Atlético 2 – Almeria 2: Yeah we Stink

By: Al | September 24th, 2009

A draw against Almeria.

W. T. F.

I’ll summarize it in three words: our defense blows. It’s shite. Bollocks. We have no proper right back (my 5 year old nephew could have schooled Perea) and it was an absolute disaster seeing the Almeria players, who I’m totally not discrediting, outdo and run around Juanito and Pablo. A few months ago, we beat them 3-0 and now they wrecked much more havoc with an even weaker Negredo-less team. Wrath of the Hugo Sanchez? Or us simply not being that good of a team?

It really was the defense that had the bad game and killed it for us. The attack, although a bit inconsistent (Forlán missed a penalty), was as potent as ever. The team looked scary and when we weren’t battling to defend against the Almeria attack, we were moving the ball up and giving the opposition a rough time, even without Aguero there from the start.

Unlike previous games, we saw a bit of the shadow of last year’s team, especially when it came down to resilience. Cleber Santana scored a goal a few minutes after Almeria was up 0-1, and Forlán scored another solid goal and the game should have been won right there at 2-1.

But no, in the dying moments of the match, Piatti made it 2-2 for Almeria from a header and a few minutes later, Uche blasted another shot on target that could have gone in, but Roberto did well to clear it. Unlike our team, Almeria fought until the end. By chillaxing in the final ten minutes of the game, we were in danger of losing a game that we should have been in control of.

We were unfortunate not to have Aguero and Simao there from the start (they were battling fitness after minor injuries) and instead had Sinama-Pongolle and Jurado taking their places, respectively. It probably wouldn’t have made that much of a difference if they had started, because both really didn’t do much when they were subbed in, but they weren’t that much worse. That’s one of the down sides of having a small squad, and a small amount of really good players. The only substitutes for our star players are average.

Like I have said many times before, our defense is our main concern at the moment. Juanito is slow, Pablo sucks, Perea sucks King Kong balls, and Antonio Lopez at least showed a bit of swag and energy. I honestly think that we’re definitely missing Heitinga. He was a great right-back and it’s funny that we haven’t been doing too hot since he left. The return of Pernia won’t do much, neither will the return of the unproven Cabrera from U-20 duties, so at this point I’m lamenting not having signed a reject from Inter.

As for our coach, Abel Resino, the club is stressing that he’s going to stay. And what’s their reason? “Because it’s practically impossible. It’s very difficult and complicated”. Translation: we’re damn lazy.

I believe that the problem goes beyond the coach though. We definitely should have a larger squad and should have made more quality signings. Sergio Asenjo was the only “smart” signing, and despite the promotion of a few youth players, we don’t really have enough players that have enough quality to make a Champions League caliber squad. Now I see why it’s natural to put the blame on the director’s board.

Injuries are never helpful, but the game shouldn’t have ended in a draw last night. Atletico had it in the bag.

I don’t even want to think about visiting Mestalla this weekend to face Valencia.

Atlético Madrid 2 – Almeria 2