Pablo Barrios and the Next Pablo Barrios

Two thoughts on youngsters following a win at Real Valladolid

Atletico Madrid ultimately took all three points from a rainy, Monday night game at the Metropolitano, although they made it a bit harder on themselves than necessary. By conceding two goals from two dangerous set-pieces (including a penalty), Atleti left fans feeling a bit frustrated following what was actually a solid performance. Some thoughts:

Pablo Barrios in a more advanced role: Once the line-ups were announced, the number one thing I was looking for was how Pablo Barrios would fare in a more advanced role. With Rodrigo De Paul recovering from injury and Koke back in the line-up, Barrios was positioned to be the creative engine in midfield - unshackled from the number six role he has been used in for most of the season.

A common narrative I hear from Atletico fans is that the club needs a “true” defensive midfielder to allow Barrios to demonstrate his abilities higher up the pitch. While I agree he does not have all the attributes of a defensive midfielder, he had done so well in the holding role and so little in terms of goals and assists (admittedly because he had little opportunity in that role) that I had some doubts that he would be significantly better further up.

Well, if yesterday’s match was any indication, everyone was right and my doubts were unfounded. Barrios was excellent as an “attacking eight.” Before reading any more, watch his highlights compiled by

Saint Keeks

here .

It was clear at first that he was asked to do pretty much exactly what Rodrigo De Paul does - drift wide and make line-breaking passes and put balls over the top. This created Giuliano’s go-ahead goal in the first half as Barrios placed a through-ball over the top to get Simeone behind the defense. He played a couple more balls along this same line which opened up the defense.

As the game went on (at least until the hour mark when substitutions moved him back to a holding role) Barrios ventured forward more than De Paul typically does and found more ways to create. A lovely combination play with Llorente and Simeone in the 47’ took him to the base line where he cut the ball back, creating a dangerous chance. He immediately followed this by placing an in-swinger directly on Griezmann’s forehead. He also played an excellent short through-ball from the edge of the box to get Llorente to the base line in 58’.

My only question now is how Barrios, De Paul, and any creative players added this summer will split responsibilities and minutes on the pitch.

Integration of young players: Barrios is the most recent player to go from the Atleti Academy to a first team regular. How will they find the next one?

Another call you will hear coming from the fan base lately is to integrate some of the B team players before the end of the season. Undoubtedly, one of the best things that could happen in the remaining games is to uncover that one of the young players is ready for the big stage and could save the club from spending on their position this summer.

But I don’t get the impression that Diego Simeone feels any of those prospective players are ready to make the jump. Yesterday’s squad list included Omar Janneh, while the previous two included Rayane Belaid. Adrian Nino was included, and played, back in January, while Javi Serrano and Ilias Kostis did so earlier in the year,

The latter two were on the fringes of being useful to the first team early in the year, but seem to have fallen away from that possibility. Focusing on the attacking players mentioned (Nino, Rayane, and Janneh) the fact that Simeone is changing who dresses for first team games indicates to me that the manager is using this more as a reward for good performances and a chance to get acclimated to the game-day routine more than a real opportunity to see the pitch. If he believed any of them were ready to make the jump, he would bring them along consistently. It is unlikely he is changing his mind this often as to which player is actually closest to breaking through.

Additionally, with only Laliga games on the schedule for the time being, there are not many minutes to go around. If El Cholo wants to get minutes for players like Lemar (who impressed), Molina, and Reinildo (who didn’t see the pitch last night) it is hard to see where minutes for the youth players will come from. Correa’s return from suspension will leave even fewer minutes up for grabs.

Granted, Nino did play for 11’ in the January loss at Leganes, but I interpreted that as Simeone desperately throwing every offensive player on the pitch to try to salvage the result, more than a planned integration. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a couple of 10’ cameos for one or two of these youngsters, but wouldn’t expect more than that (not that I think they shouldn’t, just reading the tea leaves).