Atletico Madrid eek out nervy win over struggling Alavesº

Atletico Madrid 1-0 Alaves

Between them, Atletico Madrid and Alaves had just three wins between them in their last 10 La Liga outings, somewhat nullifying good runs before December.

Starting off at a fairly pleasant tempo, Atletico spent the opening 15 minutes in the Alaves half, with Thiago Almada and Pablo Barrios finding pockets of space in midfield – an early Giuliano Simeone stinger put Antonio Sivera to the test down low. Perhaps the game was more significant for Almada than anyone else in the Atletico side, spending the week being linked to an exit. If he is frustrated by that, it has not been hidden from the press.

TODAY'S XI – ALMADA STARTS! pic.twitter.com/xOW2Let60o

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The murmurs began to spread towards the half hour mark though, as Alaves expertly took the sting out of the Metropolitano, interrupting Atletico’s moves just before the opportunity to play the final pass appeared. Even if their own sequences of play were short-lived and generally afforded them little territory, Atletico were usually required to start from scratch when they did get the ball back.

With the Metropolitano increasingly tetchy, Carlos Vicente picked out Jon Guridi at the far post with Alaves’ best move of the game in stoppage time, but the Basque midfielder was a few inches short of a proper connection. Almost in payment for the opportunity, Los Babazorros allowed Atletico a final counter-attack before the break, with Thiago Almada denied twice, and Giuliano Simeone a third time by heroic blocks in the six-yard box. Simeone junior, by far the most impressive of Atletico’s first half, had done his utmost to drag Atletico into the lead.

Risk-averse Atletico grind through

Hence why it was likely a considerable relief for Diego Simeone that Atletico began to find the openings that had been so hard to come by in the first five minutes of the second period. Giuliano fired a ball across the six-yard box that Alexander Sorloth was a split second late to. More to his taste, a minute later, Barrios lofted a ball from the right onto the penalty spot, where Sorloth leapt majesticly, and put all the power on an accurate header that kissed the inside of the post to give Atletico the lead.

With Atletico no longer in need to pursue a lead, winning the ball back high up suddenly meant a relatively fair fight, as Chacho Coudet left more players up field. That was the case just before the hour-mark, when Barrios nicked the ball back, drove towards the D of the box past two players, and slipped the ball left to Almada. On his weaker left foot, he couldn’t find a sweet connection with the ball, Sivera firmly behind his shot. That turned out to be his last kick of the game, as Simeone removed him in favour of Alex Baena. Julian Alvarez too, who was sloppy on the ball, taken off again on the hour-mark for Antoine Griezmann. His wait for a Liga goal, dating back nine games to the first of November, drags on.

Coudet, who had made four changes of his own before the 70-minute mark, were doing their best to alter the pattern of the game, but Baena drove inside and cracked the post with a curling, postcard effort instead. To Coudet’s credit, those changes did briefly work, with a spell of possession in Atletico’s half, albeit without penetration, in a role reversal of the first period.

Atletico did not have have space and time on the ball in the Alaves half, but time and again passed up chances to play the incisive pass. The message from Simeone was clear, with Robin Le Normand and Nahuel Molina on for Johnny Cardoso and Sorloth – we hold what we have.

The Metropolitano were less keen on that approach, and had Lucas Boye connected cleanly with a header from five yards out, with the goal gaping, the odd irritated whistle would have become a waterfall of wrath.

Simeone will argue his approach secured the desired result, but the performance did little to dispell the idea that Atletico will struggle to compete for more than third place this season. That will be little consolation for Alaves, who slip into the relegation zone for the first time this season. Coudet’s side performed well until the goal, at which point they were penalised for their dramatic lack of incision going forward.

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