Atlético's Braveheart Inspires Improvement

Going into a crunching 50-50 challenge with an Osasuna player is a really bad idea if you are even slightly faint of heart. Going into a 50-50 challenge with an Osasuna player when their team is 1-0 down and it's in the last seconds of injury time is a really, really bad idea.

This is a side who are Spain's super-charged version of Stoke, but in the slightly more pleasant surroundings of Pamplona. For Osasuna players, in front of mad, baying-for-blood fans, no tackle is ever less than committed, no opposition incursion into the box will ever go unchallenged and no loose ball may remain uncontested.

With this is mind, it was quite remarkable that an Atlético Madrid player chose to go hurtling towards an Osasuna player late on Monday night without fearing for the future of his knees, which could easily have been relocated into the third row of the stadium. But as Osasuna coach, José Luis Mendilibar, noted after the visitor's 1-0 win with a tinge of admiration perhaps, "Atlético beat us in intensity and aggression."

Just over a month ago, this kind of tackle from the Rojiblancos would have been quite unthinkable. Indeed, Atlético Madrid winning anywhere but the Vicente Calderón would have been quite unthinkable too. The capital city club weren't just flimsy on the road but soggier than a rain-soaked tissue having played 11 matches in three competitions away from home, failing to win ten of them.

The final match before the Christmas break was the visit of third tier Albacete in the Copa del Rey. The Rojiblancos had lost the away leg and were behind in the opening seconds of the home tie. It spelled the long, drawn-out end of Gregorio Manzano and Atlético's latest project after just six months.

Atlético's next move was to bring in a manager who would please the rebelling masses in the stands. Fan favourite, Diego Simeone, was brought in straight away; an Argentinean former midfielder with limited but extremely physical abilities who had two spells with Atlético before moving back to his homeland to embark on a managerial career which had been of limited success.

During Simeone's first days in charge, Atlético's latest coach was prone to repeating himself. What was demanded from his new charges was energy, passion, energy passion and yet more energy and passion. And some intensity thrown in too. "I spend 24 hours thinking about Atlético Madrid," admitted the new boss on joining the club.

This call to arms for the squad was all very well, but the vision looked a little, well, vulgar for a side that had the work-shy Falcao up front and the slight figures of Arda Turan and Diego Ribas in support. That's not even mentioning a defence known for calamities rather than commitment and a midfield that lacked a certain ability to control the ball, never mind a match.

Stories filtered out through the press of double training sessions, of defenders being told to get rid of the ball at the first opportunity, of possession being conceded and fewer chances being created. This was set to be a stripped down, no nonsense, no frills airline Atlético. Early suspicions that this approach would only go so far were immediately eased though, after Simeone's first game in charge - an away match at Málaga. Although it was a goalless draw and another failure to win, the team seemed considerably more 'up for it' than before.

Simeone's home debut as Atlético coach, a 3-0 win over Villarreal, was a tour-de-force for the manager as he patrolled the touchline, applauding his players and waving to the crowd who sang his name. It was a far cry from the professorial Manzano who, in his final days, was abused by home supporters for staying on the bench - even when Atlético were winning - and then barracked with double the venom for moving onto the touch line.

The new manager is a showboating crowd-pleaser but that's what is currently required in one of the toughest working environments in world football - the Vicente Calderón. After the Villarreal match, Simeone continued to speak about intensity and passion and meant every word of it. Still lean and mean and looking like he could put in a hefty 90 minute shift in midfield himself, the 41-year-old is an intense, striking, and very scary figure. One imagines any Atlético player giving less than a hundred percent will face the blow torch treatment rather than anything as soft as a hairdryer.

This certainly explains Falcao charging onto a corner for Atlético's winning goal on Monday and fighting tooth and nail for the ball before Uruguayan centre-back Diego Godín bundled it over the line. "This reminds me of Uruguay's style of player," noted the defender, whose international side also balances skill, supreme effort and teamwork.

In Simeone's four league games in charge of Atlético, his side have yet to concede a goal. In the four matches before the Argentinean took over eleven goals were let in. This record has pushed Atlético in the space of a month from being mid-table nobodies to Champions League contenders, in seventh spot, just two points from Levante in fourth.

The club's currently watertight defence will face its biggest test on Sunday night when third-placed Valencia come to the Calderón fresh from holding Barcelona to a 1-1 draw in their Copa del Rey semi-final first leg clash. But this midweek match could cost Valencia dearly, with Atlético's new-found love of aggression, hard-work and harassment possibly being a bridge too far for a club stuck in a Barcelona sandwich of football.

However, Simeone says that the crowd will need to be on board if Atlético are to prevail in what are set to be sub-zero conditions. "We need to be 12 against Valencia," claimed the Argentinean. "I'm hoping for a full stadium with people living this moment how it has to be lived, with passion as Atlético fans are used to showing. With enthusiasm, as that is a part of belief. We are first to believe in ourselves, but we are living from day-to-day."

Had Simeone's face been painted blue and the speech been delivered on horseback in a bad Scottish accent, it couldn't have been more forceful and persuasive. This one-track message may not be enough for the long season ahead, but for the battles been and gone and those immediately to come, it's doing just fine for a reinvigorated Atlético Madrid.