1 and 3-5-2) but the core of his game stays the same.
Playing philosophy
The transition into the 4-4-2 came in as soon as Simeone took over Atletico Madrid. Previously, they played in a 4-2-3-1. Under Simeone, the team’s plan is clear and they play on the counter with a traditional number 9 to get in behind the oppositions defense or with the shadow striker coming closer for immediate support after the ball was played to him. This will eventually shift to a 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 style of defending, especially if Atletico is not able to win the ball back higher up the pitch and are required to drop deeper.
This style of defending was continued in the following seasons and Simeone strengthened his defensive blocks for example by playing with natural central players in wide positions. They are comfortable tucking in when defending narrow. As mentioned earlier, Atletico did not necessarily press high and if any of the forward players decide to press the opposition’s centre-backs, this would be after an opposition mistake (for example a badly placed pass or a bad first-touch). This means that the two forwards originally block passing lanes into the centre. From here, Atletico’s 4-4-2 system can effectively force the opposition into wide areas to double up and give them enough time to create a triangle press to further limit the opposition’s space. It is also important for the forward spaces to be taken control of. Otherwise, the opposition is able to switch the ball easily. In this sense, there are two possibilities available: The first is for the forward closer to the ball to directly drop into these spaces.
