Atletico Madrid ; The complete Guide

Clarky.

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Over the last couple of weeks I have been doing a save with Atletico Madrid. I am currently in my fourth season and have a good knowledge of the club and everyone involved in it. I have decided to put together this guide to help anyone who wishes to start a save with Atletico Madrid. This is for patch 11.2.


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A background View



Name: Atletico Madrid
Year Founded: 1903

Status: Professional

Reputation: Continental

Chairman status: Enjoying life at the club



The club tends to be taken over but usually by another member of the existing board, Tycoons or consortiums are rare.


Derbies: Madrileno Derby (Vs Real Madrid.)

Other Rivals: Sevilla, Espanyol, Barcelona, Osasuna

Finances: Rich
Estimated Value: 209 Million (174 Million Loan debt)

Continental competition: Europa League.

Media Prediction: 5th


Facilities


Name: Vicente Calderon
Size: 54,851 All seated
Due to move to the Estadio De Madrid 1.7.2012
(73,000 Capacity)



When you do eventually move to the proposed stadium some of the debt begins to shift;. Big games such as European nights and Barcelona raking in as much as 2.5 Million in ticket sales.


Training Facilities: Top Training Facilities


Try to take full advantage of these facilities and compose a good training schedule. If you struggle to make your own I recommend downloading some of the site. (Duncs)


Youth Facilities: Excellent Youth facilities and Youth academy.




Staff

Like most teams Athletico come with some good staff and some not so good. I will try to dissect who I would recommend you keep and who to show the door.


Santi (Assistant Manager)


Top 3 attributes:
Man management 17
Level of discipline 15
Determination 15

(And a whole host of other 15’s)


As arguably the second most important member of staff; after yourself its key hes good. After four years I still have Santi as my assistant manager. He does a brilliant job whenever needed. Although Like most Assistant managers for team talks he tends to favour ‘for the fans’. Therefore I’d recommend doing them yourself. (Singular team talks seem to work better.) Also Hes very reliable at a press conference and likes to compliment his teams’ players and play down the other teams chances.


However if you don’t think Santi is good enough for Athletico there’s a whole host of alternatives.

Johan Neeskens- Dutch Assistant Manager. (Free agent)

Carlos Queiroz- Well known Portuguese Assistant manager (Free agent)

Marco Rota- Italian coach (Cheap wages, Good stats)

Otto Baric- Croatian Coach (Cheap wages, although hes 78)


Sabas, Gutierrez, Arellano (Coaches)


All three coaches have rather average stats and none of them stand out. Out of the three I’d recommend you Keep Sabas and Arellano and look to offload Gutierrez. His stats are rather poor and it won’t be difficult to find another coach of a better calibre.

Heres a few I’d recommend.

Manuel Delgado Meco – Spanish coach (Free agent, cheap wages)

Julio Tous – Spanish coach (Free agent, cheap wages and a few 20’s)

Marco Rota – Italian coach (Again)



Peiro, Pitillas (Fitness Coach)


Pretty self explanatory you need them both to have good fitness attributes. And let me tell you they don’t. Peiro has a rating of 10 and narrowly ahead with 13 is Pitillas. Get rid of both of them. Athletico can do far better.

Heres a shortlist.


Gian Nicola Biscioitti - (20, cheap wages)

Francisco Ayestaran – (20, cheap wages)

Jose Luis Arjol – (18, cheap wages)

(All free agents)


Miguel Baston (GK Coach)


Very important at Athletico due to the two extremely talented young goalies so he needs to be good. Baston is very good, with an 18 attribute. But if that’s still not good enough.

Heres a few good ones.

Nello Malizia – (20, cheap wages)
Pedro Alaba - (19, Racing GK coach, compensation to be paid 473k)



Youth Coaches


With 9 youth coaches you’ve got a lot to work with, some good others not so good. Without spending half an hour dissecting each one, I’ll recommend to who to keep.


