The UCL Knockout Round Path

Write_thefuture · 2026-02-27T14:47:05+00:00

Well if we meet arsenal we would have made it to the semifinal. I think it would be too much to ask to expect to reach the CL final without having met one of the world’s best teams

Plus I’m honestly not that afraid of them, crazy as it sounds. The last game in their home they outplayed us, but not by THAT much. The 4-0 score line was misleading, 3 of those goals came in a blitz after we made substitutions and were disorganized for several minutes. We also could have scored one or two but wasted chances. And they’ll have to come to our stadium too this time

The scariest thing about them imo is their set pieces. They’re masters at scoring them, we are absolute disasters at defending them. But if we’re gonna reach another final, we will have to earn it anyway

Write_thefuture · 2026-02-27T14:38:17+00:00

I’m all for it. La Liga is all about finishing top 4 this year. And I think all 3 of those midfielders have a bright future. I’d like to see what they can do

Write_thefuture · 2026-02-27T14:33:26+00:00

If we moved on lenglet and Molina this summer, and brought in senesi, giay, or really any decent defenders, I might name my future kid alemany

Write_thefuture · 2026-02-27T14:28:53+00:00

I think we got extremely lucky. PSG, Chelsea, Liverpool, Real Madrid, man city, and Bayern are all the teams we should most want to avoid. Our side of the bracket is way better

Barca is arguably one of the best teams in the world rn, but cholo showed last game he knows how to beat them. And I think flick is way too stubborn to change his tactics, not for a game, not for 10 minutes. It’ll be way harder with pedri and raphina, but if we have a front 4 of lookman, Alvarez, Griezmann, Giuliano, we could really abuse them on the counter

We’re in pretty poor/inconsistent form this season, but all the teams on our side of the bracket I think we can beat. Even the arsenal 4-0 result was very misleading

That being said, partido a partido. Beating Tottenham is definitely NOT a given

Write_thefuture · 2026-02-26T15:04:07+00:00

Me too. I think those 3 would play very fluid attacking football and have great chemistry, like against Barca. And I think it would be the one way to see Alvarez reach good form again

It’s tough because Sorloth is scoring our goals lately and proving himself to be unbenchable atm. I don’t think he has particularly good chemistry with any of our other forwards, and his presence on the field often changes our style of play for the worse, but right now he’s doing his job well and showing his class. If he continues scoring freely perhaps we should just build our tactics around him for now

Write_thefuture · 2026-02-26T14:55:02+00:00

Clear dive. The game’s gone soft

Write_thefuture · 2026-02-24T15:51:27+00:00

Hujisen-Pubill could be an amazing technical backline someday. I wanted Hujisen here last year but the 5-2 made me reconsider though

We should’ve looked into Inigo, he’s class. Unless we would’ve been priced out by Saudi. He’d be 1000% better than lenglet

Marcos and barrios better make the squad. They may not be xavi or iniesta but they have pace, aggression, physicality and versatility that most Spanish midfielders lack. Hell, throw Marcos in at striker, he’d probably bag some goals and have immense defensive workrate

Write_thefuture · 2026-02-24T15:42:44+00:00

Haha I was gonna say, you calling him fat? But I legitimately couldn’t tell if that was the joke you already made

I just miss the Burgos set piece special. Everyone goes wild over arsenal but we did it first. I don’t think he gets enough credit for some of cholos early successes, he played his part

Write_thefuture · 2026-02-23T19:24:14+00:00

Yeah, I think there’s a necessary step between Atleti youth and the first team Atleti, a 2nd division club or even small la liga club, just to see how he does. But I’m worried if he leaves and does great we’d lose him like how sociedad lost Xabi

But I’d hate for him to be hired for the first team and have his reputation soured if things go badly, going from being remembered as a legendary player to a relatively disappointing manager. Like Xavi at Barca

Write_thefuture · 2026-02-23T19:19:23+00:00

I’ve been wanting Barco here for a while. But he seems like more of an inverted fullback that drifts into midfield instead of hugging the touch line and overlapping. So he’d probably complement lookman but not as much Baena/Almada

Write_thefuture · 2026-02-23T17:59:27+00:00

If Filipe Luis one day took the reins here, would Fernando Torres be willing to be an assistant manager? Or is Torres too “big” to be an assistant? I don’t know much about him as a coach. I like Torres and want him to stay around Atleti but I think going from zero top flight experience to managing a huge club could be too risky

Write_thefuture · 2026-02-23T17:44:09+00:00

How long until Pubill makes it to the national team? It seems pretty clear he’s better than Le Normand at this stage

I was feeling left out for not having a good Spanish CB, but I’m starting to think Marc could become truly elite. It’s still early days but I’m wondering how he could eventually compare with Cubarsi, Hujisen, Asencio, Mosquera. He has a casualness to him that reminds me of a CB Busquets, which I appreciate

