Q&A with Atletico Offside/MadridAtleticos

[timmyg]

I did a Q&A e-mail exchange with not one but two Atletico bloggers: Al from the Atletico-Offside page and Gary from Madrid Athleticos.

Enjoy: http://fulham.theoffside.com/team-news/atletico-preview.html#more-976

[White Noise]

Nice work Timmy. Thanks for that.

Their defence sounds ideal!! :54:

[timmyg]

Oh, also, I answered some of Al's questions: http://atletico.theoffside.com/preview/qa-with-fulham-offsider-timmy.html

Do let me know if I'm way off base.

COYW!!!

[ImperialWhite]

Very good- but I'm not sure I agree with your explanation of our success in Europe: He took it seriously.

In the early rounds he didn't, and there were some points where we almost slipped up. Ressies in league matches were only from QFs onwards really.

Don't you think that it is a combination of Roy being very tactically aware (compare and contrast our home and away performances, for instance) and exploiting our underdog status?

[timmyg]

Very good- but I'm not sure I agree with your explanation of our success in Europe: He took it seriously.

In the early rounds he didn't, and there were some points where we almost slipped up. Ressies in league matches were only from QFs onwards really.

Don't you think that it is a combination of Roy being very tactically aware (compare and contrast our home and away performances, for instance) and exploiting our underdog status?

Yes, I do think Roy's acumen and using our status had a huge hand in our current position. But I think that is a result of him taking the competition seriously.

Sure, he did play the reserves in Perm and Sofia, but there were injuries that forced his hand. Plus, many of the players who featured in those two matches would feature in Europe and the league sporadically throughout the season.

Compare it to Villa's and Spurs roster when they exited the competition last year. Have half of those players featured since? Probably not.