Stay



Salvador Suay


Quique Estebaranz


Antonio Sergio Piernas


Mauricio Elana


Jose Maria Amorrortu


The rest are not up to scratch and I’d recommend these instead.

Naseem Bashir (Very cheap wages)
Philippe Bergeroo (Experienced French coach)
Patrice Bergues (Experienced French coach also)


Physios

Athletico have 5 Physios, 4 terrible and one good. The one you need to keep is Jose Maria Villalon His physiotherapy attribute is 19. Whereas none of the other Physios manage above 14. Try to offload the remaining for as soon as you arrive.

Try to sign a few of these to make up for your losses.

Aldo Esposito – Italian Physio (Free agent, 20)
Marco Rota- Italian Coach (Again! 20, free agent)
Vincenzo Pincolini- Lokomotiv Moscow Coach (20, will need compensation, cheap wages)
Sabino Padilla – Spanish Physio (Free agent, 19)
Leif Sward- IFK Goteborg Physio (19, compensation will be needed)



Scouts

Arguably even more important then the assistant manager especially later on in the game when it’s mostly regens. You need your scouts to find you the best talent. The two key attributes are judging player potential and judging player ability. Now Athletico severely lack in this area not having any ‘amazing’ scouts. Now as there is five scouts, I’ll name the ones I recommend you get rid of. Milinko Pantic, Oscar Suarez, Gerardo Guzman Vico.

Theres a lot better scouts out there, I’d recommend.

Julio Tous – Spanish Coach (Free agent, 19 &18)
Antonio Lopez – Man Utd scout (20&18, compensation)
Inaki Saez- Spanish Coach (Free agent, 18&19)
Txema Noriega- Spanish scout (Free agent, 18&19)



The Board


The Athletico Board are very unpredictable I have found. Throughout the year they may pump money into transfers or reject every thing you ask for.

Expectations


You are given three options at the beginning of the season; you can opt for Continental qualification through league position, Title challenge or Winners.

If you pick continental qualification the board will give you a 6 Million pounds transfer budget and a nice 1.4 Million Wage budget. Personally this is what I recommend you choose. With Barcelona and Real Madrid likely to dominate, 6 Million is not going to be enough for you to put a real challenge in. 3rd is highly achievable but not a stroll in the park. So this option gives you the safety net if things do start to turn sour.

Secondly Theres Title challenge, the board willing to give you 8 Million transfer budget and 1.6 Million wage budget. This is for the more confident managers who think they can compete with the Barcas and Reals. But with only 2 million more in the transfer kitty, I’d opt against it.

And finally Winner, for the optimists out there. The board are happy to give you 8.75 Million transfer budget and 1.7 Million wage budget, If you think with 8.75 Million you can build a squad of the calibre of Barca and Real then give this a try. If you’re a tactical whizz this is achievable.



Boardroom Requests


Theres really not much to ask for at Athletico with good facilities and a move to a bigger stadium on the horizon. Although if you do wish for something to be improved then the board are usually quite happy to accept and if they do say No I’d suggest saying ‘If you don’t grant this request I can see us being left behind by our rivals.’ Works a treat.


The Squad


The most important part of this whole guide: the squad! I’ll try and give my opinion on each player and how I would recommend you play them.




The Goalie


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Asenjo.jpg
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De Gea Asenjo Robles



Now as most of us will know Athletico are blessed with two of the youngest, most talented goalies on the game. Which causes a dilemma; De Gea or Asenjo. Personally I would go for De Gea his shot stopping is remarkable and it is extremely rare for him to make any sort of mistake. So De Gea No 1, What about Asenjo? Although some may wish to keep him as back up he won’t be happy about the lack of football, I strongly recommend you loan him out. Many big name teams should come in for him but try and make a wise decision, send him somewhere He’ll get football. Also you have young goalie Joel Robles who can act as cover if in the highly unlikely circumstance that De Gea gets injured.




