Two goals in three minutes after the break, and Atlético never made their possession count

Atlético had the first half, and the start of the second ended it

Atlético lost 3-0 at San Mamés. It was 0-0 at the break, then Nico Williams scored around 30 seconds after the restart and Robert Navarro added a second a little over two minutes later. Oihan Sancet made it three on 90 minutes from a counter-attack.

On the numbers alone, the gap in the play was smaller than the score suggests. Atlético had 62% of the ball, 15 shots to 11 and an xG of 1.02 against 1.41. But FotMob counts the big chances at nil to three, and on that measure Atlético were clearly second best. Lee Kang-in hit the post on three minutes and Pablo Barrios did the same in first-half stoppage time, so with a slightly kinder bounce this could easily have been a different game. ItC also wrote that Atlético mostly controlled the first half.

Simeone told Movistar+: "In the second half the game got away from us in barely five minutes. I would even say two minutes were enough for everything to change. They showed real ruthlessness in those two moments and made the most of how the game was going. From there they dropped back and defended with much more order." In his press conference he also took the blame, saying the coaching staff had not managed to get across what was needed for the start of the second half, and the players could not find it on their own.

This was the first time under Simeone that Atlético had conceded three at San Mamés in La Liga since January 2013, and the first 0-3 defeat to Athletic in the league since that same game. Widen it to all competitions and there is the 0-3 in the Copa del Rey semi-final at the same ground in February 2024.

Once again, Atlético could not break down a team that sat in

From 2-0 onwards Atlético were not so much in possession as left with it. Athletic dropped off clearly, and from the 66th minute, when Johaneko came on, they went to a back five with him and Areso as the wide men and a compact block sitting deep. Atlético had 66% of the ball in the second half, and their completed passes in the Athletic half went from 115 before the break to 206 after it. For all that ball, the second-half xG was 0.70, and the closest thing to a clear chance was Julián Álvarez's left-footed shot on 71 minutes, which Unai Simón saved.

Moving the ball from side to side across the back line was fine. Getting into the block from there was not, and there was no answer for it. The end came on 90 minutes: Beñat Gerenabarrena put a ball in from the right, Johnny Cardoso could not clear it properly, and Sancet finished the loose ball. Being made to hold the ball and then getting hit on the counter is about the worst way to lose.

This is not a new problem. Last season Atlético lost 0-1 at home to Betis with 65% possession and 1-2 away at Sevilla with 68%, two games in which the opponent sat in and let them have the ball. The starting shape without a number nine can hurt a team that comes forward, as it did at Sevilla with quick breaks after winning the ball, but against a deep block there is nobody to hold it up with his back to goal and nobody waiting in the box. In the Sevilla report we wrote that the real test would come against a team that sat deep. The answer arrived in the very next game.

And it was already happening before the score was 2-0. After the drinks break on 26 minutes Athletic dropped their block and stopped pressing high, and Atlético spent long spells passing the ball around in the Athletic half, but their only shot on target in the first half was Álex Baena's on 23 minutes. Simeone acknowledged in his press conference that "they worked very well in a low block, and apart from Julián's chance we did not have any important goalscoring situations in the second half." The dead end against a deep block, though, was there before the goals as well.

Grimaldo's soft defending on the second goal stood out

The second goal came straight from Atlético's kick-off: the ball was lost on the right in their own half, and Athletic scored about 15 seconds after the restart. Navarro ran onto Iñaki Williams's through ball, took one touch to cut inside past Alejandro Grimaldo in the box, and finished left-footed into the far corner. ItC gave Grimaldo 2 out of 10 and wrote that he was "caught out badly on Robert Navarro's goal for 2-0, the last line of defense as Atleti collapsed structurally". Marca's live commentator wrote that Grimaldo was in the picture for both goals.

The attacking numbers were not there either. He had 90 touches, but none of his six crosses found a team-mate, he created no chances and he had two touches in the Athletic box. Across three league games this season he has completed three crosses. What I want from him first is to make a difference on the left, and there were a few moments in this game where he had room to try, but none of them came to anything.

His positioning, at least, was not bad in my view. Averaging the points on FotMob's heatmap, Grimaldo was about 10 metres further forward than Marcos Llorente on the right. Higher is not automatically better, and this was not a game where his attacking side came through, but the fact that there were moments where he received the ball high up the pitch is something I take as a positive. With Matteo Ruggeri and Julio Díaz sold in the summer, he is, as ItC put it, the only true left-back in the squad, and my view is that the answer is to get him right while he plays rather than to look for a replacement.

The positives: Lee Kang-in's right foot and Barrios's ninety minutes

The third minute was the closest Atlético came. Lee Kang-in took Barrios's pass, beat Yuri Berchiche and struck right-footed from the right of the box, and the ball hit the base of the far post and rolled along the goal line. Until now his left foot has been what people remember, and in the league this season eight of his 11 shots have been with the left and only three with the right. Those three have all come since the Villarreal game, and this one, off the post, showed he can cut in and shoot on the right as well. Throughout the game it was clear that Athletic were watching for his left foot. Once defenders know he can go right too, they should find it harder to commit.

Barrios playing full games is also a relief. He has played 90 minutes in three of the four league games this season, the exception being the 24 minutes against Villarreal, and here he had 96 touches, completed 69 of 73 passes, played 11 passes into the final third and created three chances, joint-most in the match. Lee's shot against the post came from his pass, and he hit the post himself from a tight angle on the right in first-half stoppage time. The quality is as high as ever: FotMob's 7.7 was the best in the team, and his 5 from ItC was joint-highest among the starters.

Anfield on Wednesday, and almost no time to fix things

Simeone said in his press conference that "we are still at a stage of building the team, and obviously we are going to go through complex situations." That may be true, but the fixtures do not wait. Atlético ended Saturday seventh with seven points from four games. Wednesday 9 September brings the opening game of the Champions League league phase at Anfield, then Real Sociedad away on the 13th, Osasuna at home on the 16th and Real Madrid at home on the 20th. Four games in 12 days.

If there is a bright spot, it is that Álvarez was back from the 59th minute. He spent more of his time dropping into midfield to receive than waiting on the last line, and he did not shirk the chasing work off the ball either. The chance on 71 was a real one, and had it ended in a goal or an assist there would have been nothing to fault in his first game back.

Liverpool are a team that comes at you, I think, but once ahead they could well sit in as a matter of strategy. The question of what Atlético change when a team drops off may come up as soon as Anfield.

Ratings

Starters

Substitutes

ItC ratings via Into the Calderón; FotMob ratings via FotMob.