Simeone : "We understand how we want to play and that is the greatest strength of the team"
Diego Pablo Simeone appeared before the media at the conclusion of the morning session on Friday to discuss the match against Valladolid.
The Atletico coach began responding to the news of the renewal of Arda Turan at Atletico until 2017. Simeone said "Arda is an important player within the group. It makes me happy that the club has renewed because he is another player that has grown in this year and a half."
Regarding the change in the team since last year, the coach said "I think the team's growth this year and a half is important and that is based on trust, knowledge, stability and renewals. It is a more complete team. That does not mean anything f we don’t play well in Valladolid , the words are useless. The Spanish League teaches us that any team can win on any day."
He was then asked if he expected things to be going as well as they are he said "when you start in a place you always imagine the best. It would be lying if I said I did not imagine the best because I'm optimistic and I think we should be where we are."
As for the distance with Barcelona and Real Madrid, the Atletico coach was candid in stating that "I do not relish what’s coming and I’m not excited now because in a league as long as this, the economic power they have makes them different. They win games much faster than us and all the games are difficult for us. Against Zenit we had to work hard, the same with Almeria. All this makes the league that much more tiring.”
Finaly he confirmed that there will be changes for this match before answering the last question in which he said that "it is our challenge as a group to grow. This is like life. When you're young you have a situation in life and when you grow you have other responsibilities. As a team from the year and a half that we have been here we have been growing and bigger challenges have appeared.
