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Atlético Madrid head coach Diego Simeone on the Premier League: "No one defends"
(getfootballnewsspain.com)
We Spurs fans had three defensive coaches in succession (Mourinho, Nuno, Conte) and those seasons were pure misery and without any progress, despite at least two of those coaches being proven "serial winners". There's a reason why top clubs in the Premier League aren't defensive – fans and the media hate it and it doesn't suit the league. The clubs at the bottom of the league tend to adopt more defensive low-blocks and mid-blocks out of necessity. Some clubs like Brentford and Wolves have had some success and are dubbed "giant killers" for adopting a low-block and counter-attacking style. But they're not top-4 contenders.
West Ham were steered to victory in the Europa Conference league by David Moyes and he is a notably defensive, pragmatic coach.
Also, in the 22/23 Champions league, 3 of the 4 Premier League clubs in the competition have lower GA/90 (goals against per 90) stats than Atletico:
- Atletico: 1.50
- Liverpool: 1.50
- Chelsea: 0.90
- Tottenham: 0.88
- Manchester City: 0.38
The eventual winners of the Champions League last year was of course City, with a total number of goals conceded of just 5 in a total of 1170 minutes of play. Atletico conceded 9 in only 540 minutes.
I don't think Simeone knows what he's talking about.