When a new boss comes to the office, everyone wants to adapt to his tastes. Not just anyone has landed on Atlético's shareholders, but an NBA champion. Shai Gilgeous- Alexander knows a lot about spectacle and the men in black had to find something of that for this resumption of the League after a very long break. They have lived on solidity in recent times and on a "reconstruction process", according to Cholo, of which they now have to find a definition. They didn't find the spectacle, but they did find the victory. In extremis and against 10. But Cuti Romero and Baena do not understand stoppages. [Narrative and statistics, 1-2]
It was a day of twists and turns. Barrios returned to provide imagination and David returned from Canada to a starting position with which he hoped to continue his good moment in front of the goal as he already warned in the first quarter of an hour, but Sivera responded well. Alavés, for their part, did so with four changes compared to their last match against Athletic and Mariano on the bench. The start of the Dominican forward, once he got rid of his backpack, as his coach revealed to this newspaper, has been brilliant and he has shown it both at the beginning and as a revulsive, although he missed the goal in the second half on a very clear occasion.
In the first, the duel took place in the midfield. There was a lot of intensity and few opportunities. Simeone used three midfielders to control the game and he did, but when it came to attacking there was a lack of presence from three quarters up. David was an island and Lookman remains in an indeterminate state, good things and bad decisions. It is true that a national team break with 15 guys leaving your squad for three weeks requires a certain amount of security to avoid scares, especially when you are playing away from home. But also that Atlético's subject with or without a break is its away games.
The one who returned from passing through the pits was Quique Sánchez-Flores who knows a lot about football and a lot about Atlético, with whom he won two titles. The man from Madrid has invented an Ángel Pérez who is the player who generates the most high-impact actions in LaLiga and with the wing-back as a dagger and the return of a Toni Martínez who brings down a washing machine, he was trying to make good on the red-and-white fatigue.
When the duel began to turn into a snack sandwich due to the number of inane passes that both teams made, a wall came to wake the public from its lethargy. The first touch is always an unstoppable alternative in soccer and David practiced it with the run of a Grimaldo who looks like a killer. The winger scored his third goal as a red and white player and the Canadian showed that he is more than just a goalscorer.
That goal meant that Simeone's men could have had an advantage at half-time, but two errors almost cost them the bazaar comeback. First, one from Oblak could have meant a goal from Ángel Pérez, but the Slovenian responded well in the second instance. Afterwards, Le Normand, a usual suspect in corners, grabbed Toni Martínez to give a penalty that Boyé, after the VAR suspense, did not waste. It was time to start again.
Simeone wanted to do it with Julián and Baena instead of David and Lookman. A little burden sharing and a little new incentives for the attack. It won't hurt the Argentine, who has also just scored for his national team. With them, another attitude and shortly after also with Kang-In Lee, Atlético turned to Sivera's door. But more than a success, what the red and whites would cling to is an error by Ángel Pérez who was too strong on a ball against Julián and would end up sent off after the VAR review.
Density without prize
Quique rearranged his team in the middle to shut down the red-and-white offensives and smoothed out the transitions of the Cholo boys. So the Argentine, since he couldn't do it on the ground, tried it in the air. He put Sorloth on for his son and the Norwegian was about to headbutt the first ball he touched. On the part of Alavés, Mariano responded, after a defensive error by Atlético, and his failure in the shot caused a momentary rise from his coach who surely noticed it in his recently operated knee.
