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I don't like this idea of winning at any cost - yes, it means more victories overall but at what cost? Who can be proud of supporting a team that so actively employs those 'dark arts' as the Guardian call them?
They can play some amazing free flowing attacking football when they want, but the rest of the time, I can't even imagine what it must be like when your first thought is conning the ref.
n3il-
It's not as if it's only them. Look at how much collapsing to the ground after the lightest (or no) touch there is and rolling around as if mortally wounded then springing back up again after the yellow card is dished out you see in football.
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I understand this viewpoint, but I think it's a point made more easily by someone accustomed to seeing their team win stuff. I also feel like Atleti's style is kind of in it's death throes as a functioning football philosphy. I'm sure they didn't used to be quite this bad. Ultimately is it any more ugly than a team getting success by spending billions to have an embarassment of world-class players filling every position, finding all available loopholes to avoid FFP, having the ability to pull numerous £60-100m players off their bench (And they get five fucking subs next season)? I know you need an excellent plan and excellent coaching, but the level of money at the top of the game is eye-watering and the playing field is not level.
aggi
Tonts
Whilst Atleti are truly the ebodiment of shithouses and deserved to go out of the competition last night, I can't help but admire what Simeone has done at the club. 10-11 years ago they were largely an irrelevance as far as winning stuff was concerned. In the time he's been there they've won la liga (in peak Barca/Real years, too) twice (?), The Copa Del Rey, been in a couple of champion's league finals won the europa league, I think. He's made them a top level team... of bastards.