It's hard to judge the start of the season for Atletico Madrid... After a particularly ambitious summer transfer window and nearly 200 million euros in reinforcements, Atletico Madrid's results have not improved as much as expected.

They are third in La Liga, winning six of their 12 games, but have basically withdrawn from the title race, with 23 points, 10 points behind Barcelona, ​​who are in first place. The situation in the Champions League is even more critical, with two losses in three games, a big loss to Benfica and a 1-3 reversal by Lille, Atletico Madrid is still outside the play-offs - so they must beat Paris Saint-Germain to advance to the next round.

Diego Simeone's team is in trouble as a result, so from the beginning of November, they are likely to be excluded from the title race in the two most important competitions. This is a cruel but ruthless declaration of failure, and this season, the Madrid people seem to have better weapons and assets, and the fans also believe that they can do better than in previous seasons, not just be satisfied with third place, but.....

This Atletico has even found the competitive gene that it seemed to have lost. Atletico is the best defensive team in La Liga so far, conceding only 7 goals. It is also the Spanish team with the fewest goals conceded at the beginning of the 2024/2025 fiscal year, which shows that this Atletico team is difficult to shake. But they have conceded 8 goals in 3 games in the Champions League, which is really puzzling.

The only problem for Diego Simeone in the next game is that he will have to face Paris without Robin Le Normand or Jose Jimenez. Robin has been absent since the Madrid derby due to a head injury, and Jimenez was affected by injury after the weekend league victory over Las Palmas.

The most unacceptable thing is Simeone's offensive training. The team lacks the ability to create opportunities and players who can create points in the opponent's half. Captain Koke is aging and his form is declining. Gallagher is not a creative player. The talented Barrios has been injured since returning from the Olympics. De Paul's performance is sometimes good and sometimes bad. Llorente has not returned yet - this makes Simeone heavily dependent on the performance of the striker.

The team has an impressive offensive arsenal and strong players such as Antoine Griezmann, Alexander Sorlos, Julian Alvarez or Angel Correa. Under the leadership of Giuliano Simeone, the team still has players who can play wonderful attacks at the last minute, but the lack of support from the midfielders is always a problem. Atletico Madrid's opponents already know that they must block and eliminate the connection between the midfield and the offensive players, putting these players in a disadvantageous position. Just like Betis and several other La Liga teams have done this season.

The aging of the midfield and backcourt is a topic that every team cannot do without in its renewal, and Simeone himself must have felt it deeply. In those two seasons that were close to winning the Champions League, Koke and Saul were at their peak, Thiago and Gabi were still strong, and the back line was stable: Godin, Miranda, Juanfran, Felipe Luis, Lucas, etc. Simeone also missed them very much. We can see Simeone's changes in tactical content, but personnel allocation is always a problem, so if there is no result, drastic personnel adjustments and reforms may still be unavoidable.

In the next Champions League game, Atletico's away performance is hard to be optimistic about, and Paris' performance at the Parc des Princes is impeccable. Atletico and Simeone may have reached the time when they have to make major changes.