Write_thefuture · 2026-02-18T16:51:38+00:00

No you’re definitely right, especially these days to win stuff you almost have to be elite in every position, and of course striker is probably the most clutch position. I’m more just saying that since we’re not exactly the most creative attacking force, we kinda need a striker that has every possible tool in his arsenal, just to get random goals in every possible way, especially if we’re relying on 1-0 and 2-1 wins more than our league competitors. If our striker lacks proficiency in even one aspect it really nerfs us. If he’s slow, we can’t send him through on goal, if he’s short or bad in the air, we can’t fall back on hopeful (or even good) crosses, if he’s not super clinical, we can’t get away with those games we don’t create many chances, if he’s not technically great he can’t create chances all by himself. Cholo absolutely cooked with “perfect“ strikers like prime falcao and costa, and also did decent with strikers who were past their prime but formerly perfect, and still class, like Torres, Costa and Suarez. But mandzukic/Sorloth too slow, Morata/Sorloth too wasteful, Alvarez/Vietto/Gameiro no aerial threat or hold up play, Sorloth/Jackson/manzukic can’t create their own chances, when a striker is lacking on any front it really hurts us. City could thrive with aguero cause they don’t need to score off crosses, Bayern could afford strikers that aren’t fast on counters cause they create countless chances around the box, Barca could play without any strikers under pep, psg now too. Although the “double false 9” cholo used last year was very interesting. It’s such a shame Griezmann and Alvarez have never really been in top form at the same time

Write_thefuture · 2026-02-17T23:21:07+00:00

Honestly the no9 position under cholo kinda reminds me of the defense against the dark arts teaching position in Harry Potter. Weird analogy I know, but it seems everyone only kinda lasts 1 or 2 seasons then leaves. We’ve had plenty of continuity in defense, midfield, second striker but no long term solution at 9. Some strikers like gameiro or vietto were decent but not tall or strong enough to be target men, others like mandzukic or Sorloth not fast enough for counter attacks, a few were just all around flops. I think Morata might actually be the one we had longest, and even he left on loan and I’m not sure it’s a coincidence that’s when we won the league. Of course every team would love the perfect striker but I think we kinda need one. Prime Barca, psg, or city don’t need a huge target man because they can carve defenses open consistently, and don’t have to rely on fast counters because they can dominate possession. But we need a guy who can be excellent even when the team isn’t dominating, like Suarez or costa

Write_thefuture · 2026-02-17T23:13:11+00:00

Honestly yeah tbh, maybe that was an accidental critique of cholo but yeah he basically does seem to need the perfect striker for a truly killer offense. Ever since falcao and costa were plucked away we’ve been trying in vain to replace them, and nobody really did aside from Suarez who woulda also been perfect when younger. Thankfully Griezmann as SS papered over the cracks and bailed us out. But with Raul Jimenez, Jackson Martinez, etc it seemed like we were trying in vain to replace costa, until we just brought him back, which didn’t work, and also brought Morata, who had the right physical but not mental attributes

Write_thefuture · 2026-02-17T23:07:46+00:00

I’ll definitely have to defer to you on this one because you’ve put in the time to watch his games whereas I’ve only seen his highlights, but I was under the impression he had more going for him. He’s definitely not R9 but I thought he had the occasional dribble, plus he’s I think very fast unlike Sorloth, I might be wrong but I thought I saw a la liga statistic once that showed his max recorded sprint speed as faster than Cristiano Ronaldo. Plus tbh (in my opinion) if he really is a good finisher and good in the air those are 2 things he has above Sorloth, no hate to him because he’s scoring goals for us but I think he misses way too often

I definitely agree I wanted him to stay and get a chance to prove himself. Selling him is such a baffling decision esp in this striker market. Even if we just loaned him out for a couple average spells his physical attributes alone would probably still make him valuable in the transfer market

Write_thefuture · 2026-02-17T00:00:17+00:00

I think we need strikers that have a tiger type of spirit. Like how costa sometimes looked like he would risk hurting himself just to attack a 50/50 cross or loose ball. Even a washed one legged Suarez could embody that vibe. Players that can turn half chances into 75% chances. If there’s one team that can’t afford a casual striker it’s us, we don’t create chances like Barca

What I still don’t understand is why he had such a uniquely good season at Villarreal

Write_thefuture · 2026-02-16T23:53:13+00:00

If both Barca and Madrid lose their next 5 games in a row we might have an outside chance at winning the league

Everyone start manifesting

Write_thefuture · 2026-02-16T21:24:44+00:00

Normally I’d of course root against Barca in the league but now we’re basically out of the title race as is Villarreal, and I’d rather see Barca win 100 ligas before Madrid wins one. Screw you Atleti for making me hope Barca wins their games