The Back Four



Recommended Back four:


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Filipe Godin Ujfalusi Valera



Filipe: New summer signing from Deportivo Filipe is a great addition to the squad. The left footed Brazilian is only 24 years of age has bags of potential along with some good stats. His 16 stamina means no need to bring him off at any point excluding injuries, but Filipe isn’t injury prone.

Godin: Godin may be familiar to many of you as he was largely linked with Chelsea in the summer. For a good reason too. Another 24 year old who oozes talent. Solid at the back and a real threat going forward, bagging as many as 10 goals in a season from CB.

Ujfalusi: An absolute animal of a centre back. At 32 Tomas brings a bit of experience to the back four. His solid tackling and good heading make him a first team choice. Also very handy on attacking corners.

Valera: Juan Valera a 25 year old wing back with a bunch of steady stats. Right back is Athletico’s weak spot and one place which needs to be improved.


The subs:


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Juanito Perea Dominguez Lopez




Juanito: the 33 year old veteran is a very good player and is easily good enough for back up if called upon, Keep hold of him.

Luis Perea: Also an older member of the squad at age 31, the pacey right back is good to bring on for the last twenty minutes, his pace proving to be too much for the tired opposition.

Alvaro Dominguez: the 21 year old oozes potential, you may want to look into loaning him out so he gains some vital first team football.

Lopez: The 28 year old LB is easily good enough for the first team and may be implemented into it, if you don’t want him in the first team look to use him as a sub as much as possible, Late on in games. Failing that, sell him. You can make a decent 2 Million and take 50,000 thousand of the wage budget.



Possible Signings:



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Rafael De Leat




Rafael: Man Utd young RB, solves the problem of the RB position. Although hes only 19 hes more then ready to play week in week out no problems. You are able to get him on loan for the first season then I’d recommend a permanent deal which costs around 12 Million.

De Laet: Another young Man Utd defender. Ritchie is extremely versatile and can play CB, LB or RB. This makes him great value for money and a great player to have in your team. At only 21 hes a great prospect for the future.





The Midfield



Recommended Midfield


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Reyes Camacho Garcia Simao



Reyes: The 26 year old ex Arsenal player has plenty to offer to this Athletico midfield. His technique and determination attributes make him a great ‘Winger’ with plenty of goals and assists in him.

Camacho: another young midfielder aged 20, with even more potential then Merida. His high work rate and team work attributes make him a great player to have in the team. He suits any role within the midfield but I would recommend ‘Central midfielder’.

Raul Garcia: Raul Garcia is slighty older at age 23 but still has bags of talent and potential to fill. All his attributes are steady 14s and15s but rapidly increase with game time. I would also use him as a ‘Central midfielder’.

Simao: The real veteran of the midfield at 30. But also the best, stats wise. Try to use him as much as possible on the right wing but remember to rotate as his fitness is only 14. I’d recommend playing him as a ‘Winger




The subs


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Tiago Merida Suarez Assuncao




Tiago: This 29 year old central midfielder on loan from Juventus is a very good experienced back up for Camacho or Garcia. However some people may wish to start him instead of either of the two. He has very good creativity and technique stats so hes good to bring on if your team is struggling to create chances.

Suarez: He is your typical workhorse midfielder. His great fitness levels and team work make him a great choice for late on in games as he wont stop running. Also very good back up.

Assuncao: Another sub whose work rate is good. However at the age of 30 and on a salary of 43,500 thousand a week, you may want to look at moving him on whilst hes worth a bit of money.

Fran Merida: Widely known as the young Arsenal talent but after he was shifted by Arsenal Athletico snapped him up. At the age of 20 hes got bags of potential but needs to be played otherwise risks becoming a very poor player. But with game time he becomes a top left mid. I’d recommend playing him in the role ‘wide midfielder’.



