Simeone rues Barrios injury ahead of Atlético’s trip to Real Sociedad

Atlético Madrid coach Diego Simeone previewed his team’s trip to take on Real Sociedad on Sunday night when he spoke at his press conference on Saturday.

Reflecting on the gutting injury news that midfielder Pablo Barrios is ruled out, Simeone said “he’s an important player for us, but even so, we’ll aim, just as we did last season whilst he was out, to keep competing as we did then.

“Obviously, as for the guys who get the chance to play, I have no doubt they’ll give their all, which is what matters to us,” Simeone concluded.

“When we take a player off, we recognise that he’s given his all and that there’s a teammate who might be in better form for the final stages of the match than the one still on the pitch. There’s nothing in particular behind it; we simply need him to keep developing and improving, because we need him and because the ideal situation is to be able to perform well throughout the whole match so that, obviously, the manager doesn’t take you off.”

“I have nothing to say on the matter. Quite simply, Giuliano Simeone‘s track record and work speak for themselves.”

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“Look, I think we’ve got room for improvement. The team has done a lot of things well, though there are obviously areas to improve on. That’s why we ended up losing the matches we’ve lost. But we’ve also achieved some very important things, and as we develop, we all need to improve defensively so that, obviously, we can keep a clean sheet for as long as possible. And that means we’re always in with a chance of winning, because I think that, apart from the 3–0 defeat in Bilbao we’ve gone on to score in every other match. And that shows that the team plays a key role in attack and that it definitely needs to develop defensively.”

“It’s clear that we’re not looking at what others are doing; we’re looking at what we’re doing ourselves. And as part of that, we know how important tomorrow’s match is and that we’re up against an opponent who competes very well, who show great intensity in their collective work as a team. We’ll have to steer the match in a direction where we believe we can cause them problems and, above all, find a way to take control of the game.

“I think the other day in Bilbao we controlled the first half very well; then there was that lapse in concentration during those few minutes that took us out of the game. In the match against Liverpool, I think we defended quite well in the first half, in an organised manner, and we contained the attack that, obviously, a great opponent like Liverpool posed. But then, in the second half, when they scored their second goal, we had no attacking response to equalise, apart from the move where Giuliano played the ball back to Julián Alvarez, and another where Giuliano set up Julián for a shot.

“These are the issues we’re facing. We need more balance and consistency over the full 90 minutes, and that’s when we’ll surely get back on the right track.”

“I believe the players’ characteristics naturally shape the team’s style of play. The important thing is to build up possession that leads to something, and the move you (the reporter) mentioned did lead to something. As long as the move has a clear purpose, possession is always valued. When it lacks a clear purpose, it obviously helps the opposition to position themselves better, gives them more time to defend and, naturally, if there isn’t solid support for the attack, losing the ball becomes problematic. And that’s a bit what happens in football, game situations that are interlinked with one another. Afterwards, hopefully we can score a goal every day like we did against Liverpool. (Llorente‘s goal) was a cracking goal. The important thing is to know why we’re maintaining that possession.”

“He’s really keen to come back. We spoke to him yesterday. Obviously, he’s gutted about this spell where he can’t help us, and he knows we need the qualities he possesses, qualities we don’t have in any other player. And, as my colleague was saying, nobody cares, but that’s the reality and we have to work hard. We have to roll up our sleeves and get on with it, as you Spaniards so aptly put it.”