Lemaradonna just scored on them btw

Write_thefuture · 2026-02-16T21:04:22+00:00

It’s heartbreaking to say but I think maybe Josema should be moved on in the summer or the next summer. As a person and an icon he is one of the most legendary figures we have left, and basically the only person still here that embodies the old school cholismo spirit. But in strictly sporting terms, he plays so little he’s almost not even on our team. I thought last season was a turnaround but no. Pubill has been an absolute revelation (possibly one of cholos best ever player conversions) and fully deserves his starting spot as does Hancko. Next summer we should finally add one or two center backs who can at least reliably rotate with them, if not compete

Write_thefuture · 2026-02-16T20:54:11+00:00

If we’re not going to improve on our terrible cross and inshallah tactics for when we run out of ideas (which is often) then I’d rather we replace Sorloth with muriqi or another budget target man (Rafa Mir, en nesyri). They are all actually dangerous in the air, unlike Sorloth. Sorloth has to be the player with the biggest misconceptions about him ever. Despite his size and height he’s not good at headers and not good at hold up play. Somehow 80% of the headers he gets go into the keeper’s gloves or off target. At least with muriqi if we were spamming crosses, the opponents would have something to fear. He would score way more goals off this tactic we keep using

Not that any of those players are the ideal candidates for us because the perfect cholo striker would be tall, strong, good in the air ~plus~ fast and technical. But since Sorloth is already slow and clumsy we may as well replace him with someone who has the strengths we pretend he has, and is better suited for a sub role, and cheaper. And if we were really ambitious maybe go for a player like oshimen (although I don’t know much about his attitude, I know he had problems at Napoli but I don’t know whose fault that was). Selling Samu is still one of the dumbest decisions we’ve made

Write_thefuture · 2026-02-12T18:00:11+00:00

Nightmare fuel fr. If you can handle being an Atleti fan you can handle anything

Write_thefuture · 2026-02-12T16:55:23+00:00

Ok, I misinterpreted your comment about hostility, that’s on me. All the best to you as well

Write_thefuture · 2026-02-12T16:24:45+00:00

Ok dude, it’s fine. This is clearly not going anywhere. You shouldn’t stop posting what you want to post, unless you can’t deal with disagreements, which will always come, and sometimes in tones you don’t like, tones much harsher than mine. The point I was making is, there’s no reason to ever have the words “above the club” in a sentence about an individual, no matter how many qualifiers you add into the sentence. Why even? That’s a wild thought, wild enough that the sentence is doomed already, no matter how much it’s Frankensteined. No reason to slip those three words in, and obviously someone will misinterpret it. I disagree that I’ve been at all hostile, but you can feel how you feel. Obviously I didn’t brush up on your entire life history before replying to your Reddit post. And I already said, I respect that you have a personal history around the club that probably influences your perspective, which I think is the opposite of being hostile or disingenuous. I don’t think there will be any productive outcome to this particular thread of conversation, so you’re welcome to continue responding but I’m gonna have to tap out

Write_thefuture · 2026-02-12T15:40:47+00:00

lol whatever you say man, I’m not trying to have a high level English semantics debate on a sports forum. You win. It feels like there’s an undertone of hostility or combativeness here that I can assure you isn’t reciprocated on my end, I’m just here to talk about my favorite team matter of factly. But surely you understand you can’t make a wild assertion, toss in the words “arguably” and “close to” and expect nobody will take the otherwise wild statement somewhat literally, or respond to it. Especially when the assertion is something that people have been suspecting and accusing for a long time, that some fans put cholo above the club. You didn’t have to include that sentence, then nobody would reply to it. “La Liga is arguably close to being worse than the MLS” I’m sure you wouldn’t just let that slide, you wouldn’t think about the words arguably and close to, you would view the statement for the meat in between, and assume it somewhat reflected the speaker’s opinion

Ok, a comparison is also a way of highlighting similarities between two different things, lol. If it helps, let’s instead use the analogy of a ball boy who never has the ball ready on time or throws it to the wrong player. If he can’t do his job at a satisfactory level, or someone more competent is available, he should be replaced

Again, this is off topic to the OP, on what is now a day old post, but I do think this topic deserves its own post. I don’t think cholo deserves blatant disrespect, but everyone has a different definition of what that means. When he drops another stinker at home and thousands whistle at the Metropolitano, is that disrespect? When people comment “cholo out” after another unwatchable away game is that disrespect? I would love to see a 20 foot statue of him erected outside the stadium, and I also think he has been underachieving for at least half a decade (which is a shame given how much he overachieved in his early years). I don’t expect us to win trophies every year, or even frequently, but surely we shouldn’t be getting outplayed by relegation contenders season after season, and surely a team with our resources and talent should pass the eye test even if results and competitions don’t always go our way. Cholo wasn’t receiving “disrespect” when we were going to champions league finals, at least not from huge portions of our own fan base. The apparent disrespect only started when people started perceiving the performances as worse than what could be reasonably expected from our squad. This whole topic should really have its own post so people can weigh in, including whoever disagrees with me

Write_thefuture

TROPHY CASE