Potential Signings


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Piatti Kevin

Kevin: Widely known for being touted as the next Xavi. But let me tell you he doesn’t disappoint. He currently plays for Zaragoza and can be bought for around the 2 Million pound mark. His stats shoot up rapidly through out the years and has won young player of the year twice in a row on my save.

Piatti: Flamboyant Almeria midfielder Piatti is oozing potential from day one, although will cost around 12-13 Million he is well worth it. Within a few years he is well up there with Forlan and Aguero, if not sooner. Bagging goals for fun. Also can play upfront or left wing.



The Strike force



Recommended strikers


(Fairly obvious)



Aguero.jpg
Forlan.jpg

Aguero Forlan

Aguero: World famous Aguero is what you can really call a ‘Complete forward’ His amazing flair and technique attributes make him first name on the team sheet every week and at only 22 he gets better!

Forlan: another top class striker, part of the partnership which forms arguably one of the best in the world let alone La liga. Forlan can play in a number of roles and still bag goals, although I’d recommend ‘Advanced forward’.



The subs


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Costa Baston Ibra




Diego Costa: the 21 year old touted the next Adriano is definitely one for the future. Within 3 or 4 years becomes a top striker and could possibly replace the ageing Forlan. A very good prospect.

Borja Baston: another great striking prospect at the age of 17. He already posses a number of good stats although you may wish to loan him out to gain valuable first team experience.

Ibra: another one of Athleticos striking prospects at age 21 he starts the game on loan at Numancia, you may wish to loan him out for a couple of seasons until he is ready to play in your first team.






Potential Signings



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Macheda Necid





Macheda: Although Athleticos attack is very strong, Macheda comes in as great back up if you wish to loan out Costa and Baston so they get first team experience. Macheda’s knack for a goal is always useful.

Necid: This young Czech striker comes with some amazing stats at the age of 20. The sooner you buy him the less he will cost you. Possibly a long term replacement for Forlan.



The tactics


Now its fairly obvious you need to adopt an approach which favours attack due to Athleticos amazing strike force. 4-4-2 is a sensible choice but anything which involves two or more strikers will provide goals. I’d recommend trying to play a passing game so use ‘Shorter’ passing and also try to be ‘Fluid’. This positive way of playing should provide you with some good results. But you need to find your team then mould your tactic around that team so I can not give you too much advice. Also if you’re having problems try some of the tactics here on the site. Theres plenty of good ones. (JP Woody’s, DMF’s)
All that put there focus on attack.





Thanks for taking the time to view this, Please remember these are only my recommendations and your opinions may differ on certain things. Feel free to give constructive criticism.
 
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Nice and easy to read guide :)
 
great read mate, got me thinking of starting a athletico madrid save ^^)
 
****, just started a game with them like an hour ago. Will refer to this guide if I need some help :)
 
I started an Athletico Madrid file and find playing 4-2-4 is best, with reyes and simao AML and AMR. Even though simao isnt at the club anymore i did buy Aquino to replace him and got Buonanotte on loan for the season. I agree with the rest of the info you have put on there, and i brought Van Bommel to add more experience playing in Europe. Rafael on loan from man united is a steal as he has been amazing for me so far. Ill be keeping tabs on this, thank you
 
Hi. I am in an atletico game as well. Starting 3rd season after winning champions league and just being beaten by barca for the title. As you mentioned the team has two of the best young keepers around so you should utilize that. Keeping hold of asenjo for backup isn't a problem as long as you give him game time in copa del rey and a few games against teams struggling at the bottom of the table. I never had any complaints. Agreed with the Rafael bit as i loaned him in my first season and managed to buy him for 6.5mil when the loaned finished as he was in Man U's reserves(can't guarantee the same will occur in other games). For cb's give alvaro dominguez more credit. He is good enough to play in first season and by second season he was starting in spain's squad. Be careful with simao though, good player but at 31 you could save yourself by selling him for around 5mil and bringing in a younger guy (gervinho for 16mil was my choice). Like the guy above said though, the 424 is great and getting a loan signing to cover for the right wing for first season would be a good move as eduardo salvio(and keko) returns.
 
