PSG faces Atletico Madrid tomorrow at the Parc des Princes. Focus today on the vulnerabilities of Colchonneros that Parisians will be able to exploit. A defensive team (without defensive talent) which struggles with the ball and which struggles on the outside.
It’s a big piece, at least it was a big piece…
It is still one of the best clubs in the Spanish championship which is one of the best championships in the world, it is still a club capable of spending enormously on the transfer market.
But once we have said that, we must also highlight what the problems of Atletico.
It’s a team that had a lot of difficulties last year, which finished 4th in La Liga behind Girona.
This year the hierarchy is a little more re-established since Atletico is 3rd (with certainly one match more than Villarreal which is just behind) but not far from the Real Madrid notably.
But to watch almost all the matches of Atleticothere are still some problems in this team.
The first problem is that they are a defensive team… with a real lack of defensive talent.
It’s a bit old in this sector, they recruited this summer in particular for the position of central defender Robin Le NormandFrenchman who now plays for Spain. He is good Robin Le Normandbut he has been injured for a month and is doubtful for the match against Paris.
Another problem is the automatisms between the attackers. There were two recruits this summer: Alvarez of Manchester Cityworld champion with Argentina and Sorloth who was joint top scorer in the Spanish championship last year.
This duo more Antoine Griezmannit’s a super interesting trio on paper, but a trio that struggles to succeed in performing together at the same time.
And then the last problem is the physical problems overall: I said The Norman, Llorente also which plays right piston, even Azpilicueta which is a potential solution behind, and then there is the young Pablo Barriosa very good football player, who has just returned from injury and who will certainly not have the physique to last 90 minutes in the Champions League.
Breaking down a team in doubt
That means that Atletico has exploitable vulnerabilities. And it would be nice if the PSG (the club) but also us observers and supporters, we also have that in mind when analyzing our team’s chances on Wednesday.
The team we are going to face is a team with doubts. Currently 27th in the Champions League standings (we are 19th), which has great collective difficulties, and which shows real flaws when it plays away (it notably lost 4-0 on the Benfica pitch).
So we also have our problems and we talk about them quite often (the lack of realism for example), but it’s sometimes good to also talk about the flaws to be exploited in our adversaries and for the general atmosphere to know that it can push for crack a team that is doing less well.
