caughtoffside
·16 November 2023
caughtoffside
·16 November 2023
Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone has no qualms upsetting a few people on his war path to glory, and this week the Premier League has come under fire from the combustible Argentine. One of his former players has ‘corrected him’ though.
Earlier in the week, Simeone claimed that he felt if he could come close to replicating the offensive production in the Premier League, he would stand a good chance of winning it, because in his words, ‘nobody defends’.
Manchester City star Rodri Hernandez knows Simeone well having spent a year working under him before heading to the Etihad, but he wasn’t in agreement with his former coach.
“Here, I disagree with Diego. But I’ll also tell you that he may be right because not all teams play in the same way. I play in a team that I guarantee you, they defend for 90 minutes. In all games. So it is not my case. ”
“But hey, maybe other teams do play more one-on-one and can leave more space, but it is a league that I think is quite hard, defensive and tough,” Rodri told Cadena SER, via Football Espana.
There is no doubt that the disparity of resources in La Liga tempts many teams into defending deeper and focusing on organisation, rather than necessarily their own strengths against the big three. However Pep Guardiola would likely back his midfielder up that he faces no shortage of low blocks at the Etihad too.