Well What Can Ya Do

By: Al | January 14th, 2009

In the words of Pep Guardiola, a great team was eliminated.

The “friendly” didn’t go so bad. Knowing that Atlético actually tried to play a solid match this time was enough to settle my nerves.

Not too many chances and shots on goal, but the team still didn’t do too bad.

Still a loss, but with heads held up high. It’s just the Copa del Rey. Even though it was technically our most realistic trophy achievable, winning the Copa won’t make up for having a shite season, just ask our friends Valencia. It’s like the “bonus mini-game” of La Liga, it’s nifty but all it really does is let you meet the King of Spain and let you play in the UEFA Cup and in the Supercup. (Just kidding. It may be more than that, but I’d be more positive about it if we were still in the competition).

Not saying that our season is shite, though. The past two weeks have been shite, but Atlético is pretty good at recovering. Nothing to worry about.

Here’s Sinama’s goal. Look up the Barca goals yourselves

For playing a match with impossible odds of scoring three goals against Barcelona, Atlético could’ve been much worse. The passing was a bit crap, but there were some bring spots. Simao had a decent match, providing some good crosses and even slipping past Yaya Toure once or twice. He even shot the ball into an open net after beating Pinto and only being denied by Marquez. Aguero unfortunately didn’t produce any magic, and was *gasp* outdone by Sinama this time around. Sinama’s confidence must have gone up the roof after this match. He netted the first goal and even scored a second in the second half, only to be disallowed for offside, and both beautifully serviced by Simao.

There’s one chance left to get back at Barcelona this season, this time at home and in La Liga. That’s not until March, but I’m already anticipating it. Hopefully we don’t draw them in the Champions League, assuming both teams go through, and giving us two more fixtures from hell.

Aguirre has another shot to prove himself, and that’s the visit to Almeria this weekend. A match that’s special for Mexicans, as both him and Hugo Sanchez (Almeria gaffer) are the national team’s past two home-born managers. The “two games left to convince the board” report is probably irrelevant now as the board gave him their backing. Although Aguirre may be gone soon, there’s really no point in getting rid of him now. I can only think about a certain team that rhymes with “Shmottenham Shmotspur” that got rid of a crap coach, put in a better one, but couldn’t improve the team’s table position too drastically. I’m not saying that the same thing would happen to us as it did to the “Shpurs” (comparing is degrading to our team) but I’m saying that I doubt I’ll see a complete turnaround with a new coach. We’re only 4 points from 4th place, and that’s not TOO bad. Like I said before, we’re good at recovering and the players will want to save Aguirre’s arse as they like him so much. At least until the end of the season for el Vasco.

Plus, with us still in the Champions League and a half of the season yet to go, we’re not completely finished. A bit of a slump, but all that we have to do is try our hardest at what we have left. One thing’s for sure, I won’t “glory hunt” and leave you readers