• Chronicle: Atletico runs out of voice in Leverkusen
  • Reaccines.Simeone: "Something I will have to improve"

A couple of weeks before the start of the Atlético preseason, Simeone was recharging batteries but, in turn, pulling them mentally, aware of the major challenge that lay ahead. "This project is the most complicated since I arrived," he admitted on a premonitory basis at Fox Sports, while at the club's offices they tried to accelerate the arrival of Joao Felix. "People with a lot of hierarchy have gone away (Godín, Filipe and Juanfran and before Gabi and Torres), but we must continue competing," he argued, sensing the cold reality that today, five months later, and after 16 harsh matches between the League and Champions (7 victories), has in hand. On Wednesday night, with his face disengaged, he hit his chest three times, signaling himself responsible for what happened in Leverkusen. There his Athletic barely showed his soul for a few minutes. Although in the dressing room they are also pulled from the ears for the sins that adorn this gray beginning.

DISCONNECTION Atletico left LaLiga leader to the first stop of selections, in September. But he did it after Eibar split him in two for 25 minutes (0-2) and in front of his people. The reaction, as happened with Juventus, arrived on time, but revealed an intermittent embedded as a virus in the operating system of the computer. The gloomy first parts in Valladolid, San Sebastián, Vitoria or Seville. The desolate second act with Valencia. The icy start time in Leverkusen, where the team was another spectator of Bayer's choral activity. «The year LaLiga wins, Atlético made a massacre in the first 20 minutes. We have to recover that, ” Saul insisted on Wednesday. The exceptions: Moscow (0-2 to Lokomotiv) and in Wanda (2-0 to Athletic). "There is no lack of motivation or commitment," Morata proclaimed on Thursday during an advertising event.

WITHOUT CONCLUSION Goals are the best remedy against headache. And if Morata was right with his last shot at Leverkusen, Atlético would be just dizzy. In the previous one, Simeone referred to the lack of forcefulness as one of his ills. With Costa in full existential crisis, Morata has responded halfway. Five goals in five games, yes. Without him, his team would be in a good mess, yes. But if he finished off Alavés, executed Sevilla or hit Bayer, Atlético would have another color. In four Champions games, 57 shots and six goals. An average that goes down in LaLiga to a single goal due to a duel.

LACK OF HIERARCHY . Perhaps this was Simeone's greatest fear: "It is a difficult moment of transition." The recent operation leaving his old guard was barely staggered. And although Koke and Saul begin to raise the tone, they are in the process of cooking. Like Oblak and Giménez , the other captains. So for now there is no perceived someone capable of waking the team with a voice in those eternal lapses in which they seem to be in the loophole.

VERTIGO. The month of September (and part of October) was Thomas . His staging in the derby was colossal and his exhibition in Moscow was key. October rediscovered Correa , when he was sold in the summer. He dismounted Athletic and connected with Morata. In Leverkusen, only Thomas's final minutes were salvageable. Nothing was known about Correa. As if the praise weakened them. Joao Felix , injured, has lived so far intermittent.

BETS WITHOUT FAITH. Atlético started in Leverkusen with a rhombus in the spinal cord and Mediapunta strap. The idea was held just a quarter of an hour after the hypnosis session that Bayer underwent. Lopetegui baffled Simeone with his three centrals in the Pizjuán, but Cholo kept his scheme, inconsequential, until the break. The Morata-Correa couple in attack convinced, but the will to recover Costa forced to recover the idea of ​​the trident. The solution worked in Seville, but not in Germany.

SHEETS TO FIT. «Dates pass and every time I have the clearest things», was the message of Simeone after the embarrassment in Vitoria. Enigmatic message on the day that Llorente (227 minutes) regained ownership. He looked sideways at Anoeta and at the first act before Eibar. Giménez and Savic's injuries have been given air. But Herrera (298 min.), Accustomed to gallons in Porto, waits in silence. And that the athletic core lives far from excellence.

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