The rojiblancos have lost seven points of advantage since they had the Covid six footballers
ANDOn January 30, Atlético announced that Mario Hermoso and Yannick Carrasco they were positive for Covid and they would lose the duel that their team had to play the next day against Cádiz. In a season marked by the pandemic, these two casualties could have been one more anecdote of the course, but they were the beginning of a series of positives that have had an effect on the rojiblanco team since then until reaching the national team break. After almost two months of the first positive of the streak of six, Atlético have had a physical toll on those weeks.
After imposing himself on Cadiz with more suffering than reflected in the final 2-4, Simeone’s men dominated the standings with eight points ahead of Real Madrid (with one game less the rojiblancos) and with up to eleven points over Koeman’s Barcelona. Now, on matchday 28 and after having recovered the pending matches, the advantage has been reduced to four points over Catalans and six over Real Madrid. We explain some of the reasons for this downturn.
MATCH MARATHON
The mattress team had lived a very comfortable month of January by not having to play the Copa del Rey after the elimination against Cornellá. A release for a squad that had and is lacking in some positions and that saw how it lost to Trippier for ten weeks due to a sanction from the English Federation. The arrival of the month of February coincided with the recovery of the postponed matches of Atlético and the return of the Champions League. The positives came at the worst time. If the first were Hermoso and Carrasco, that following week they joined Joao Félix, Dembélé, Lemar and Herrera. Up to six players removed by Covid. Simeone’s men would have several weeks in February with three games. An accumulation of efforts that would take its toll.
COVID AND LOSSES, NO CHANGES
If the calendar was already complicated, the casualties meant that Atlético had to face one of the decisive moments of the season with practically no bench. So much against him Celtic in the Metropolitan, as in front of Granada, Simeone only made one substitution. It was the worst moment of the course with up to seven players from the first squad on leave. Since matchday 21 in Cádiz, the coach has not made the five substitutions again. In recent weeks, with the squad fully recovered, he has not looked for solutions on the bench either. The matches have become long for the rojiblancos and they have just reached the national team break.
KEY PLAYERS, UNFUNDED
All this that we have been seeing has caused some key players in the team’s operation in the first months of the competition to have accumulated extra minutes. Marcos Llorente is the main example. The Madrid midfielder has gone from playing 78.58% of the minutes to being on the field 99.78%. Of the last 900 minutes, he has played 898. If we add to that the physical display that accompanies his game, the result is Marcos that has seen the last days in which there were times that he was missing until the air after chaining several consecutive actions . The other two footballers who have seen their percentage of minutes increase exponentially have been Koke and Suárez, accumulating both 97.22 and 95.78% of the minutes. Striking fact that of the Uruguayan, who previously played only 68.15% of the minutes. A good part of the rojiblancos’ options go through recovering the legs of the three.
DYNAMIC CHANGE
Without a doubt, one of the consequences of the appearance of Covid in the team was the tension it generated during those weeks. The fear of having more infections and the pressure of seeing that the team for the first time in the season began to score points affected those of Simeone. Some of the most outstanding footballers of the course such as Beautiful, Carrasco and Lemar, have not regained the lucidity prior to testing positive. The need for competition and the immediacy to which the team is subjected competing for LaLiga meant that they had to cut the re-adaptation periods after suffering the virus. Of all the rojiblancos players who suffered from illness during those days, perhaps Joao Félix is the one who was least affected in terms of his physical level.
All this, adding to the level of the two pursuers has led to Athletic to start this section of the course with less advantage than they had. It’s the good thing about having a mattress, which is still leaders.
