La Liga 2018/19: Atletico Madrid’s Struggles

Atletico Madrid have had an indifferent start to the new La Liga season, and are already five points behind Barcelona and Real Madrid.??Los Rojiblancos have been uncharacteristically sloppy defensively, keeping only two clean sheets in five league games so far, and conceding four goals in the process. Combined with a misfiring attack that has notched just five goals so far, it is no surprise that Diego Simeones men find themselves in fifth place in the nascent La Liga table. After summers of significant change at both Barcelona and Real Madrid, it was expected that Atletico would be serious challengers for the title, especially after some superb transfer business which brought in the likes of Rodri, Gelson Martins and Thomas Lemar. However, the new boys have yet to click, while the old guard is also faltering. We will now embark on an analysis of the reasons behind Atleticos struggles so far, and how they can turn around their mediocre run of form.

Lack of width while defending

Under Diego Simeone, Atletico have found success by playing in a compact, narrow 4-4-2 formation, which squeezes space centrally and makes it difficult for opposition sides to play through them. However, a look at Atleticos average formation from the three games where they have dropped points this season  against Celta Vigo, Eibar and Valencia  shows a new problem; they are not defending the wide spaces well enough.

Simeones side sets up in a way wherein the full-backs are expected to provide width. While this allows the nominal wingers to tuck inside and combine with the midfielders and forwards, a knock-on effect is that the full-backs can be left isolated against the opposition winger, and often outnumbered if their full-back is overlapping 

Three of the five goals that Atletico have conceded have come from crosses into the box from wider areas, which demonstrates how this has developed into a weakness. In fact, another effect of Atleticos formation is that they have developed a vulnerability to movement on the far side. While the full-backs are expected to stay wide while attacking, they drop in to form a narrow back four when defending. This means that an attacker on the far side of the pitch often has a lot of space, and a quick switch of play or cross to the far post can catch the defence out. Indeed, this is exactly what happened for the goals Atletico conceded against Valencia and Eibar, with Juanfran the guilty party on both occasions