Atletico Madrid have a problem, or so the numbers suggest, for they are some way off of their title-winning form of 2013/14. Since Diego Simeone has been coaching the Rojiblancos they have never been as worse off at this stage of the season than they are now.Twenty one points out of a possible 33 compares to 30 in the campaign that Atleti won LaLiga and 28 in 2012/13. Strangely, the team currently have the second highest number of goals scored (25), only being surpassed by the 28 from their LaLiga winning season of 2013/14.
Only during 2015/16 had they conceded fewer goals than at this point so despite great defensive and attacking stats, this is not reflected in the scorelines. Atletico have failed to win five of the eleven matches played in the league, four of them away from the Estadio Vicente Calderon. Draws against Alaves, Leganes and Barcelona as well as losses to Sevilla and Real Sociedad have seen the Rojiblanocs drop twelve points in eleven games - too many to claim the title this season. Simeone himself admitted as much after the match against La Real. For now they are third, but if Villarreal and Sevilla win, Atleti would drop to fifth place.
Up next ... Real Madrid.Atletico Madrid back to the Spanish capital with a defeat this Saturday, but the San Sebastian side is not the first to cause Los Rojiblancos a travel headache this campaign. Of the six LaLiga matches Los Colchoneros have played away from the Estadio Vicente Calderon so far, they have only tasted victory in two of them - in Vigo and in Valencia - while their last away game of last season was also costly as their 2-1 defeat at Levante ended their title hopes in the penultimate weekend of the 2015/16 campaign. So is it time to panic at Atletico HQ, or is this simply a blip? Well, so far this season Diego Simeone's side have taken just eight points away from home out of a potential 18.
At this rate, they would finish the season with 25 away league points, a far lower away points total than those secured in the Argentine coach's previous seasons - 32 in 2012/13, 41 in 2013/14, 31 in 2014/15 and 40 in 2015/16. If they are serious about winning LaLiga then that would, of course, be a concern, although it should be noted that Los Rojiblancos' remaining 13 away league matches are unlikely to be as difficult on average as their opening half a dozen. With the exception of Leganes' Estadio Butarque, all of the stadiums Atleti have visited so far have hosted European football as recently as 2014, so they have already been able to get some of the most challenging away fixtures of the year out of the way.
They won't have to visit the Camp Nou, the Estadio Sanchez Pizjuan, the Estadio Mestalla, Estadio Balaidos or Estadio Anoeta again before the end of the league campaign, whereas Barcelona and Real Madrid must each still visit some of those historically difficult venues. Yet the fact they've had some tough away trips won't completely ease the concerns of Atletico fans, as they'll be aware that there has not been a single fully convincing away performance since the season began, even in the matches they've won. Los Rojiblancos may have defeated Celta Vigo 4-0 and Valencia 2-0, but they were far from impressive in either of those first halves, while the performances against Barcelona, Sevilla and Real Sociedad did not merit anything more than Atletico received.
Then in Leganes, although Atletico were the better side and probably should have edged it, the display against the LaLiga newcomers was nowhere near the level one would expect from a title challenger. Even in the Champions League, the Spanish side may have won 1-0 away at PSV Eindhoven and at Rostov, but they were especially lucky in the Holland trip, while they only defeated the Russians by the skin of their chattering teeth on that cold October night. So Simeone can take some encouragement from the fact that Atletico have had some tough away fixtures so far. Yet, as he rightly pointed out at Anoeta, his side are struggling on the road, and that could be what ultimately costs them the league title.
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