What’s Wrong With Atlético? Here’s What The Supporter Groups Say

By: Al | January 15th, 2009

When you have a talented team that underperforms and loses more easy points than babies are lost at Planned Parenthood, you have a problem. For the Atlético supporters, those non-Nazi and non-extremist ones, it’s unacceptable. The blame can be put on Aguirre, or it can be put on the players, or whatever you want to blame. However, nobody will actually know what’s wrong with such a potentially good team.

That’s why AS interviewed a couple of Atlético supporter groups and asked them to release a statement with their opinion on what’s going wrong with the team. This interview was done before the Copa del Rey return leg against Barcelona.

Here’s what they say, translated from Spanish:

Flor de Entrevias. “This team isn’t done pushing forward”

This team isn’t done pushing forward. However, this Atlético is limited, the roster is short, there’s only about eleven or twelve good players, but the rest are average players. The team hasn’t played good football and it doesn’t have any substance. They can only hope that one of the teams on top can choke so they can land a Champions League spot. Hopefully they do so we can take advantage of them. But very soon, Atlético will hit another “Everest” when it plays with the top teams again. The matchup against Porto is very close and if we play a good team, there’s the chance of going through. But even when there’s no injuries, the teams performance can still be bad.

Peña Ciudad Real. “Aguirre can squeeze more out of this roster”

Aguirre doesn’t control the squad well. Where’s Miguel? And Camacho? He can get more out of these players, and get more out of their talent than how he’s doing so right now. The lineup is always the same, and so are the substitutes. Also, Aguirre’s teams always do bad in second halves, where the schedule is worse than in the first. Yes, we did have a string of good results, but nothing more. It’s going to be difficult to get into the top 4 of the league. Europe, without a doubt, is much more different and there’s the chance to eliminate Porto and continue in the competition. The one thing that doesn’t fail in this club is the fan support, who will always be with this team.

Peña El Glorioso. “Aguirre isn’t an Atletico-level manager”

It’s clear that Javier Aguirre isn’t a manager at the level of Atlético. The roster is short, but it should function much better than it already is. Going through to the next round in the Copa is impossible for Atletico (Al’s note: how right you were…). The best possible thing to do is to give those with little playing time a chance because there’s nothing else to do. The cup was thrown away at the Calderon. We’re more optomistic in the Champions League. In this competition, it somewhat feels like a fluke. Atlético has an even matchup with Porto, but we can advance. For many players, the Liga title has become harder to obtain and this isn’t anything positive. In the league, the team can only end up in the top spots if the other teams slip in the second half of the league. These spots will be fought for, but much improvement must be done for the team to get there.

Peña Tomahawk. “There’s a good starting XI, but there aren’t good spare players”

Atlético isn’t doing bad, since we’re still in the top part of the league, but there isn’t a manager that knows how to play good football and it doesn’t have a big enough roster to aspire to big challenges. The problems arrive with injuries. Atlético has a good starting eleven, but the rest of the team isn’t too good. It also seems like there’s not a good vibe within the team. Aguirre isn’t a bad manager, for teams that are used to average results, but not for teams who must be winning from the start. It’s best that if we don’t try too hard for the return leg of the Copa. In the Champions, we’re better off. The team has done well so far in the competition and the players are ready to make a good run. The best for the team would be to make the League an unimpossible task. The most positive you can be is to win match after match. Atlético must go for the victory in all matches.

Peña Pozuelo. “Two faces: bad in the League and good in the Champions”

Atlético has shown two faces this season. In the league, they haven’t been at the best level and in the Champions they’ve shown their true colors. You can’t say anything about Aguirre considering that he’s fulfilling all of the club’s objectives right now, which was to be in the top spots of the Liga and to lead the team through Europe. But when the team plays the big teams, it hasn’t been at it’s best and to the supporters this is something negative. After these last few losses, it seems like there can be something going wrong with the team. It’s obvious that the team takes the Champions League more seriously and it’s noticeable. The motivation is extra high in that competition and the supporters believe that they can go far. We must forget about the Copa until next year. And in the league, the team must fight until the end against the big teams in order to be within the top spots. The team can play much better.

Peña La Avanzada. “It seems like the players aren’t motivated.”

I don’t like how this Atlético team plays. Aguirre is partly to blame because he’s the manager, but the players are also responsible. It seems like they’re not motivated, as if their energy was lost in the matches where the team used to excel in, such as the games against Valencia and Barcelona. It’s hard to believe, but it seems like the players don’t have any motivation to win anything important this season. The problem is in the back (defense), where nobody can play the long ball well. There needs to be somebody from the defense that can assist the ball from the back. When the rival pressures the team, everybody becomes nervous. The defense is where most of the problems are. We can compete for the top four spots in La Liga. And in Europe, I’m sure it’ll be different. I’m sure they will be very motivated in the matches against Porto. You’ll see a new Atlético. The truth is that the supporters expected something different from this team.

Here are some points that were brought up often:
-The roster is too short, and there’s a lack of good substitutes for the best players.
-Aguirre is a bonehead.
-The team plays at its best in the Champions League. Also known as “Liverpool syndrome”.
-The team has a good shot of knocking Porto out.

For the rest of you, what do YOU think is wrong with the team? Or could be improved?