The first big clash of the season. The ex-convicts up against the might of Barcelona...or rather, the three dudes who form their attack who I hear are a little difficult to stop. People may view this as brawn versus flair but that is doing a great disservice to the kind of football the Argentine Drug Cartel Owner Diego Simeone has instilled in the club.
Atletico's victory against Sevilla really has myself sitting up slightly and maybe taking them a little more seriously this season. Sevilla are a good team and even better at home. These are the UEFA Cup champions, so for Atletico to go to their house and snap them up by three is a damn good feat. It's even better news that Mandzukic's replacement, Jackson Martinez scored a really good goal, which is a great confidence booster when you're in a new team. He will be very vital as to how well Atletico do this season just as how Costa was when was with them.
The big difference last season as to why Barcelona comfortably beat Atletico was skill winning over physicality. Atletico just weren't bringing any footballing flair to the table, which I know they can, and Barca just used the counter to perfection and punished Atletico. In the end Atletico got frustrated, got a red card and it was all over.
That is the one aspect Simeone has to look at. He needs his boys to match Barcelona for skill but also, be a lot tighter defensively and really make life tough and hard for the Catalan cats to have their way. The main threat and the purveyor of this punishment is the diminutive Argentine who can thread the eye of a needle with his eyes closed.
Enrique's greatest piece of tactical skill was pushing Messi out wide and therefore moving him away from danger when facing Atletico. Messi attracts attention because on most fields he walks on, he's the most dangerous player. So it only make sense that you see double-teaming and rough house tactics to stop him. By Enrique shoving him out wide, it meant that they could stretch Atletico and it also gave Lionel Ritchie a lot more room to work his magic and still remain effective. Whether Enrique employs that tactic, I don't know. I would guess he would be happy putting Messi back in the middle but playing him deeper. If that doesn't work, he can always revert back to Messi being out on that wing and playing off of the Cannibal, Iniesta and Neymar as he cuts inside.
What will define this game is how Atletico handle the front three. If they can somehow keep them quiet, Atletico can win. Pique is missing and the Barcelona defense is very weak. Mascherano cannot be expected to do all the defending and the four goals Sevilla managed to score against them in the Super Cup final is proof of this weakness. Griezmann may not be on Messi's level but he's a very good player that will cause Barcelona problems. Enrique needs to know what to do with him, and how to stop him from weaving through and putting balls in from the wing. He's a man that can both provide and score and is emerging now as one of France's best players and could be one of the hottest properties at the Euros next year.
Barcelona really need to just focus on not losing the ball in deep areas, and get it up to the front three as quick as possible. Iniesta will be very important if Messi gets marked out of the game or has a quiet one. He is a very important conduit between midfield and attack and he keeps rolling back those years and shows there is still some class left in those legs.
The the more times the ball is with the South American triumvirate dragon, the more likely they are to put the ball in the back of that net because they are just that good. Once they are on it, there is no defense in the world that can stop them. There is just too much variance in skill and technique to be able to shut them down completely once they are combining with one another.
I think this will be a really good game. Atletico seem to have improved from last year, and I think they will fare better than they did against Barcelona when they met during the previous season. But again, this could be a disaster and Simeone could get shown up by a team that have superior players. If Atletico can just force Barcelona to play their own game, and they keep things tight and take the excitement out of the game, it could play into their hands. What nobody wants is for this to be a bloodbath. It will very well happen if the trio are not stopped and are allowed to do as they please.
HH
