Underwhelming is not a word you could often apply to Atletico Madrid over the past decade under Diego Simeone.
Intense, combative, loyal, driven, passionate, brave, battling and any number of similar adjectives fit the Argentine’s troops, at least until this season.
Atletico are crumbling, with the mindset and mettle Simeone worked so hard to conjure melting away. Losing Diego Godin, Juanfran, Filipe Luis and Lucas Hernandez last year took much of the bite out of the Rojiblancos, but most damaging of all was Antoine Griezmann’s move to Barcelona.
The French forward was Atletico’s main source of goals and they have desperately struggled to score this season, with 22 strikes in 21 games the main reason they are fifth, 10 points off the pace.
On Saturday they travel across town to face rivals Real Madrid in a derby clash that pits the divisions’s joint sixth-worst attack against Europe’s best defence. Simeone was hoping to have Edinson Cavani at his disposal by this point, with the Uruguayan marksman the club’s top transfer target to bolster their limp attacking line.
However the French champions refused to entertain Atletico’s bids for their fourth-choice forward, who is out of contract in the summer, and Cavani will stay in Paris, where he is Paris Saint-Germain’s all-time top goalscorer.
Cavani’s nous would have been the perfect foil to Joao Felix’s impetuous but exciting talent, because it has been left clear that the Portuguese youngster isn’t ready to lead a strike force yet.
Signed for a club-record €126 million as the man to take on Griezmann’s mantle, Felix started brightly but still lacks end product and has looked increasingly tired. This culminated in a muscle injury last weekend in a dour 0-0 draw with Leganes which summed up Atletico’s problems in a microcosm. The former Benfica winger will not be available for the derby.
Between poor form and injury, Diego Costa has been a shadow of his former self, while Alvaro Morata has struggled to lead the line with any degree of consistency. Explosive forward Angel Correa is more erratic still.
On deadline day Atletico turned to an old flame, Yannick Carrasco, to help plaster over their attacking deficiencies. The Belgian forward, who scored 23 times in 124 games during his first spell at the club, might help but isn’t the hero the team is wanting for.
Carrasco, who has unsurprisingly impressed at Dalian Yifang in the Chinese Super League, fell out with Simeone before departing, which makes his return more curious - and panic-driven.
Atletico arrive at the derby in miserable form, having been eliminated from the Copa del Rey by third-tier Cultural Leonesa during a run of four matches without a win.
In the goalless draw with Leganes last weekend they only managed six efforts on target, in contrast to Leganes’s nine. The Madrid minnows sit 19th and were thrashed by Barcelona 5-0 on Thursday, for scale.
The tie at the Wanda Metropolitano was Atletico’s ninth league draw of the season - they have put the stale in stalemate.
There is a growing feeling that Simeone is reaching the end of the line at Atletico. He will remain a club legend, but at the end of the campaign, they may part ways. Some fans chanted his name against Leganes, others whistled those chants. Opinions are split.
Simeone claimed this was supposed to be a transition year, after the coming and goings last summer, but when you spend close to €250m, there are not many who will accept that. The likes of Koke and Saul should be reaching their peak but they have dropped off from their best level.
That is the worry for Atletico. It's not just the new players taking some time to settle in, but the old ones are not delivering in the way they used to. There are worries that they have grown weary of Simeone’s methods.
Getty ImagesCruelly they must face the best team in the world in the Champions League last 16, Liverpool, which will likely see them striking out in Europe too. Then they will only have the league left to focus on, which may be no bad thing considering they are currently sitting outside the top four.
“From the fans, I ask for confidence, because I am convinced that the team will continue to respond,” said Atletico CEO Miguel Angel Gil Marin. “The quality and the commitment of the squad and the technical staff, with Diego at the head of that, is unquestionable.” He hasn’t had to ask before.
Atletico are in uncharted territory under Simeone and it feels like the start of the end. Real are eagerly hoping to drive the next nail into the coffin on Saturday.