Julian Alvarez will be the fulcrum of Atletico Madrid’s attack under Diego Simeone after the choice of a front three failed to work as hoped.
Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone has admitted that bringing in new signings Alexander Sørloth and Julian Alvarez alongside Antoine Griezmann has left the team feeling unbalanced, particularly in defence, Diario AS reported on Friday.
Atletico Madrid signed Alvarez from Manchester City in the summer for a combined €95m, while Sorloth arrived from Villarreal for a combined €32m. Simeone tried out Alvarez, Sorloth and Griezmann together at the start of the season, but it didn’t work out and affected Atletico’s defensive play, causing them to perform poorly.
Simeone says the best thing he can do with Alvarez is to play better players around the Argentine rather than trying to change his style of play.
‘Of course we want to play all three, Julian, Griezmann and Sorloth, but the defense is a little bit weaker,’ Simeone said. ‘We have the same number of points as last year, while Madrid and Barcelona have less.’
Simeone is reportedly experimenting with a 4-5-1 formation in training this week after previously playing a 4-4-2 formation with Samuel Lino and Marcos Llorente operating on the wings with Rodrigo de Paul and Pablo Barrios manning the midfield.
When asked about the choice between Leno and Conor Gallagher to play on the left side of midfield, what factors made him decide who to field?
‘Conor has given us a little bit more ทางเข้า ufabet training, the arrival of players from defence and the recovery. Lino is more of a winger, wider, more attacking, more suitable for duels and more involved. In terms of scoring goals, they are equal, although one seems to be more attacking than the other,’ Simeone said.