Atletico Madrid’s historically bad goal-scoring start to a season is a huge worry for everyone at the Wanda Metropolitano – and the surprise answer to the conundrum might just be Chelsea’s Olivier Giroud.
Last Friday’s 0-0 draw at Villarreal means Diego Simeone's side have not scored at all over their last five hours of play, and just 16 goals in first 16 La Liga games is their worst-ever record at this point across 83 Primera Division seasons.
Atletico had 18 shots over the 90 goalless minutes at the Estadio de la Ceramica, but just three were on target, and Villarreal goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo barely made a save against his former side.
Atlético Madrid have not won a match since November 10th. pic.twitter.com/ZmDmo7UlHP
— Colchoneros (@ElResurreccion) December 6, 2019
“It is normal that a team which creates so many chances, and does not take them, gets nervous,” Simeone said afterwards. “More nerves means less precision, so we need to relax. It will come. We had the better chances today. We need to win a game, and then we can take it from there.”
Joao Felix was the busiest rojiblanco threat against Villarreal, with nine attempts at goal, and he was pretty unfortunate with a low 20-yard skidder which hit the post early doors. The 19 year-old Portuguese kept going even as the ball wouldn’t go in for him, setting up late chances for teammates Koke and Renan Lodi. Meanwhile, striker partner Alvaro Morata seemed to have slumped into another of his periodical low moments.
“The team is trying, but we are having no luck in front of goal,” said Atletico captain Koke on Friday evening. “We need more precision or I don’t know what…. To win games you need to score goals. The team defends well, gives everything, but we all need to be more accurate – the forwards, midfielders, defenders…”
LAST NIGHT’S SOUNDBITES
Diego Simeone: “When we calm down our anxiety, we’ll be more precise.”
“I’m worried about getting results, once we do that then we’ll look at the table.”
“It’s normal that when results don’t come, you make chances but don’t convert.”#LLL
⚽️ pic.twitter.com/dCQedVLgRC— La Liga Lowdown ⚽️ (@LaLigaLowdown) December 7, 2019
Morata is Atletico’s top scorer so far this season with seven in all competitions – six of which came in a purple patch of seven consecutive games scoring for club and country in October / November. Either side of that the moody 27-year-old has just one in his other 11 Atletico appearances this term.
Behind Morata comes Joao Felix with three goals, after the €126 million summer signing missed a chunk of games through injury as he settles into a new league and new country. The currently injured Diego Costa has two goals all season, as do midfielders Vitolo and Thomas Partey.
After victories in their first three LaLiga games of 2019/20, Atletico have won just three more of the next 13, and currently, sit sixth in the table and realistically out of the title race. Even assuming their form picks up they are facing into a battle for Champions League qualification against Sevilla, Valencia, Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad.
Defeats at Bayer Leverkusen and Juventus in their last two Champions League group games also means that Simeone’s side need a win at home to Lokomotiv Moscow at the Wanda on Wednesday night to ensure qualification to the last 16. In theory, that should not be a problem, but as Koke says “to win games you need to score goals”.
Tammy Abraham has now scored as many Premier League goals in his first season for Chelsea as Álvaro Morata managed in his debut campaign.
Morata: 31 games, 11 goals
Tammy: 14 games, 11 goalsOne of them cost £60m… pic.twitter.com/sfP38Mldai
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) December 4, 2019
Amid all this, it is no surprise that Atletico have been linked with signing a striker in the January window. Spanish reports have suggested that long-term target Edinson Cavani would be open to leaving the Paris Saint Germain bench, although meeting his wages would be an issue. Previous interest in Lautaro Martinez looks doomed given Inter Milan would now want huge money. Getting last summer’s target Rodrigo Moreno out of Valencia looks impossible mid-season, while any approach for Leipzig’s in-form Timo Werner would be reliant on more magical wheeling and dealing by Atletico’s board next year.
Some space could conceivably be freed up under Atletico’s LaLiga mandated budget limit if Costa finally takes up a much talked about offer to end his career in China. But then there is how to best spend the limited money available.
There is an argument that Chelsea’s Olivier Giroud – often linked with Atletico through recent years – could be a very useful short-term bet. Giroud is an ideal Simeone type player who could offer more physicality to unruffle opposition defences and provide another aerial threat at set-pieces. Most importantly he could use his sometimes underrated football intelligence to link well with Joao Felix and other runners coming from midfield like Angel Correa or Saul Niguez, as he does for France with Antoine Griezmann and Paul Pogba.
The 33-year-old Giroud has only 191 minutes in the Premier League so far this season, with Chelsea boss Frank Lampard clearly preferring younger, more mobile options. So he could be fresh and eager to get some games at a high level elsewhere ahead of the Euro finals next summer. He’d also be relatively cheap as his current contract ends in June.
Simeone and Koke are correct in that once someone finally scores – probably against already eliminated Lokomotiv – then confidence will start to return. But they still do need someone to bring calmness and intelligence to their attack, an experienced pivot to help Joao Felix to settle in, and a worthy rival to keep Morata on his toes.
