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Goalscoring Is Atletico Madrid's Biggest Area to Focus on in the New Liga Season

Mark Jones@@Mark_Jones86X.com LogoFeatured ColumnistAugust 11, 2016

Atletico de Madrid's new signing French forward Kevin Gameiro poses with his new jersey during his presentation at the Vicente Calderon stadium in Madrid on July 31, 2016. / AFP / GERARD JULIEN        (Photo credit should read GERARD JULIEN/AFP/Getty Images)
GERARD JULIEN/Getty Images

There have been two successive third-place finishes for Atletico Madrid in the past two La Liga seasons, but the second was a clear improvement on the first in all ways but one.

In 2014/15—the season following their unexpected title triumph—Diego Simeone’s side won 23 of their 38 matches, amassing 78 points as they never failed to seriously trouble Barcelona or Real Madrid, with the former ultimately winning the title and finishing 16 points ahead of the holders.

Then last season, those 23 wins became 28 and the 78 points became 88.

Atletico Madrid's French forward Antoine Griezmann (2ndL) reacts after missing a goal opportunity during the Spanish league football match FC Barcelona vs Club Atletico de Madrid at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona on January 30, 2016.   AFP PHOTO/ PAU B
PAU BARRENA/Getty Images

Atletico were in the title race right up until the penultimate weekend of the season, before losing out to Barcelona by three points. But by way of contrast, their points tally would have won the English Premier League comfortably, with a seven-point gap on unlikely champions Leicester City.

Curiously, though, despite gaining 10 more points than in the previous campaign, Atletico scored fewer league goals—63 in 2015/16 compared to 67 in 2014/15, and that is a trend that they can’t afford to continue.

Because it is in the sheer number of goals scored where Atletico repeatedly and unequivocally fall short of their two giant La Liga rivals.

Champions Barca managed 112 in the league last season, while second placed Real Madrid scored 110. In 2014/15 it was 110 and 118, respectively, dwarfing the total of Simeone’s side.

Atletico Madrid's Uruguayan defender Diego Godin (C) reacts after missing a goal opportunity during the Spanish league football match Club Atletico de Madrid vs RCD Espanyol at the Vicente Calderon stadium in Madrid on November 28, 2015.   AFP PHOTO/ GERA
GERARD JULIEN/Getty Images

The reasons behind the totals are fairly obvious and can be found in the names of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Suarez, Karim Benzema, Neymar and Gareth Bale. No one on Earth can compete with such striking talent, and Atletico have to compete with them both at home and in Europe.

Those six players are six reasons why Simeone has focused so much on improving his defence during his time in the Spanish capital. He knows that he can’t compete with the firepower of his two biggest rivals, and so he has to find other ways of beating them.

And although they fell well short in the goals-for column last season, Atletico were streets ahead in the goals-against one.

Their tally of just 18 goals conceded in 38 matches—less than one every two games—was frankly staggering, and it put Barca and Real’s totals of 29 and 34 goals conceded, respectively, to shame.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JULY 29:  Atletico de Madrid manager Diego Simeone speaks during the press conference after the 2016 International Champions Cup Australia match between Tottenham Hotspur and Atletico de Madrid at Melbourne Cricket Ground on July 29
Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

He knows that his team can defend, but it is that downturn in scoring goals that will worry Simeone, who saw his side score 77 times when they won the league in 2013/14—again, well down on their two main rivals, who both reached triple figures, but well up on the season just gone.

So with the net being found on fewer and fewer occasions in each of the last three campaigns, the Argentinian has been forced to act.

COSENZA, ITALY - AUGUST 06:  Nico Gaitan of Atletico de Madrid score his team's opening goal during a pre-season friendly match between FC Crotone and Club Atletico de Madrid at Stadio Comunale Gigi Marulla on August 6, 2016 in Cosenza, Italy.  (Photo by
Maurizio Lagana/Getty Images

In have come Kevin Gameiro and Nicolas Gaitan, the former having scored 29 times in all competitions in the previous season and the latter 11.

