We all know who Manzano is; A second choice for Atlético Madrid in terms of who they really wanted as a coach. I dont believe in him and his type of football and there are many who would have rather seen another coach instead of him at the hotseat, even at this early stage in the season. The problem for Atlético Madrid has been that since Luís Aragones’ days in the club, there hasn’t been a real character, who can form the team, into something impressive. It is however, in terms of player quality, always strange that this team doesn’t perform. And you could feel a type of ‘hard-done by’ mentality in Manzano’s voice after his team lost out 5-0 against Barça the other night:
“To beat Barcelona you need to be at their level or make your game of the century against them. Barça are both playing and repeating last seasons success.”
You could agree with him and disagree with him, depending on how you see it. What about believing in your own team instead? It can’t be a “shock” for Gregorio to see Barcelona play that good? Be better prepared is my tip, rather than charming your way into the hearts of culés. For all I know it could be a load of nonsense perpetrated by Manzano to ensure that he wouldn’t be plagued with questions as to why his own team performed so poorly.
“We have played 90% away from their penalty area and Barcelonas defence doesn´t give you many chances or oppurtunitys. The beginning of the game was poor, during fifteen minutes we let in two goals against us. We didn´t control the game and they liked that they could play their type of football”
I’ll give the man credit for his team trying to “play football the good way”, but before the game there was so much talk suggesting that Atlético were going to disturb this Barcelona, and these statements at the aftermath sound kind of strange. In all honesty, I put little stock in Atlético Madrid’s “system”, whereby firing coaches is the first thing they do. If they (actually) have this kind of mentality where they always are underdogs, then why act as if they are not? A little humility would serve some good for this team, which hasn’t won anything big for ages.
Going by history alone they are easily one of Spain’s biggest clubs, and in the city of Madrid they are adored by their fans. But why hire Manzano when he failed so totally with Sevilla before? If he can’t do it with Sevilla and their famous sporting director Monchi (who brings in quality players) then why would he be able to do it with Atletico? I can tell you that the hotseat at that Atlético bench isn’t a preferred option for coaches looking to make their name.
The running of a football club ultimately comes down to patience, unless your club is very rich,but that’s a different matter. Agüero’s absence is a moot point, since he had a poor final season at Atlético, even though he was appreciated by the fans. Now they’ve got Falcao and that should do, but clearly it’s not. It’s not even the scoreline of 5-0 that bothers me, it´s the apathetic attitude that followed, something that will doubtless peturb Atlético fans.
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