Very nice guide , easy to read but still packed with info.
Should be helpful to anyone managing Atletico.
 
I started an Athletico Madrid file and find playing 4-2-4 is best, with reyes and simao AML and AMR. Even though simao isnt at the club anymore i did buy Aquino to replace him and got Buonanotte on loan for the season. I agree with the rest of the info you have put on there, and i brought Van Bommel to add more experience playing in Europe. Rafael on loan from man united is a steal as he has been amazing for me so far. Ill be keeping tabs on this, thank you

Yes, I got Rafael on a permanent deal and was recently voted fans player of the year. Also any tactic which utilizes your attack should work, and as I mentioned DMF's unothardox 4-2-4 tactic should work really well.

---------- Post added at 03:07 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:49 AM ----------

Hi. I am in an atletico game as well. Starting 3rd season after winning champions league and just being beaten by barca for the title. As you mentioned the team has two of the best young keepers around so you should utilize that. Keeping hold of asenjo for backup isn't a problem as long as you give him game time in copa del rey and a few games against teams struggling at the bottom of the table. I never had any complaints. Agreed with the Rafael bit as i loaned him in my first season and managed to buy him for 6.5mil when the loaned finished as he was in Man U's reserves(can't guarantee the same will occur in other games). For cb's give alvaro dominguez more credit. He is good enough to play in first season and by second season he was starting in spain's squad. Be careful with simao though, good player but at 31 you could save yourself by selling him for around 5mil and bringing in a younger guy (gervinho for 16mil was my choice). Like the guy above said though, the 424 is great and getting a loan signing to cover for the right wing for first season would be a good move as eduardo salvio(and keko) returns.

I was tempted to sell Simao upon joining but some of his performances are match winning, although you will need a replacement in later years. Domingues is very good I know but I preferred others first season although 4 seasons in hes my main CB. And the goalkeeping situation is tough because for me Asenjo wanted to leaver and refused a new contract, eventually leaving on a free.
 
Very good guide, very in-depth as well :) Just one thing though?

It's Atlético Madrid, not Athletico. XD [that's just me being pedantic. :B]
 
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Asenjo on a free... ****! That is rough. Btw, Pichu Atienza from atletico b is a good candidate for promotion. After having a crazy year of 7.74 in the b squad i showed some faith and he performed very well 2nd season. Stats grew nicely.
 
Yeah I agree mate, in my 2nd season I got rid of Juanito meaning that I had to find a 4th centre back for cover so I promoted Atienza and he has proved solid for me so far. Also I bought Azpilicueta to solve the rb problem for 12mill - a better alternative to Rafael?
 
Asenjo on a free... ****! That is rough. Btw, Pichu Atienza from atletico b is a good candidate for promotion. After having a crazy year of 7.74 in the b squad i showed some faith and he performed very well 2nd season. Stats grew nicely.

Yes I was contemplating doing a youth prospects section but then I thought this is just a sort of starter guide, Once people are a year into a save they tend to know alot about the club.

Yeah I agree mate, in my 2nd season I got rid of Juanito meaning that I had to find a 4th centre back for cover so I promoted Atienza and he has proved solid for me so far. Also I bought Azpilicueta to solve the rb problem for 12mill - a better alternative to Rafael?

Rafael has been amazing for me, averaging about 7.8 each season, also winning fans player of the year, but Azpilicueta would be easily god enough to fit into the side
 
Great guide mate but i was just wondering who is your back up for Simao ?
 
Off-topic yes, but for some reason why does everyone spell Athletico with a 'h' when it's actually Atletico Madrid? Just curious....
 
Great guide mate but i was just wondering who is your back up for Simao ?

Well I bought Man utds Valencia about third season and now Simao, slightly too old is back up to him, but still plays well when coming on or in less important games
 
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