That doesn’t mean that 40 strikes are going to magically be added to Atletico’s total over the coming season as they go for glory in La Liga, the Champions League and the Copa del Rey, obviously, but what it does mean is that there is an increase of players who can turn 1-0 leads into 2-0 leads, thereby killing off matches and helping to seal three points long before potential late equalisers or even late winners.

There were a couple of occasions last season when that happened to Atletico, and who knows what would have become of the title race had those points been protected? October’s draw at Deportivo, December’s defeat at Malaga and March’s loss at Sporting Gijon particularly come to mind.

Atletico de Madrid's new signing French forward Kevin Gameiro poses during his presentation at the Vicente Calderon stadium in Madrid on July 31, 2016. / AFP / GERARD JULIEN        (Photo credit should read GERARD JULIEN/AFP/Getty Images)
GERARD JULIEN/Getty Images

The key for Simeone is integrating a new attacking threat into his side without losing any of the defensive solidity, but in Gameiro and Gaitan, he’s added players with experience who have almost 750 professional appearances between them. They’ll know how to help defend as a team.

Crucially, though, it is their attacking threat that Atletico fans should be excited about, with Gameiro in particular pretty much guaranteeing goals.

The Frenchman is “a striker in his prime” according to FourFourTwo’s Simon Harrison, who wrote:

With 16 goals in the league last season and another eight in the Europa League, Diego Simeone has secured the signature of a striker in his prime.

After unfortunately missing out on a place in Didier Deschamps’ France squad, the ex-Lorient man still has a point to prove and looks to be targeting a Champions League trophy. After knowing the feeling of lifting the Europa League for the last three years, few defenders will be up for stopping him experiencing that winning feeling once again.

Gameiro himself has already stated his belief that he and new partner Antoine Griezmann will score “a lot of goals together,” per Goal's Matthew Galea, and it is pretty tempting to agree with him. There might be teething problems given that the pair have never played together before, but if they can strike up a partnership, then it certainly bodes well for both club and country.

In addition, Gaitan also offers a new route to goal that wasn’t there before.

The Argentinian scored on his one and only pre-season friendly appearance in the win over Crotone last weekend, and he brings both knowhow and experience to the side.

Back in 2015 when he was linked with Manchester United, Sky Sports praised his attacking prowess and recalled praise from former United manager Sir Alex Ferguson:

"Gaitan played with intelligence and showed great individual skill," enthused the former Old Trafford boss after the winger put on a show against United in 2011.

Argentine talent spotter, Ramno Maddoni, who uncovered the likes of Fernando Redondo, Carlos Tevez and Juan Roman Riquelme, believes Gaitan is ready to compete with his international team-mate Di Maria in Manchester. "He's at the same level as Di Maria. He has a great change of pace and is very intelligent."

The same level as Di Maria? Well, if he could match the 15 goals that the Paris Saint-Germain winger scored last season, then Atletico will be in dreamland.

COSENZA, ITALY - AUGUST 06:  Head coach of Atletico de Madrid Diego Pablo Simeone salutes after a pre-season friendly match between FC Crotone and Club Atletico de Madrid at Stadio Comunale Gigi Marulla on August 6, 2016 in Cosenza, Italy.  (Photo by Maur
Maurizio Lagana/Getty Images

Both he and Gameiro arrive with much promise and much debate about where they will fit in within Simeone’s system, but it is the sheer number of times that they will put the ball in the back of the net that is likely to end up being crucial.

Atletico have had a goalscoring problem, and it will be something that will be keeping Simeone awake at night as he gears up for another crack at toppling La Liga’s royalty, but all he can do now is hope that he has taken the right steps towards solving it.

After such investment, the club cannot afford another season in which their number of goals decreases, because if they have one, then they’ll find that their chances of success are receding, too.