The Chels

He had a good game today by scoring two goals and pressing very well but I get what you're saying. It's little things like the through ball to Costa which seemed easy to play but he overhit it and the Swansea keeper easily claimed. His final ball isn't brilliant but what's most annoying is how he is often very sloppy and fails to execute even the simplest of passes. The Newcastle game was another recent example but it wasn't the first. I remember being very frustrated watching him misplace passes left, right and centre in the away games at Liverpool and United. To his credit he is being productive in terms of goals and assists and I guess that's what counts most.

Willian's one-touch play is generally very good, probably because he doesn't have time to think. Towards the start of the second half today Willian had the ball on a counter attack and he was in a good position running down the right wing. Men were arriving in the box unmarked and he had several good options available to him but he hit it out for a corner. That's typical Willian. He had a good game today and was unlucky not to score but you can see evidence of his poor decision making (low football IQ) in pretty much every game.

Play a pressing game and Luis is fully in his element. Great performance.

Surprised to see Matic-Cesc as the pivot in a difficult away match so soon after the Tottenham game.

Very informative. Thanks for that. You're right that it's really difficult for the opposition to play a good game at the Vicente Calderon because the atmosphere is very intense. Great support from the Atletico fans and normal Spanish people definitely helps Simeone but I have no doubt that because he is very astute tactically and a great motivator that he will have success outside Atletico, including in England if he came here. Simeone is similar to Mourinho in that he prefers to allow the opposition the ball, especially in the big games. Atletico have had more possession in matches this season compared to last and Simeone didn't sound too happy about it saying that possession allows the opposition to settle and can make you feel lethargic. I'm not sure how many big teams would take a manager like that. That's why I think/hope he will come to Chelsea one day because Mourinho is a legend here and everyone at the club including the fans is used to a more defensive, conservative manager unlike most of the other big teams who are obsessed with style of football. That said, Simeone's defensive tactics are a lot more proactive than Mourinho's and the intense pressing from the players can be very enjoyable to watch. His side have also shown that they can play very good possession based football like we saw at Stamford Bridge last season. As long as he doesn't join another English club I'll be happy!

Yeah I'd rather face them than Barcelona even if most people think Real are the best team in the world and Barca are completely past it. Atletico are the best defensive side in the world yet they were completely dominated by Barca last weekend just days after nullifying Madrid. You always have to rely somewhat on luck against Barca (e.g. Messi goal being disallowed in title-deciding game in La Liga last season) especially at the Camp Nou where it is impossible - even for Simeone's side - to stop them creating clear-cut chances. In contrast Atletico have shown that it isn't too hard to nullify and get at Madrid this season, probably because their players aren't so good in tight spaces and their midfield, especially now with no Alonso or Khedira, can be easily overrun.

Since the CL final Atletico have won 3 against Real and drawn 2. It's interesting to note that Atletico went 14 years without beating Real Madrid home or away until the Copa del Rey final in 2013 against Mourinho in the Bernabeu. After that the mentality of the Atletico players shifted and their results against Real have improved drastically. I would really like to have seen what would have happened if Mourinho stayed on as Real manager. His record against Atletico was phenomenal until that final but it marked a turning point and I reckon Atletico would have taken the upper hand anyway.

I think it does have a lot to do with football IQ. Physically and athletically you would expect Willian to be a brilliant counter-attacking player but every pass in a counter-attack has to be fast and perfect. Our counter against City away was brilliant and unsuprisingly Willian was not involved. He just cannot think that quickly and he never knows what the right option is. I think the ability to always (or mostly) select the right pass when the attack is moving at that pace is innate to the best players (e.g. Cesc and Hazard) and not something that Willian will ever learn. That said his decision making is rubbish in normal build-up play too.

I think everyone is well aware that Willian's decision making is awful by now. It's no surprise that the best counter attacks we've scored from this season (Schurrle vs City and Hazard vs Tottenham away) have involved Cesc/Hazard playing the final ball and not Willian who would almost certainly have screwed it up.

You're basing who the best current manager is on their entire career and not the present. I guess there's not much to debate then.

Who's currently better?

Arda Turan voted for Mourinho as best manager and Simeone as third best. He didn't vote for a single Atletico player for the Ballon d'Or either... What the hell lol. Godin understands how it works - voted Simeone and Diego Costa first.

