Posted by Joseph Zucker

The title race is back on. Look out Barcelona because there’s new competition in Madrid.

Atleti sputtered a bit against Valencia. It was a bit of the same story as the match against Osasuna. The club lacked the killing instinct in the final third. Atletico had 56% of possession, but only two shots on goal. Manager Gregorio had opted to stick with young striker Adrián, who once again struggled. Although he was partnered with Radamel Falcao, making his first start for Atleti, things were a bit concerning. It was rumored that Atleti's newest signing Diego would try and work an emergency loan deal for his countryman, Brazilian striker Herendinho.

Manzano then decided to tweak things a little bit in the club's Europa League match against Celtic. He replaced Adrián with Arda Turan on the left wing and started Diego on the right wing, giving José Reyes a break. It might just prove to be the spark the squad needed. After the Valencia match, there was speculation as to whether Manzano would survive if the club continued with its average form. It took about three minutes to quiet all of that. That's how long it took Falcao to get off the mark for Atletico. Diego followed suit in the 68th minute. Celtic threatened at times during the match, but it was a solid three points for the Rojiblancos. Of course, a win should have been expected. Celtic have only won once in 31 away European matches.

There was obviously some momentum coming in to the league match with Racing Santander. Manzano had Reyes take his normal spot on the right wing and Diego dropped to the central midfield. Earlier in the day, former Rojiblanco Sergio Aguero netted a brace against Fulham. The supporters always seem to take each goal he scores pretty hard, and it wasn’t the way they wanted to start the day. But it was the supporters’ new flame who came to the rescue: Radamel Falcao. He did Aguero one better by getting a hat trick. It was his first hat trick in a European domestic league. Falcao should have had four but the official made an incorrect offside call. The entire team played really well. Atletico had 68% of possession for the entire match. The midfield really bossed the game, and Racing hardly posed any threat. Goalkeeper Thibault Courtois could have spent the first 90 minutes on the bench because it wasn’t until the first minute of injury time that Racing got a shot on goal. It was certainly a well-earned victory.

I was very critical of the Manzano hiring, but he looks to be exactly who the club needed. He is very level-headed and can help to bring calm to an otherwise hectic club. The 4-3-3 he is using is maximizing the talent he has available to him. The combination of Diego-Arda-Reyes-Falcao looks to be one of the more dangerous attacks in La Liga. But perhaps the biggest surprise is how quickly the new signings have blended in to the club. They have only been here for a few matches, but Diego and Arda have looked like club veterans. They had their fingerprints, or should I say footprints, all over the attack. Arda sent in a cross to Adrián, himself a new signing, for the fourth goal against Racing. Falcao obviously impacted the scoreline. And Diego, especially, is playing well. (He was substituted at halftime of the Racing match after picking up a minor strain in his leg. It doesn’t appear to be serious, and he was only taken off as a precaution.) It seems that Atletico has the Werder Bremen model of Diego and not the Wolfsburg model.

Skeptics might say it is still way too early to try and accurately predict a club’s success. And I would agree. There’s no way they’ll finish 9th. Real Madrid lost to Levante and Barcelona looks to be on the decline with the draws against Real Sociedad in the league and AC Milan in the Champions League. (Barca’s 8-0 win against Osasuna simply papers over the cracks.) I’ve got Atletico finishing top of the table now. I’ve already booked my tickets to the Europa League final in Bucharest. And of course, to follow that up, I’ll be traveling to Wembley in 2013 for the Champions League final. If you ask Tim Vickery, he’ll probably tell you this is the most fluid 4-3-3 since Brazil ’82. Wait, what am I saying? That’s an insult to Atletico. Brazil would get played off the park.

Falcaometer (as of September 18, 2011)



This week: 2

I tracked the Falcaometer at a 6 after the Valencia match, but two wins in a row have significantly lowered it. A difficult week looms, though, with a Wednesday meeting with Sporting Gijon and a real test against Barcelona on Saturday. I expect the Falcaometer to reach its highest rating come Sunday.

Also, I am introducing a new feature to these articles. Cleveland Cavaliers fans are familiar with a scoreboard feature called “The Diff.” Basically, it was for the fans who were too lazy to try and tabulate the difference between the scores of the opposing teams. So I am going to create “The Falcaonter” (pronounced Fal-counter). It will tabulate the difference in points between Atletico and whichever team is top of the table at least until they’re mathematically eliminated. Although I expect as the season goes on, it will be the difference between Atleti and the 2nd place team.

Falcaonter



You can follow me on Twitter @JZuckYNWAtleti or check out my blog, The Kuytch Potato.