Scouting report : Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona

[hjperdeath 2,226]

Atletico Madrid beat Barcelona at home by 1 goal to nil (2-1 on aggregate) to confirm a semi-final match-up against Chelsea in the Champions League. Everyone knows what Atletico are all about. They work very hard and incredibly well organized. Moreover their team is very well balanced, from the man between the sticks to the prolific scorer up front. Let's try dissecting how Diego Simeone master-minded an important European victory using the effective method of aggressive pressing.

Like previously, the points I mention here are open for discussion. They can be quite wrong as well.

 

Atletico since the start of this season, have used a number of tactical variations. This has aided them in different phases of this rather successful year for a club that hails from Madrid and doesn't have it's name starting with Real. However now they seem to have stuck up with one rather successful on paper formation. The classic 4-2-3-1.

Atletico are a perfect blend of reactive and stabilized tactical evolution through 90 minutes. They have a set of core principles to which they add finer points depending upon their opponents. This makes them harder to read before a game.

A stable back 4 with full-backs that are disciplined but very attack minded. Most crosses come from them or Villa on the other side ( Atletico's first goal an example) . In the middle we have BTB kind off player and a defensive connector who can get forward. He's the marker for others to look at and organize themselves.

In the middle three, we have two play-makers on the side. The left one mostly acting like a pure winger while the other prefers to cut inside and dictate play with the deep midfielders. In the #10 area we have a player who links up well with the poacher up front. His aim is to be physical and let his presence be known to help the other players rather than create chances.

While transitioning into defense, Atletico move into a 4-4-2 overdrive. This helps them set up springboards for counter-attack while making sure that possession based teams will struggle to open them up. Their pressing depends on various factors.

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1. The closer you get, the more aggressive the pressing gets. Not-so-welcome pressing.

2. If Atletico have just lost the ball, there's a period of time in which they press high to recover quickly before their opponent organizes themselves. Once they're organized, they fall back deep. We-want-our-ball-back pressing.

3. If the opponent is not well organized they'll suddenly press aggressively after being quiet for a long period time. Intelligent pressing.

They also press players onto the wings and then have multiple players jump on them to scavenge the ball out. Very effective when the remaining midfield players block out passing options.

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Here we can have a look at how Atletico react to a situation. Their midfield adjusts itself while their pressing system is spearheaded by two players . The encircled player is the one about to be picked out. The Atleti players have to be careful in ensuring that they don't open up gaps as you can see a player moving behind the two strikers dropping deep. If that pass is made, Atletico will instantly press high.

 

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Here we can clearly see the midfield adjusting itself and also how intelligent their organization is. This is the perfect example of a gutter system. The two players who previously spearheaded  the pressing , separate from each other. One of them follows the ball and a midfielder joins them. To compensate the midfielder's absence , the second member of the spear head drops deep, as the remaining three members of the packed midfield adjust themselves again to accommodate him more centrally. That way they can also quickly counter-attack from their natural positions.

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Now we have a different kind of instance that glorifies the previous principle. From a very structured and deep defensive organization, Atletico suddenly push towards the side that the ball is played, once again just to isolate the ball-playing full-back. This closes down clear cut opportunities for the opposition player to combine. Even while pushing, notice how only one midfielder is running right at the ball along with the Atleti full-back dropping a bit deep. This would help Atletico make sure that no clear cut gaps are open to be exploited.

 

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Here we have an example of Atletico just loosing the ball. The first player who is pressing on the ball when the gif starts is the proverbial first phase. The next player who presses is called the third phase. Notice how the player , who is a few yards behind the second presser , instinctively runs towards the ball and then hesitates. He is the proverbial third phase. The midfield's aim is to shut down and block lanes while one of their members press aggressively.

If the ball isn't won, it's forced sideways and the strategy changes.

 

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This will help us find out how quick Atletico are to react when a mistake is made. After a phase of pressing, Atletico are highly unorganized. This is Barcelona's best chance to hit them hard, but they make a stupid mistake of lobbing it up. Atletico know that with their structure, they can't always win back and combine with short passes. But when the ball is up, there is always a 50% chance of winning it back. The chances increase if they press higher.

In the gif, they are in a structure reminiscent to a 4-2-4. More open than Liverpool's defense on a rainy Friday evening at Stoke. To make sure it doesn't become a huge problem, the full-back presses. A midfielder also helps out at the same time. With this they win the ball back and have an opportunity at creating a counter-attack with 4 upfront.