Given how much emphasis voters have seemingly put on the WC I wouldn't be surprised to see Neuer win the Ballon d'Or. They won hardly anything in La Liga's own award ceremony too.

how the hell did Simeone not win? Actually it isn't that surprising. Mourinho won the 2010 award with just 3% more votes than Vicente del Bosque even though winning the treble with Inter Milan >>>>>> winning the WC with the best team. I reckon half of the people who vote don't even watch club football.

Winning La Liga ahead of Barca and Real with a team like Atletico is phenomenal but he's done more than just that. In 3 years managing in Spain he's won 5 trophies whereas Mourinho only won 3 with a much better side. That's not to mention Atletico were less than a minute away from winning the CL too after having completely dominated both Barca and us in the 2nd leg of the QFs and SFs respectively. Interestingly Simeone is the only manager to have ever beaten Mourinho in a final (Copa del Rey 2013) and his big game record is amazing - lost only one of the last 7 games against Barca and has beaten Real in each of the last 3 games. It'll be ridiculous if he doesn't win Coach of the Year.

Pretty much impossible to get a good result away to Barca when they're fired up. Also Ronaldo would never be able to run Atletico ragged like Messi did tonight. Can't believe he's going to win the Ballon d'Or tomorrow despite clearly being the inferior footballer.

Doubt we'd have won if it wasn't for that early goal.

Domestic form will likely mean nothing going into a game like this.

It does play a big part imo at least but Ancelotti has always had a poor league record so he's obviously not better than the 2 mentioned. My point is that when it is very close between managers then the CL can be used as a differential. With Simeone you can guarantee he will not be far off the top of the league by the end of the season (which is a huge achievement in itself given the difference in resources and quality between Atletico and Real/Barca) but if he does go far in the CL as well then he surely has to be considered the current number 1 for sustaining success with a team like Atletico. Have you been living in a bubble these past few years or something? We did press away to Southampton/Spurs, relatively big away games but our pressing was as you say very easy to bypass. In the biggest away games (e.g. City away, the latter stages of the CL) you can guarantee Mourinho will prefer passive defending and there will be little to no pressing which leads to the kind of performance and result we saw at City away this year and Atletico at home last year. Our defenders don't have to be particularly proactive for a pressing system - Atletico's depends mosty on the midfield and front 2 with the defence sitting relatively deep still. I remember Courtois saying that the defence here play higher up the pitch than they did at Atletico, yet they're the ones with an immaculate pressing system and ours is chaotic and often non-existent.

Would be a very good achievement but 'the best manager in the world' hinges a lot on the CL and how well you do relative to expectations. The defensive system that Simeone employs is still the best in the world. They 'park the bus' but their first line of defence starts high up the pitch and their very organised, intense pressing (ours is amateurish in comparison) means they concede fewer chances and create more than we do when we play defensively. Every time I watch Atletico in the big games neutralising Madrid and Barca I can't help but think how they'd absolutely thrash City. Did you see how many times Ramos/Varane/Marcelo, technically very good footballers, lost the ball when pressed by Atletico in the game midweek? Imagine how many chances we'd have created through turnovers against City if we pressed Mangala, a technically poor defender, like that in September! Sadly Mourinho prefers passive defending which is not only more boring to watch but is also where individual errors are more common and more costly (e.g. City & United away this year, Atletico at home last year). Because of Simeone's tactics I fully expect Atletico to go further than us in the CL and maybe even win it. If that happens or if they end up retaining La Liga (I expect they'll win one of the two) then Mourinho could win the FA Cup and PL but would still be behind Simeone.

He was but currently? Not so sure. I personally reckon that by the end of the season Simeone will have fully established himself as the current number 1, if he hasn't already.

Cahill has actually had a lot of luck. He should have been red carded against Arsenal for his horrible challenge, QPR for his dive (2nd yellow) and Tottenham for his kick on Kane. We also somehow didn't concede a penalty against Liverpool in spite of 2 clear Cahill handballs. This isn't to mention all the technical and tactical mistakes he's made. Huge liability.

I don't think it was anythng particular to this game - his defensive workload has decreased a lot this season. It's probably good for him but I really liked watching him press defenders and act as the first line of defence for Atleti. Here though we often see him just press half-heartedly or stand still (City away a prime example) which suggests his relative passivity in defence is a tactical instruction.

Wasn't on the bench against Spurs either and was hauled off at half time against Watford.