Diego Simeone’s second wave is here

With a helping hand from an increasingly important raft of substitutes, Atlético Madrid are looking like a true squad again.

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Dec 02, 2024

Atlético Madrid spent over 100 million euros on Julián Álvarez and Alexander Sørloth in the summer, and somewhere closer to 200 million across all their recruits. Big change, by anyone’s standards.

At the time, it was difficult to get a read on just why they had invested so much, so suddenly. Did they deem it necessary to preserve Simeone’s continuity? Was it Atlético’s last big swing at winning another title under him? Are they expecting a downturn in transfer activity in coming years? The range of explanations was, and still is, rather vast.

Whether you thought Atlético were all-of-a-sudden title contenders or not, the squad overhaul was at least a big point of interest. Particularly in reference to the bolstered front line, ‘el tridente’ quickly became part of the discourse in the Spanish media, with the trio of Álvarez-Griezmann-Sørloth held up to their competition of Vinícius-Mbappé-Rodrygo and Raphinha-Lewandowski-Yamal.

Here we had a title race – and each with a front line of three star attackers. It was nothing short of headline candy for the media.

Diego Simeone’s card game

Three months into the season, the Álvarez-Griezmann-Sørloth trio have only started two games together for Atlético, and just once in LaLiga. Across all competitions, they have been on the pitch together for 278 minutes – just under 15 percent of the team’s total match time.

What happened?

Despite the game of tridentes many had advertised or hoped for, it doesn’t seem like Simeone ever really had plans to take part. There has been no defined gala XI, led by an un unnegotiable attacking core. Atlético haven’t parted with a clear A-Team from the off, persisting with it and stress-testing it in competition, presumably to arrive in a more rounded state come the business part of the season.

Rather than bolstering their Plan A beyond doubt, perhaps the biggest effect of Atlético’s reinforced depth has been to shorten the distance between starters and substitutes. Or perhaps more accurately said, the biggest effect from Simeone’s perspective has been to shorten the distance between starts and substitutes.

The 54-year-old has wasted no time in exercising this new reality. At 1-0 down against Alavés in their last home game, he brought on Rodrigo De Paul, Alexander Sørloth, Julián Alvarez, and Giuliano Simeone all before the 65^th minute. By the time the final whistle went, Atlético had won 2-1 with De Paul and Sørloth combining for the winning goal, before Giuliano left with the man of the match award.

They’ve now won a league-high nine points from losing positions, and only lost one of the six games they’ve fallen behind in this term.

Against Alavés, it wouldn’t be unfair to say it was a case of their initial idea not working – a problem in itself. But at the same time, we needn’t skip over the difficulty of trying to break down a sturdy Alavés side shifting their defensive shape between a 5-4-1 and 6-3-1. No team in the world has all the answers, all the time when it comes to attacking in reduced spaces. They are difficult scenarios whatever the league table says. And besides, Simeone’s Atlético are probably always going to have some sort of an achilles heel with these types of scenarios. With the almost 13 years of evidence we have to count on, we can certainly say it is not a strength of his teams.

What’s clear is, within this space, the Argentine and his staff have spent a lot of time thinking about how to weaponise alternative plans. And now, perhaps more than ever in his storied time at the club, his substitutions are playing a key role in the team’s performance.

“We don’t live by the first 11 players that step on the pitch,” said prior to their win over Sparta Prague. “We know that with five changes we have the possibility to match, improve, or sustain an important rhythm and intensity.”

Since the introduction of the five-substitute rule up to now, we’ve seen Simeone’s use of his bench change rather dramatically. Atlético are now averaging 127 substitute minutes per game, as their manager signals for his bench earlier and more often than any of his peers in LaLiga.

While this trend started to take hold last season, at least in terms of volume, the effects of their substitute minutes this time round have been different. By hiking up the average quality of player they can now bring off the bench – which moves Simeone’s hand with more conviction – Atlético are consistently initiating a new game within the game. Whether that means resetting their look with a completely new attacking front, or whether it’s spiking their energy reserves en masse with a triple or quadruple substituion, they almost cut the figure of an NBA team who can field multiple different teams within the same match.

Take the new arrivals, for example. Conor Gallagher hasn’t made Atlético’s starting XI significantly better, but Simeone can now either bring him off the bench, or use Rodrigo De Paul — one of the best creative passers in the league — for shorter bursts of fresh-legged football against fatigued defences. Alexander Sørloth hasn’t taken LaLiga by storm, but his presence now means Simeone can either bring last season’s top scorer off the bench, or get 60 minutes out of him and bring on one of the best footballers in the league in Julián Álvarez, or one of the game’s best impact subs: Ángel Correa.

Behind that, you have the likes of Samuel Lino — one of their most impactful players last season — now straining to get into the XI. Rodrigo Riquelme would start for plenty of teams in LaLiga, and is now scrapping for minutes. The unexpected emergence of Giuliano Simeone has thrown even more fuel on the fire of competition and the culture of driving quality minutes from those who are called upon.

“I always try to follow the line in which the team can perform best from the start of the game, but I don’t only focus on the start – I focus on what can happen during 90 minutes. And within 90 minutes, I imagine it like a game of cards. I need cards, because without cards, you can’t play a game of cards.

To have the possibility to manage certain types of players, beyond whether they’re happier or less happy… it makes us matter when everyone in the squad knows their reality. What’s the reality? 10 minutes? 15 minutes? 60 minutes? 90 minutes…? Be important.”

