Thomas Lemar has found his place at Atlético, he has managed to recover the splendor of Monaco and the internal competition of the rojiblanco club has not diminished him in the least, It has motivated him to keep improving. The Frenchman was the light of the mattress attack in the first half of the match against Villarreal, 45 minutes at an enormous level that led Atlético to set moments of great football where only the goal was missing.
And he was about to arrive on two very clear occasions with the Frenchman and his connection with Trippier as great protagonists. Lemar has notably increased its area of influence since it participates as an interior, and is capable of appearing on all sides of the attack front, although with Carrasco he has developed a special affinity on the left. However, his goal could come from the right, skillfully opening Trippier and receiving the center of the English, but his right hand ran into a great stop by Rulli and with the stick. On the rebound he tried again with his less skilled leg, but the shot went over the top.
And on the other side, on his favorite side, he was unmarked into space by speed, he put a precious center with his left foot for Trippier, whose header did not become his first goal with the Atlético shirt due to the providential intervention of Mandi. He also left a great attendance head for strap, which cut Rulli and left Carrasco behind whose shot also crashed with a rival leg. Lemar has honed his technical ability without taking off his overalls, becoming a Simeone soldier. He is in charge of jumping lines to help the lead in the pressure and the first to leave the skin to collaborate in the defensive retreat.
Two plays made his great tactical evolution clear. The first, making the effort to cover the left lane and end up clearing a Villarreal center with a head after Carrasco had been left in pain in the rival field in a play where he called for a penalty and the second committing a foul for which he saw a rigorous yellow, but covering Koke’s back to block Gerard Moreno’s exit through the center. A few overexertions that could influence so that in the second half his participation was decreasing until he was substituted.
Lemar has been uninhibited, has removed the pressure that seemed to weigh on his arrival at Atlético and has found his ideal position on the field as an inside with freedom of movement in attack. The Frenchman wants to be a leader, he asks for it, organizes it and has a spark that only Correa and Carrasco have. It was difficult for him to enter the dynamics of the team, Simeone defended his minutes due to the great contribution of Lemar in training, but his quality did not develop in the games. Now, at 25, he has found the best version of ’11’. He still has to add figures for the goal, goals and assists that remain at the gates of arriving and having continuity during the 90 minutes, but his brightness is increasing.
The Wanda Metropoilitano fans have been able to verify in these first two games back to the stadium the leap in quality that Lemar had carried out last year, when with the empty stands he began to see the great footballer that he has inside. Lemar demands gallons and Simeone gives them to him, undisputed headline in his scheme despite the arrival of Rodrigo de Paul or the also notable evolution of Kondogbia. The Frenchman had to celebrate last year’s title from off the pitch due to an injury suffered at the Camp Nou and wants to be more and more Atlético’s leader. A signing that required a longer adaptation period, but which aims to be a fundamental piece in the future and has made it known to his fans.