To emulate Simeone’s cholismo 4-4-2, we start with a positive mentality.
I did not use a cautious or even defensive mentality because in the out of possession instruction I already selected a mid-block with a standard defensive line which could be even switched to a lower against stronger opponents.
In the possession phase, the attacking width is fairly narrow because Atletico often tries to attack from central areas, considering also the fact that the two wide midfielders Koke and Arda Turan always tuck inside, while only the two wing-backs Juanfran and Filipe Luis provide width when they push forward into the opponent’s half. For this reason, I instructed them to overlap left and right.
About passing style and tempo, Atletico plays a more direct style so I chose a slightly more direct passing style with a higher tempo that is one of cholismo main features. Pass into space is also a very important instruction because it allows our team to exploit the spaces between the opponent’s midfield and defensive lines.
Atletico did not play a possession based game (tikitaka style) when attacking and wingers like Arda Turan were free to try to dribble past their direct opponent in 1vs1 situation, so I selected run into defense. Crosses are low.
Atletico was a very disciplined team tactically so I selected to be more disciplined.
In the transition phase, Atletico did not try gegenpressing , they pressed the opponent at times, not always, so there is no “6 seconds high pressing rule” to apply here. If you want your team to be even more careful in this phase, you can add the instruction regroup, as I did for this tactic, but you can also remove it.
When Atletico win the ball back, they launch fast counterattacks, for this reason the instruction counter is mandatory.
The goalkeeper has the instruction to pass the ball to the wing-backs to build the play because the two central defenders Miranda and Godin had only defensive tasks.
As said before, in the non possession phase, Atletico defended with a mid-block that could even become a low-block in the last minutes of a difficult match where the colchoneros were able to frustrate all opponent’s attempts. The defensive line is standard but as said before, it can be switched to lower too.
Atletico’s tactic mean feature was pressing, but since we use a mid-block, the trigger press is more often, not much more often and I did not select the instruction to prevent gk short distribution because our players don’t press so high. Other instructions are: get stuck in (but feel free to remove it when you see that you are getting too many yellow or red cards), drop off more, trap outside (to use the touchline as an additional defender, this helps to replicate exactly Atletico wide pressing style) and stop crosses.
With this tactic I won the treble (La Liga with 106 pts, Spanish Cup, Champions League), scored a lot, 132 goals in La Liga (best attack) and allowed only 33 goals (best defense).
Tactic Overview
In possession
In transition
Out of possession
La Liga Stats
Discussion: Simeone's 4-4-2 Atleti 2013-14 // Cholismo MASTERCLASS
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