Atletico Madrid’s Missed Chances Against Espanyol | The GSMC Soccer Podcast by GSMC Sports

Atletico Madrid they have drawn with espanol today Neil nil um Neil nil in a disappointing result for Atletico Madrid their second disappointing result of this La Liga campaign as they so far in their first three matches have a total of one win and two draws they had that impressive result impressive performance um this weekend being able to defeat Jona Jona team that had a really good season last season they were able to defeat them 3-0 in sort of clinical fashion behind go for him griezman yente and kok but today they they finished stal Mage just as they did in their opening game of their land Liga campaign as they finished with that tie two to2 with Villa Royale in a crazy first half um sort of display from uh those teams and finish 22 and I have to say in this game Atletico Madrid that first half they played espanol out of the park they had a good possession they played with a high level energy high level efficiency and and and they looked very at it they look like an attacking power horse that you know that was able to dominate the game in terms of being able to create chances and you know not surprisingly in the fact that they're doing that against espanol the team that's one of the more weaker teams in Le uh in La Liga a team that's expected to be in the round the the you know the relegation battle trying to you know stay up um you know this is a espanol team that um this is es I'm trying to see where they this is espanol team that's newly promoted up this season and um and you know they're going to be in the battle to you know they're going to be in the battle to stay up in La Liga um you know this um they started off the first two games with losses to valad doid and real soad and and this is the first point that they've earned this season and they did it away at w at the metropolitano which is even you know which makes this even worse a result for Atletico Madrid now going back in it in that first half completely dominated the game created multiple opportunities um with their you know with players getting in behind making runs you had sort loss he had a few opportunities being sort of that Target man sort of number nine that presence up there um I think there was one great opportunity they had was uh Rodrigo de ball he played in the ball behind Samuel loo that was making a that was making a run from Midfield and in my opinion Samuel loo makes a Big M big mistake he decides to go for goal and he and hits the post but if you were just to look up and notice there was an I forgot I don't know whether it was Griezmann or julan Alvarez but there was an Atletico Madrid that that was there and it would have been a that he could have slid it to that would have made it an easy tapping into an empty net instead he decides to go for himself doesn't really have the presence of mind to look up in that sort of situation he's only looking at goal and he strikes the post and that's a big big miss that essentially ended up costing them the game cuz it would have been hard if Atletico Madrid was able to get that goal cuz that goal was early enough in the game it would have forced espano to open up and I think Atletico Madrid with the quality that they had in terms of possession and play I think they would have been able to get the second but that doesn't get through and then it's just continuing on to be a struggle to get that moment in the back of the net and then in the first half you know that was in the first half and then the second half it took them a while to get loaded closer to the end of the game they started creating more opportunities but that first 20 25 minutes was very very stalemate and I see it on the broadcast that I was watching on the postgame show they were saying they were saying that the substitutions you know taking out sordos taking out Jolan Alvarez you know messed with the momentum of the game and I have to say I have to agree with that cuz look despite Atletico Madrid not being able to get the ball into the back of the net you know there was no problems in terms of their approach in terms of the performance the performance was really really good they were very very Lely they were creating a lot of opportunities they just needed that a moment to come to find to get it into the back of the net I didn't see the need the sense of panic that came from Diego Simon needed at that moment to make those you know drastic substitutions that completely change you know sort of the rhythm of the game for Athletico which was you know which we could see on the pitch in terms of the performance those first 20 25 minutes it was pretty unnecessary and it was a and it was in my opinion a blunder by Diego Simone um because it was substitution that was not needed if it's not broken don't fix it yes they didn't get the goal but they played some really really good football and and it's it's a it's a bad result it's a really bad result for Atletico Madrid because you're right now you're Atletico Madrid you're out here you're battling you know you're out here battling with this new team that you have you bring in Conor Gallagher you bring in soras you bring in julan Alvarez you're battling in terms of you know wanting to be up there La Liga wanting to potentially challenge for La Liga competing with the likes of Real Madrid and even Barcelona who started off three for three and you know if you're a team like Atletico Madrid these are the sort of games going up against a newly promoted side in espan at home with the