The situation
Atlético de Madrid faced yesterday its second pre-season match against a well-armed Manchester United with the “Christian case” on the surface . The match featured the new presence of Nahuel Molina in the starting eleven and the long-awaited return of João Félix to the green, who despite having completed very few training sessions, and not having traveled with the team to the previous friendly, needed less half an hour to score the decisive goal that would lead Atleti to their second consecutive victory. Cholo came out with a 4-4-2 slightly similar to the one he had to put together after Hermoso’s injury in the match against Numancia, for which he was also circumstantially forced to place goalkeeper Gomís at the point of attack . Today, Simeone opted for two pure central defenders (Giménez and Savic) and a line of four arranged in a diamond shape in the middle (Kondogbia in the pivot, Carrasco and Llorente on the left and right, and Lemar slightly forward, linking up with the lead) But everything changed in the second half, as it also happened in Burgo de Osma last Wednesday. Simeone, who introduced nine swaps, changed the drawing and returned to defense of three , curiously without any pure center on the pitch . At the back he arranged for Reinildo, Wass and again Witsel, while in the middle he opted to move Saúl to the left, overtake Sergio Díez on the right, align Koke and de Paul in the center and place João and Griezmann in front of them, but behind Morata, who could not participate much in the game .
Cholo seeks the versatility that the league gave him two seasons ago
It all goes back to the 2020-21 season , in which Atleti, who seemed to not move from the 4-4-2 with which they played the first games, chose to experiment with a defense of three against Cádiz, in the league matchday nine. The test gave Simeone very good results and the game ended with a devastating 4-0 in favor of the rojiblanco team, which, against all odds, repeated the system on the following day against FC Barcelona. The scoreboard was not as bulky, but it also ended in victory