The squad led by Diego Simeone had a season below everyone’s expectations. Despite this, Atlético finished third place in La Liga. With a good squad, Atlético has a few players with top of the class performances in their respective positions. To understand their individual impact to the team, we present the average ratings of the players in a Back 4 and in a Back 5 since the team used both types of defense. In addition, this players must meet the necessary minutes requirement to be considered (minimum 450 minutes played in the season in a type of predefined defense: Back 4 or Back 5).
Atlético’s eleven with the most minutes played this season.
Atléticos’s players in a Back 4 Defense – La Liga (Minimum 450 minutes played in this competition).
Star Player:
- A. Griezmann (CF) – 8.91 & 8.82
With the highest average rating in this squad, Atlético’s Centre-Foward – Griezmann – was one of the main reasons for the positive results archived this season. Atlético’s dynamics require Griezmann to function properly because of his enormous consistency in the defensive end in addition to the relevent presence in intermediate (building) process and in the final third.
Other Key Players:
- N. Molina (WB & FB) – 7.22 & 7.06
- M. Hermoso (CB) – 7.11 & 7.37
With a few players having great seasons, we need emphasise the average rating obtained by Molina in his first season in an Atlético shirt and in two different positions: Full-Back (FB) and Wing-Back (WB).
Additional information regarding the team (La Liga – Back 5).
With more positive results at home than away (13 Home Wins & 10 Away Wins), it is possible to consider Atlético a stronger team at home than away. Besides that, the positive goal difference highlights the ability to score goals (1,84 goals per game) with a good defensive steup (0,87 goals per game).
Atlético’s eleven and subs with the most minutes played in the Champions League (Minimum 130 minutes played in this competition – Back 5).
With a squad with immense potential, Atlético finished last in its group in the Champions League. When playing in a Back 5, Witsel had incredible performances. In addition to that, A, Griezmann and J. Oblak were also key pieces and played really well in this setup.
Atlético’s players in a Back 4 Defense – Champions League (Minimum 130 minutes played in this competition).
In the 2022-2023 Season, Atlético used the Back 4 a few times. Nevertheless, some of their players had more than 130 minutes in this type of defense (in the Champions League). From the group of players present in this graphic, we can see that Reinildo and Carrasco were the players that obtained average ratings in the range of only the best players in the competition.
Position most in need of strengthening:
- WB
Looking at Atlético Madrid in a Back 5 setup, the Wing-Back position clearly lacks depht. To reach far in the European Competiton and in La Liga, Atlético needs to strengthen their squad since they lack the squad rotation to even compete with Real Madrid and Barça.
Meaning of the used abbreviations:
- G – Games
- W – Wins
- D – Draws
- L – Loses
- P – Points
- GS – Goals Scored
- GA – Goals Against
- GD – Goal Diference
- HW – Home Wins
- AW – Away Wins
Data from FBref.