Atlético Madrid's late-season swoon continues with loss to Alavés

Atlético Madrid missed an opportunity to get one hand on fourth place as they completed a terrible week with a woeful defeat away at relegation-battling Deportivo Alavés at Mendizorroza. Alavés ran out 2-0 winners in a tie in which Atlético never got out of first gear.

The first goal of the game came from Alavés captain Carlos Benavídez as he rifled in a shot from the edge of the box into the bottom corner of Jan Oblak’s net. With the Colchoneros chasing the game, a late Alavés counter allowed Luis Rioja to produce a magnificent volley which left Oblak with no chance.

Here are four talking points from the game.

1. A terrible defensive record

For the first time this century, Atlético have conceded in 12 consecutive matches. It takes quite some doing to fail to keep a clean sheet over such a prolonged period, as is made clear by the fact that the last time it happened was when Atleti were on course for relegation to Segunda. Few ever thought it would be a record beaten with Diego Simeone in charge.

It speaks volumes about the current state of the Atlético defence, with Simeone so clearly unimpressed by what he was seeing that he opted to take off César Azpilicueta, Stefan Savić and Nahuel Molina as Atlético sought to get back into the game.

Part of the blame must also be shouldered by the goalkeeper, Jan Oblak. Over the last six LALIGA games before this one, the team had conceded 10 goals from just 6.96 xG. Across the last week, Oblak has conceded 4.22 more goals than expected goals would have suggested between Dortmund and Alavés. It’s clear that the Slovenian is not at his best, even if he is getting little protection from those in front of him.

The length of the run is also a worry because Diego Simeone seems to be none the wiser as to how to fix it. We’ve seen experiments with a back four, albeit incredibly short-lived, against Girona, we’ve seen major rotations across the three central defenders, we’ve seen different players on either wing, and there seems to be no sign of finding a way to defend more effectively.

2. A close eye on Alavés’ attack

There were some familiar faces amid the Alavés attack, though many Colchoneros watching may have been surprised to see that it was Giuliano Simeone, and not Samu Omorodion, who got the nod to start against Atlético. Simeone was making his first start for the club in LALIGA, having been playing a role from the bench in recent weeks after returning to fitness earlier this year.

Playing against his father’s team for the first time, Simeone was deployed on the left of attack to support Kike García as the team’s number nine and Luis García Plaza put a lot of the team’s offensive approach down that side with great success. He recorded the highest number of completed dribbles of any player in the game with two, and was a constant nuisance with 14 duels, even if he did end up losing 10 of them.

Photo by CESAR MANSO/AFP via Getty Images

There was a real sense of relief that Alavés did not turn to Samu Omorodion. It seemed to be more of a gentlemen’s agreement than a tactical decision from García Plaza, given that Omorodion has not been benched and not brought into the action in any game since early January. It was good news for Atleti too, who looked stretched even without his pace in behind which saw him already score against the club earlier in the season for Granada.

Atleti have two bright attacking talents operating together at Mendizorroza, and Simeone’s involvement in the opening goal showed what he is capable of, but it’s a shame that the ones wearing the Atlético badge weren’t inspired by their younger counterparts.

3. Ángel Correa’s chance to stake a claim

Given the poor form of Álvaro Morata which was exemplified by his terrible miss in Dortmund, it was logical that Diego Simeone would give a new opportunity to Ángel Correa. In only his 12th start this season, the Argentine was looking to add to his goals against Girona and Dortmund in the last week to cement himself a spot back in the coach’s thinking. It didn’t quite work out, however.

The diminutive forward had little service to work with, recording only five touches in the opposition box despite the wealth of possession, but he failed to create much with what he did have. His best moment came with a powerful low shot from the edge of the box on 82 minutes, but Antonio Sivera had no problem stopping it.

Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images

Correa worked hard but struggled with the low block of Alavés and a very physical defence. Instead, he moved wide to find space but had little impact, none of his six attempted crosses finding their targets.

Simeone now has an issue here as the team have failed to score in four of the last 10 matches, three of those being away from home. Antoine Griezmann looks tired, Morata is out of form, Memphis Depay is injured yet again and Ángel Correa has shown again that he is more inconsistent than anything else.

4. Alavés targeting Nahuel Molina

The issues which Atlético have had down their right flank have been no secret of late, and Alavés themselves looked to target that point very specifically. Nahuel Molina has been in a run of terrible form and the Vitoria-based side were going after him on every occasion.

In fact, Opta’s stats, as shared by the superb Atlético Stats account, showed that in the first half over half of Alavés’ attacks came down Atlético’s right. With Molina supported by Stefan Savić, who was far from confidence inspiring either, it created a nightmare cocktail for Atlético who found themselves panicked every time the ball came down that flank.

It’s evident that Atlético Madrid have a problem here, and unfortunately for Diego Simeone, he can’t always have Marcos Llorente available to step in and be a makeshift right-wing-back to replace Molina. It’s a position which requires an immediate solution this summer but is one where Atlético have struggled in recent years.

If Alavés were capable of creating a great deal of offensive threat by going down that wing, the likes of Nico Williams next weekend could have a field day. If there’s one problem that will be giving Cholo a headache over the next week before taking on Athletic, it will be that one.