Atlético vs Chelsea: Scary Teams Scaring Teams

By: Al | November 2nd, 2009

qqq We aint afraid man, I swear.

The mighty Chelsea is in town and despite the 4-0 thrashing that they gave us two weeks ago, our confidence is through the roof, according to Quique. What is there to be afraid of, to be honest? The fact is, they are group leaders and 2nd in the Premier League and we’re relegation fodder in La Liga and at the bottom of our group.

So I’ll be honest, man. There’s plenty to be scared of.

I mentioned in the last preview of how afraid I was of these two teams meeting up, and now it’s even worse because the same fear is there, with a 4-0 loss to them being the cherry on top of the fear sundae (forgive my bad metaphor, it’s late). The last time that these teams faced off, Chelsea was the only team on the pitch well-trained and organized, in other words, the only team with a chance of winning. Atletico, as you may all know, is capable of winning any match, but their erratic form and paper-thin defense is what holds us back from being one of the top clubs in Europe. It’s almost embarrassing. This season has been terrible so far, and our only win was somewhat lucky, against an inferior side that was inches away from equalizing anyway.

I’ve mentioned that it has been hard to see Atleti struggle like they have so far into the season, and facing Chelsea then Real Madrid next weekend isn’t helping. We were in a similar situation last season, after losing 6-1 to Barcelona then those “fixtures from hell” against Sevilla, Real Madrid, and Villarreal. After those, things picked up and we had an undefeated streak for about two months. In this case, we can’t afford to have things pick up after these two fixtures from hell. This is our participation in European competition on the line, and an important derby to win against our cousins the following weekend. The winning must begin tomorrow.

So far, I’m happy with what Quique has been doing with the team. It’s almost a breath of fresh air to see another hungry manager in charge, and even Kun Aguero is pleased with his “distinct methods of training”. Quique will demand the best from the team, and I’m confident that the squad will come out of its losing streak under him. The Copa del Rey victory was an easy match that helped the team realize its stupid mistakes, and the fighting spirit in the loss to Bilbao was the beginning to what would be an improvement over the early part of the season.

Chelsea will be Chelsea, and will still put on a solid performance like usual. However, they are obviously not invincible (*cough* lost to Wigan) and the only way that we can defeat them is if we go above and beyond what we have done so far into this season. Do you honestly think that there has been any performance this season that we should look back on and think that we should repeat it today?

I think that the answer is “no”, except the first CL qualifications against Panathinaikos. I just watched the highlight video of it and I felt ashamed when I realized that the video was the only good performance since last season. What I saw was a team that wanted to enter the Champions League, and put on a killer performance on the way there. It was reminiscent of last year’s Champions League performances. That’s what I want to see tomorrow.

The difference in quality is astounding, but the same trite statement holds true: “anything can happen in football”. We do indeed have a great squad, and we’re at home to boot. We can give any top team in Europe a match to remember so I don’t see how it’ll be any different tomorrow. The only thing to worry about is the paper-thin defense, but otherwise, we have the tools to go ahead and get our first win of the group. There’s no purpose to think about where Atletico will end up after the group stages are over, because the only thing that’s important is thinking about winning tomorrow. The team needs faith, and we will give it to them.

When you think about it, a victory over Chelsea would be considered an “upset”. That’s just a sign of how deep of a hole Atletico has dug itself into.

PORTEROS
1 Asenjo.
43 De Gea.

DEFENSAS
2 Valera.
3 Antonio López.
16 Juanito.
17 Ujfalusi.
18 Álvaro Domínguez.
21 Perea.
22 Pablo Ibáñez.

CENTROCAMPISTAS
8 Raúl García.
9 Jurado.
11 Maxi Rodríguez.
12 Paulo Assunção.
19 Reyes.
20 Simão.
23 Cléber Santana.

DELANTEROS
7 Forlán.
10 Kun Agüero.
14 Sinama-Pongolle.