atmosphere and how electric that crowd was cuz it was an electric atmosphere to not you know to not get the win it's very disappointing and it's and it's a bad it's it's a bad result at the end of the day it is a bad result um going back to it though reading the statistics you know it show Atletico Madrid they were the more forward going team they were the team going more at it when you look at 25 shots for Atletico Madrid to8 shots for uh espanol seven shots on target for Atletico Madrid to one shot on target for espanol 63% possession for Atletico Madrid to 37% for espan um yeah it's you know they just couldn't find it back at a net and yeah it's disappointing with julan Alvarez being subed out that's interesting there too cuz you know julan Alvarez he is that sort of the Talisman for Atletico Madrid now at this point you know with with what he's done with the quality he has you know he's going to be the guy that's going to be relied upon Atletico Madrid when they're going up against these big time teams in the Champions League or even in La Liga to make that moment out of nothing he is the player with the most quality and he's the best he's the player on the team that has the biggest capabilities of being able to make a play out of nothing right now him and Griezmann um and to sub him and to sub him out as early as as you sub them out ask Diego Sim sub them out it's something that should be you know questioned on in my opinion in my opinion it is something to be questioned on but here here's the bigger story for Atletico Madrid you know this is so many years now that they've you know we've thought okay they've signed this player they signed that player you know it's time for them to really compete with Barcelona and Real Madrid and uh to put up you know those sort of you know those sort of performances you know we know the we know what we we usually associate when it comes to Diego Simone Atletico Madrid in terms of being defensive very defensive pragmatic but you know now we um were're expecting a more we expected for while now a more forward going expansive team that's really going to be able to dominate games especially against weaker opposition and um and inhance you know they start you know competing you know tighter with bar Barcelona with Real Madrid but year after year we we're really expecting just that bit more you know we see some good signs from Atletico in preseason early on in terms of you know a good set of attacking play attacking dominance being able to control the game with the ball really suffocating teams but then as the season goes on and on and you know you start getting tunnel vision players start getting tunnel vision Diego Sim starts getting tunnel vision and they start playing some of these tougher opposition and the pressure mounting and some players go down with injuries or the confidence goes a little bit more then they result they they resort to their style of play to what Diego Simon is comfortable with putting 11 man on the ball behind the ball making it a strictly transition game and making the you know allowing the other team to have the ball and forcing them to break down this really low tight block that's unpenetrable and and look I don't you know I'm not one of those people that really mind that sort of football I think every football every sort of style of play every single every sort of tactics you know different ways of going about it I all I think they all have the Bey and I really despise the people that really that you know disrespect this sort of style of play in terms of playing a defensive you know style the way cuz I I respect it I respect the sort of you know the way Diego Sone wants to win a football game I I respect it a lot but at the end of the day you do need a little bit of balance and you do need to look a little bit more threatening and transition now the problem with that you know today that's not what happened today I S Madrid they dominated the game they controlled the game especially in that first half they just didn't get the goal but they just didn't get the goal but again you know but you know again you know when you're talking about Atletico Madrid and in terms of them competing you have to foreshadow this as far as this game is massive points lost because if you want to compete with Real Madrid you know you want to compete for for La Liga you got to take care of these teams you got to take care of espanol at at home this is one of the most easiest games that you're going to get in this campaign so yeah it's it's a it's a bad result for Atletico Madrid but then now you know now they got to move on um they play I believe they uh they play um Athletic Club um this this Saturday which was part of the reason why they didn't really go with a full set you know sort of starting 11 you know um you know you had Griezmann on the bench you had Marcus ente on the bench you had Conor Gallagher on the bench um which I'm interested to see when he you know when he's going to make his you know not D is it yeah when did he make his debut yet actually I do not know CU I did not watch the Jona game yeah he did where he makes his debut start though he hasn't started a game for Atletico Madrid um will that come against Athletic Club you know they rested a few players today looking ahead to that to that Athletic Club game that game being at the San M Stadium a difficult Stadium to be in it's going to be an exciting game and it's going to be a very very important game for Atletico Madrid because they need to build some sort of momentum going forward into this season