Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone has admitted that his side must defend better after suffering a 4-0 defeat to Arsenal on Tuesday night, but did defend the performance of the side. The two teams were deadlocked until the 57th minute at the Emirates, after which the Gunners smashed in four goals in just 13 minutes.
Los Colchoneros did have chances beforehand, with Julian Alvarez narrowly putting the ball wide with David Raya out of position, and then hitting the bar in the second half. That said, Arsenal were on top for much of the game even until the first goal.
‘We competed well until the first goal’ – Simeone
Speaking after the game, Simeone told Diario AS that his side simply needed to make less mistakes when defending.
“First, the positive: we competed very well until the first goal. After that, we could have defended better. They do it very well, they score a lot of goals. Set pieces are so important in football, especially in these competitions, where every detail helps you take control of the match. We could have made a mistake in the 2-0, but we didn’t.”
“It’s not bad luck, it’s just mistakes. From then on, they were decisive, better, and in 20 minutes, every chance they had was a goal. Julian’s shot in the first half, the one that hit the crossbar, are long gone… The team competed well, but this lesson is what the match left us with. The decisiveness and the details in the passages of play are decisive. This time against us.”
Simeone: ‘We work on the collective to cover for the individual’
It was particularly noticeable the ease with which Myles Lewis-Skelly marauded through midfield for Arsenal’s second.
“Individual errors that translate to the collective: losing a mark, not committing a foul… At 3-0, there was a blocked play that we contested weakly, not strongly, and it ended in a rebound… These are small details that can make the game go one way or the other.”
Atleti players asking for forgiveness from the fans following an embarrassing display. The fans, visibly upset.@marcapic.twitter.com/LX2LbHjfDr
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However Simeone said there was little he could do on the training ground to fix it.
“It’s football things that are there your whole life. You don’t work on it, you have it within you. When situations can be resolved collectively, we work on them. But individual issues are more difficult. We work so that the collective can try to cover up the individual.”
Koke and Jose Maria Gimenez felt game was under control until goal
Veteran defender Jose Maria Gimenez admitted to Marca that Arsenal frustrated Atletico with the ball, although assured that the game was in an acceptable place before Gabriel Magalhaes opened the scoring.
“It was a game under control, but we struggled to play, because they press very well, they always play one-on-one, and we couldn’t find the connections. We struggled to play, to come out of the back with the ball cleanly. Credit to them. We have to focus on ourselves and improve for what’s coming next. The goal came from a foul that wasn’t a foul. The 1-0 left us feeling weak, and with the second goal, it was another desperate game and we couldn’t find our feet.”
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It was an assessment that captain Koke Resurreccion agreed with.
“We had the game under control, but they made it 1-0 from a set piece. We could have tied it with Julian’s chance, and in three plays they scored the next three goals. We had more control in the second half than in the first, and they hurt us more.”
