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Can Simeone develop Atletico?
- Updated: August 29, 2016
In his second column of the new La Liga season, Guillem Balague assesses Barcelona’s early title defence, Atletico Madrid’s continued struggles, Alvaro Morata’s impact at Real Madrid, Sevilla’s form and Las Palmas’ unexpected start to the campaign.
Champions Barcelona maintained their 100 per cent start to the season thanks to a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao on Sunday, while Real Madrid matched their rivals’ impressive form by beating Celta Vigo 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu 24 hours earlier.
Elsewhere, Atletico Madrid were surprisingly held to a goalless draw at Leganes, but leading La Liga after the first two matches on goal difference are Las Palmas, who thrashed Granada 5-1.
But what did we learn from the weekend’s fixtures? Sky Sports’ Spanish football expert Balague dissects the performances of last season’s top three before answering YOUR questions…
Atletico Madrid
Atletico fans are getting a little bit tense. They see a team with a lot of quality, but even against two promoted sides, they play with the handbrake on.
It is only in the second halves that you see a more attacking Atletico.
Why Diego Simeone does not do this before, I do not know. He keeps talking about thinking and reflecting on what Atletico should be like. I think what he is talking about is they may have to step up and go for the games earlier, even though his instinct is to do something else, to play with more precaution, which is what he has generally done for the last four and a half years.
Fascinating theme of the season already: will Simeone change, progress, develop his style?
Both Saul and Antoine Griezmann showed their frustrations after the game, with Griezmann saying if they continue like this, they are going to be relegated, which is a little bit exaggerated, but you can feel the camp is tense.
Las Palmas
After two magnificent games, against Granada coach Quique Setien said they had 80 very good minutes and 10 that were not so good, which for Las Palmas I would say is good enough.
In the process, they scored nine goals – four against Valencia and five against Granada and that is what links Quique Setien to the historical spirit and philosophy of Las Palmas.
They are the type of club that loves to play on the offensive, they never expect to win anything, but they want their team to be full of local boys and this squad has got plenty and also to play offensive football.
So they are doing very well and they realise obviously that the target is not to be relegated. But after they scored the second, they wanted the third and so on. Against Granada, El Zhar, the former Liverpool player, was fantastic, scored two goals, assisted another and created havoc.
After the game, Grenada boss Paco Jemez said …
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