 

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Another fine example of Atletico in the not-so-welcome pressing phase. Notice how it's man-to-man. At the start of the gif we see an Atletico player pressing a Barcelona player. Right after the ball is passed away, he follows and sticks on to the player.The two other press high on their own men, forcing Barcelona to play back or place a risky pass through the middle. In the orange section, we can see how Xavi tries to create a passing option and in turn an Atletico player moves  closer to him.

In short, Atletico are very organized. What separates them from the rest is that they know what they're doing in highly pressurized situations. They do make errors, but make sure they don't turn into a complete mistakes. Though what they haven't faced yet is a team that plays in a quite similar fashion to them. Expect fire-works, and hope they are blue.

I'll leave you with this fantastic gif of a slide-tackel on the backdrop of a brilliant structure being held.

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[CHOULO19 24,332]

*bump*

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Dunno if it's just me, but some of the gifs are not loading.

[hjperdeath 2,226]

Dunno if it's just me, but some of the gifs are not loading.

really? Seems to be working fine here. You could have trouble with three of them that are well over 6mb.

[bushman 2,043]

Dunno if it's just me, but some of the gifs are not loading.

If you were to post some naked mommas here, it would load much better.

[Strike 7,210]

few of the gifs not working for me too.

[hjperdeath 2,226]

few of the gifs not working for me too.

Dunno if it's just me, but some of the gifs are not loading.

Does opening in a new tab help?

[Strike 7,210]

Does opening in a new tab help?

no. it may be my dodgy internet though.

[hjperdeath 2,226]

no. it may be my dodgy internet though.

hmm definitely the big ones. took me a while too. i'll make sure to keep it below 4 next time.

Sorry for the inconvenience to everyone !

[CHOULO19 24,332]

really? Seems to be working fine here. You could have trouble with three of them that are well over 6mb.

Yeah probably just my connection.

[Ze Mario 638]

nice article

but instead of gif, u can use flash to give audience interactive view. Like if we click players pic, it shows their stats, their game statistics, and we can compare it with another player. And we can move the players to create imaginative movement or something cool like that

but yeah, its good enough

[AswinR 96]

Gr8 article...really nice look into their tactics....

love to see this sudden pressing style against players like willian and oscar and hazard....

imo willian would do gr8 and oscar good....need to wait and see how hazard does....

but again we do deal with this kind of playing...remember they will also try to go on the offensive....and we dont play like barca!!

i really feel we are their tactical nemesis than the other way round

we will do just fine.....

this is our first significant rebuilding season....this is their best season in a long while...and we are still better on our day

cech vs courtois

Both are good with courtois having an edge in reflexes.....but cech is very experienced with this kind of pressure

Remember CL final..cech vs neur... who became a european night legend?!!

iva-cahill-terry-azpi vs AM defense

I really dont believe their defense is better than ours and diego simeone is going to face the hardest team he had to try break down by physical play....

I am really worried about villa skills and his simple but killer finishing and not costa's physical attributes but his presence in the box is really good though but

on our night we can easily tame them both...

Not going to speak too much on our attacking skills.....but we have the most unpredictable strikers in that level!!

midfield

we are evened out but if anybody things they can out run ramires and luiz.....then thay are in for a big shock

so loads of pressing from both sides and could be a big tactical area

wish matic was there ...lampard would not be too bad an option either..

Attacking midfield

they have a real collection of good attacking midfield players but this is where we have an edge... our players maybe young but on their day ....on any one of the three's

day we will create deadly chances in their defense...

Strikers

This where they hold an edge...could cancel out villa and eto saying both are slower than before but still are one of the deadliest stikers

but we donot have a deadly threat in the box like that of costa and this is their advantage....

reason for optimism...this team is quite used to it..

i know this is a tad onesided view but still ....

my greatest worries are iva suspension....luiz one yellow away from suspension....and hazards injury....

[hjperdeath 2,226]

nice article

but instead of gif, u can use flash to give audience interactive view. Like if we click players pic, it shows their stats, their game statistics, and we can compare it with another player. And we can move the players to create imaginative movement or something cool like that

but yeah, its good enough

I have no idea how to use flash however. :/

[Ze Mario 638]

I have no idea how to use flash however. :/

lol thats only my sarcasm way of saying your report is by far the most complete report i've read in TC articles. esp what you did with the gifs

[hjperdeath 2,226]

lol thats only my sarcasm way of saying your report is by far the most complete report i've read so far in TC articles. esp what you did with the gifs

aah, completely missed the joke there.

thanks though.