Atlético Madrid coach Diego Simeone addressed the media following more frustration for his team amid a 1-1 tie against Elche at the Estadio Riyadh Air Metropolitano.
When asked what he thought about the fans’ frustration, Simeone said, “I think that they’re right.”
“We feel the same way; we gave everything to win and we couldn’t,” he said. “We’re working as hard as we can to continue exploiting the very good qualities of our players.”
Addressing how he could change the situation, Simeone said ”with
calm, patience, hard work, the results will come. We can’t stray from this because we played two matches that we deserved, at least, not to lose”.
Diego Simeone on how that point feels
“It hurts. We wanted to win, we deserved to win the match. The opposition defended well, the goalkeeper made two important saves, one from Sørloth for the 2-0 and the other from Marcos. We made a mistake on their goal, it was our fault. The team attacked, sought, tried… In the end, they were more solid at the back, it was more difficult, at the beginning they were more open and we are left with a bad taste in our mouths.”
Simeone on whether he’s concerned
“We have one point. Two games in which I’m holding on to the fact that the team is improving. There are a lot of young players who need to be brought in to help the team grow. From the Espanyol game to today’s game, there was improvement, they played better. The results aren’t there, but we need to work, be patient, keep looking for the paths that were taken in much of this game, and when we find our strength, which is the key, we’ll get more games and more points.”
Simeone on the lack of composure
“That decisiveness sometimes comes naturally and sometimes gets stuck. It didn’t appear. If we can remember all the goal-scoring chances, there were several. Important, good situations to resolve. The good thing is that we’re not talking about the team not creating chances. We drew, we’re not happy, we had to win, but we’re on the right track.”
Simeone on the late penalty shouts
“If the referee didn’t see it, then surely there was nothing there.”
Simeone on improving the team’s cutting edge at both ends
“With time, with patience, by insisting on the path we have to work on. They didn’t have any scoring opportunities, just the counterattack that they resolved well, and we should have resolved it better. The team is on the path to wanting to improve, to grow. For our part, we must be patient so that the team can grow and we can get points, which is what we need.”
