vs
Team Isotope
TACTIC
The plan is suffocating midfield and defence, and hit on the break with the pace of Jairzinho and Lukaku. This will force long shots, to the delight of De Gea, one of the best shot stopper ever.
Nedved and Jairzinho will be on free role, with Nedved on more playmaking side, with Jairzinho to either as striker or winger. The 6 times Kickers team of the season, M. Kaltz will be the more attacking fullback to deliver his banana cross.
PS: Sorry on Nedved, 00-03. G. Cahill, 12-15.
Team Himann
Tactics
This is a take on Simeone's 4-4-2 but with some differences.
Simeone Tactics Overview
The following image (figure 1) is how they line up currently for most part.
Figure 1: Current Atletico Formation
As you can probably guess from Figure 1 and your own experience of watching them, this roughly involves the following:
Attack
- Clever attackers who know how to find space.
- Interchangable attack with players switching positions frequently.
- Generally speaking one slightly more creative second striker paired with more of a battering-ram type up front.
- Counter attack can start from anywhere on the pitch. This means players will have to be able to play that first pass well.
- Well-drilled offensive lines. Each player knows when to drop deep, when to rotate, which gap to fill, etc.
- Narrow formation with wingers tucking in centrally.
- Mid to low block depending on the opposition.
- An aggressive CB to deal with the balls lofted into the box.
- Well-drilled defensive lines. Each player knows when to drop deep, position themselves well to hold the structure, etc.
- Press can start from anywhere on the pitch, but typically it starts deeper.
- Dominant keeper.
Let's go into the above points in more detail in the following section.
How Simeone's Tactics Compare to Mine
Attack
- Suitability: Atletico Madrid have also built quite the reputation off of their counter attacking style of play. After winning possession, they don’t typically look to go long. Instead they look to play quick intelligent passes into their attackers. Their attack is quite mobile, often looking for spaces to run into and gaps to fill. They have a very vertical approach to their play, looking to spring their attacks quickly. Notably, they’ve also been caught offside more than any other team in the league. This is a statistic that they’ve often been at the top of the charts for over the years, but not one that they’ve ever attempted to change. In their quick counter attacking style, offsides are simply bound to happen more often.
They’ve also continued to rely on the individual ability of players like Correa and Koke to create chances through skill rather than elaborate combinations and team possession turning into brilliance. This is easily replicatable with Johnstone and Heynckes in my view. Griezmann/Felix are the main proponents of this kind of attack as they played a big role in linking things up. In my case, I have Baggio here who is an upgrade in every sense. Johnstone and Heynckes also switch positions with the front two at times, making this a very fluid front 4 in the attacking phase. Lambert is my sheep, but he fits in terms of being the type of player for the system - aerially dominant and also a player who can be the focal point and charge into the box a la Morata or Costa.
- Differences: Although we have almost the same defensive structure, this team has more options in attack. The wingers are not only comfortable defending centrally but also capable of drifting wider as more traditional wingers. Jair will also play a bigger role and help attack that flank.
Defence
Figure 2: The structure
- Suitability: As you can see in Figure 2, the team is very narrow and generally structured in two banks of four. Pressing typically starts deeper and the idea is to congest the spaces. This, of course, allows the opposition to have the ball further away from the defensive lines and the stats back this up. The central midfielders in front of the defence will patrol, close down, challenge and force backwards, leaving the defence behind them to clear any lofted deliveries into the area. They’ve kept 48% of possession in La Liga last season, only the 11th most in the league. Unsurprisingly given their block, they force their opposition into shots from outside the eighteen yard box more than any other team in La Liga. 50% of their shots against come outside of the 18-yard box, compared to 43% inside the 18 (the lowest in the league) and 7% in the 6-yard box.
Due to the high amount of lofted deliveries into the box, the likes of Diego Godin or Jimenez are vital to their success. They need that kind of an aggressive CB in there who will be an absolute beast in the air and deal with deliveries into the box. As such, it's fortunate that I have the perfect player here in Diego Godin. He's an absolute physical speciment and a beast of a player. He attacks the ball brilliantly and there is no better fit as he's simply what this system is based around. In Kohler he has an ideal partner and the way this team presses, the opposition are pushed wider to loft balls in, which these two players will sort out ever single day. They're also phenomenal man-markers and perfect fits for this tactic.
As far as midfielders are concerned, both Vieira and Bonhof have high energy and workrate and are critical to the pressing that this team thrives on in front of the backline, with Bonhof being more of the DM in my setup. They are an ideal fit to patrol, close down and shield the area in front of the defense the way that a Partey or a Saul might do.
- Differences: Not many significant differences here. Jair is the only unusual choice because he's typically a winger. However, I selected Jair with this setup in mind because he's great at pressing off the ball and he was often the primary width provider in the zona mista that Grande Inter used.
Other
- I haven't talked about the goalkeeper much for obvious reasons. Jan Oblak is obviously a perfect fit here. The numerous clean sheets are, of course, in large part down to the overall structure, ability and mentality of Atletico's team, but Oblak is a fantastic player to call upon at the last. His large frame gives him dominance inside the penalty area on high balls and a great reach for shots high or into the corners; add to that his fine reflexes and ability to spread himself and it's clear why he's such a tough goalkeeper to beat.
- Player peaks -
- Rickie Lambert (2011 - 2014),
- Roberto Baggio (1992 - 1995),
- Jupp Heynckes (1971 - 1974),
- Patrick Vieira (2000 - 2003)
- Rainer Bonhof (1974 - 1977)
- Jimmy Johnstone (1965 - 1968)
- Jair da Costa (1962 - 1965)
- Jurgen Kohler (1991 - 1994)
- Diego Godin (2013 - 2016)
- Cesar Azpilicueta (2013 - 2016)
- Jan Oblak (2015 - 2018)
. On the next round, you'll have Eusebio instead of Lambert.