Quote (zarkadon @ Aug 14 2020 02:48pm)
welp, didn't see this thread... I probably mixed it up with the betting threads... so I ended up bumping an old ass one.
As I've said on other ocasions, Simeone is finished. He has done an amazing job at Atlético, bringing it from mediocrity to the European elite... however, his cycle should be over.
The team is very predictable and one-dimensional. It doesn't matter if they're against the CL title holders or a 3rd division team, they play the same way.
It's a shame, because I like Simeone as a manager for Atlético, as he embodies what the club has always been about.... passion, rough play, etc... but he is at a point where he's holding the club back.
His tactics are past it, his player selection and transfers are awful. He's beyond stubborn about playing certain players and benching others, regardless of performance. He comes up with the same excuses year after year, even when they don't hold true at all. He has no ambition and considers a success to simply make it into the CL.
He has basically become Wenger 2.0, with his 4th place trophy mentality. It's a very similar situation over all, with him being a club legend, it will be very hard for the board to not keep extending his contract, even though they should. Atlético fans are at a point were they rarely criticize him in the stadium (sometimes a minority boos his decisions, but that's pretty much it), but in the club's forums there are tons of fans saying he should leave. It was a similar situation at Arsenal 10 years ago... give them another season or two of this crap, and we will soon begin to hear chants demanding his head in the Metropolitano.
The failed transfers is something that really surprised me. Lemar finished this season with 0 goals and 0 assists, Diego Costa and Morata are hit and miss.