SAME PATTERN WITH DIFFERENTIAL CHANGES By Álex Delmás @alexdelmas10
After so many years in the Spanish league, Cholo Simeone no longer surprises anyone. His teams are full of personality and character. His style is unmistakable and he has managed to instil in Atlético a very peculiar and unique philosophy. There are few coaches who manage, year after year, to keep their own style accompanied by results and success; the Argentine is one of them. This own, characteristic style is reflected in Alebia’s team comparison tool, where the Atlético of previous seasons closely resembles this season’s.
With almost one round of the 2020/2021 competition completed, Atlético de Madrid is showing itself to be an almost unbeatable block. The mattress-makers are not only showing very high solidity, but they are a different team: a side that, following the same philosophy as always, has made changes in some decisive aspects that set it apart from some of the usual hallmarks it has shown over the years with Cholo Simeone. This is the Alebia Sports Analytics radar comparing La Liga 2019/2020 with the current one:
As can be seen in the chart, the silhouette or pattern of the two seasons is very similar, but there are several significant facts that show the change of register. Here are the most important ones:
DUAL SYSTEM
Atlético’s main novelty this season lies on the tactics board and in the dual attack-defence system. The red-and-whites are set up defensively in the same way as they have been all these years with Simeone (in a 4-4-2), but they are attacking differently. With the ball they line up in a 3-5-2, with Mario Hermoso closing as the third centre-back. This causes the right-back and the left-sided midfielder (usually Carrasco) to literally stick to the touchlines, stretching the pitch to the maximum. A set-up that provides width, bigger spaces and a rearguard occupied by three players.
MORE BALL, MORE JUDGEMENT
This tactical framework is helping Simeone’s men to be more involved with the ball. To begin with, their current possession rate is 52.2%, while in the last two seasons it averaged 46.12% in 2019/2020 and 47.75% in 2018/19. But they are also having more quality in their possessions. Not only because of the higher number of goals they have accumulated. This is not just a feeling: all of Alebia’s metrics reveal it too. The team’s total number of passes stands at 517.48 at present, whereas in the two previous seasons it did not go beyond 410 in 2019/2020 and 452 in 2018/2019. In other words, this new version of Atlético finishes matches with 107 more passes than last year’s.
In the following chart, which relates the total number of passes per match to the success rate, we see that the team is among the sides in the league that accumulate the highest volume of passes per game, on a par with Sevilla or Villarreal.
LESS TRANSITION
Counter-attacks are still an aspect of the game that Simeone likes to exploit, but it is clear that, given these differences in the way of playing, the team runs less on the counter and static attacks have gained ground. Not only in quantity but also in productivity. The Alebia index that measures positional attacks ending in a shot tells us that the current version of the side ends up shooting 6.43 times per match after an elaborate attack. The same indicator for last season shows an average of 5.20 shots per game after a static attack.
MORE DECISIVE APPEARANCES
A decisive aspect is that the 3-5-2 in the attacking phase makes it easier to find the most influential players. In particular the two up front, who are usually the player operating between the lines (João Félix or Correa) and the top goalscorer (Luis Suárez). The first two have increased their involvement, while Luis Suárez is having scoring chances in almost every match. This is borne out by the Alebia metrics on passes in the final third, which have gone from 53.35 links in the final part of the pitch to the current 65.65.
DEFENSIVE SOLIDITY IS MAINTAINED
The main merit of the team so far this season is that it has managed to add build-up to its game without losing consistency. Even the shots conceded are better, as it averages 9.17 shots conceded so far this season against 10.71 and 10.32 in the previous two seasons. With the particularity that it also wins back more balls high up the pitch: 12.09 in the high zone and 32.30 in the middle zone at present, whereas the previous season they were 11.36 and 31.8 respectively.
Alebia Sports Analytics is your ideal signing to get the most out of your data. Together we will travel the road to success, with simplicity, speed and pragmatism. Get in touch with us!