Diego Simeone (post-Alavés press conference)

For a manager noted for his partido a partido mantra, Simeone’s second half resets are perfectly in character. It’s all about finding solutions for the present, regardless of how they arrive or how non-uniform they might be. All that matters is winning, or securing a result, and turning the page. As per his own analogy, Simeone views each match as a 90-minute card game — and he simply wants as varied a hand as he can get.

Whether shaking the tree in this way is the optimal strategy is, of course, a different question. Simeone seems to be happy to sacrifice continuity of on-pitch relationships for jolting a new dynamic into play, as well as the benefit of fresher legs in place of those who have the feel of the play. All signs point towards that for Atlético to be the Atlético that he wants, their vitality has to take precedence.

Indeed, there are few teams in Spain — if any — that are tied to their collective mentality as much as they are. When they have it, they are the thorn in everyone’s side. When they don’t, they’re simply uno mas in the list of teams looking up at Barcelona and Real Madrid.

It’s undeniable that the profile of players they targeted in the summer was done — in some part — to give them the best chance of forging just that. Julián Álvarez, Conor Gallagher, and Robin Le Normand are all players with a natural capacity for sacrifice. They ticked the boxes of quality and character. And in the absolute worst-case scenario of failing to perform, Atlético and Simeone could at least be sure it wouldn’t be for a lack of team ethic — a trap they have experience of falling into.

All of this has led to the situation we currently find Atlético in. The effect of their summer investment, when combined with Simeone’s work, has served to create a squad which is deeper in quality and stingier on competition, while lighter on players who might be problematic within that context. Starters know they might only get 55-60 minutes if they’re not at a high level, and substitutes know they are featured players. Every minute a player spends on the grass is expensive.

“I’d spoken with them and I told them that those in the starting XI were important, but the ones who would determine things were going to come on after. We were going to need legs, and we have good players and quality of minutes. The best example was the game against PSG — the changes made us better. And today they reviatlised the energy. We were able to make better decisions in the second half with our counter-attacks.”

Diego Simeone (post-Mallorca press conference)

Independent of systems and tactics, that fact serves Simeone’s interests. One only need look at his behaviour on the sidelines to know how much value he places on energy — the more his players run and bite, the happier he is, and the closer he feels to success. In that way, emptying his bench hasn’t only served the purpose of chasing games and refreshing their attacking idea. We’ve seen Simeone do the same to load up the legs in their defensive shape, when the game state depends on defending a lead.

At the top end of the sport where many managers live and die by a primary idea, and where finding the solution often relies on doing Plan A the same but better, Simeone has embraced throwing out the script. Especially when he can throw it out and find a higher quality replacement than what was once there.

Player condition

The other aspect of Simeone’s sub-heavy approach is a physical one. For all we know, it could even be the aspect in his mind.

If Atlético can sustain results in this first half of the season, they stand to arrive to the latter stages of the campaign with their better players in better condition than their rivals as far as workload goes. Maybe staying in touch to the top, keeping themselves alive in various competitions, while accepting their absolute peak performance might be delayed until next year is part of the idea.

Either way, it’s a fact that Atlético are not driving a huge workload through their most-used players up to this point. Their calendar is as loaded as everyone else’s at the top end of European football, but there are few spreading out their minutes as much in order to tackle it.

At the risk of mistaking the signal for the noise, it does seem somewhat of a factor in how things are going for some of those contending at the top in LaLiga, particularly with respect to Barcelona.

Atlético’s best run of the season has come within the last month, where they’ve ripped off six straight victories and done so by an aggregate score of 18-2. Indeed, they were mesmering at the weekend. Even if their competition in Valladolid were admittedly poor, between the fluidity of football and the energy driving it — a pairing which can often be difficult for Simeone to find and sustain — there’s no doubt that the Colchoneros are in good nick.

On the other side of the coin, Barcelona’s red hot start has cooled off considerably. Hansi Flick has extracted big minutes out of his Plan A so far, which does seem to have now hit a point of diminishing returns. They had been relentless up to early November, looking loose in their minds and determined in their legs. They could overwhelm with their football and their physicality alike. And yet since the early part of November, timed with Lamine Yamal’s injury, Barcelona have started to strain on both of those fronts.

That’s neither to say Atlético are now in a superior position to Barcelona, nor is workload the explanation for why that would be the case. However, even with the best will in the world, there’s a clear contrast in depth — and quality of depth — that Flick can count on compared to Simeone. One might accuse the German of not rotating enough, but it’s also a fact that his reserves aren’t as deep as a club expecting to fight for trophies would ideally be.

While Barcelona are riding Plan A hard, perhaps out of necessity, Atlético’s reinforced depth and Simeone’s strategy in using it is an edge they can count on.

For Atlético, only time will tell us how successful their approach is. Yet even in the case that it’s a resounding success, it is one that seems likely to stay particular to Simeone and his club.

Relying on conviction of man management, of convincing every player they are in service of the squad, and of keeping those at the top end of the wage bill invested in a process that goes against their own interests at times, looks no easy feat. Maybe you have to be Diego Simeone, have his standing, his lifetime of service, and knowledge of the club just to even consider it. You certainly wouldn’t recommend it for a manager going into a new club, no matter how good that manager might be.

Ultimately, it is little more than a decision made by someone in the best position to be able to make one. In Atlético’s position of the last decade, one which relies on something extra and finding small edges in the eternal fight to close the gap on Real Madrid and Barcelon — and be competitive in Europe — this might just be one he can find when others can’t.