Atlético Madrid v Zaragoza

All eyes were on Gregorio Manzano tonight as Atlético Madrid took on Real Zaragoza in the Vicente Calderon. The manager had come under a lot of scrutiny of late from a sizeable portion of the Rojiblanco faithful. Even within the squad, discontent towards him has been somewhat palpable-Reyes didn’t exactly look impressed with the decision to take him off against Athletic Bilbao on Thursday night, for example.

The ex-Sevilla and Mallorca coach decided to drop the midfielder tonight as a result of his outburst. But José Antonio-gate aside, recent performances have been lacking in consistency, goals and most importantly, points. Three from the last 15 available is all the Madrid contingent could claim before this weekend, in what had up until now been a floundering start to the campaign.

However, tonight that was to change, as Atleti were able to dispatch of their opponents comfortably, with a 3-1 win. Despite his team taking the spoils in quite convincing fashion, Manzano didn’t escape the now all-too-familiar expletive filled chants for him to leave from the local ultras, El Frente.

Part of what has been “Los Colchoneros” problem stems from the sheer number of unknown quantities within the squad. The summer saw a lot of comings and goings within the south Madrid club, especially towards the tail end of the transfer window so some of the “settling-in” time spilled over into the beginning of the season, which is never ideal. All the same, Manzano's rotation policy has hardly endeared him to the supporters, especially as former stalwarts, like Dominguez, Perea and the aforementioned Reyes, have featured so little, effectively acting as bit part players.

Tonight, as well as the notable absence of José Antonio, the manager decided to tinker a bit more with his starting 11: the three changes to the line up from Thursday night’s defeat in San Mamés were Adrían, Mario Suarez and Dominguez.

He also chose to go with a 4-4-2 formation with two strikers (Falcoa and Adrían), probably in an attempt to ensure goals and appease the fans.

And it worked. Atleti were on firing form tonight and “El Profesor” can take a lot of positives from the game. Strong performances in the middle of the park from Diego, Mario Suárez and Arda, in particular, helped create plenty of openings. Also, Adrían, who has received his own fair share of stick since arriving, silenced his critics by finding the back of the net twice.

His first came in the 18^th minute, when he accurately directed his header beyond the reach of Roberto after a good ball over the top from Arda, on the right. Dominguez made it two on the 30 minute mark after a nicely worked move from a corner saw Godín head the ball across the face of goal for his centre half partner to meet it and finish it off from two yards out.

Atleti were cruising for the first half and Courtois was only tested once between the sticks, when Ponzio shot from distance requiring the Chelsea loanee to make an easy save.

The second 45 played out similarly to the first, with Atlético dominating the possession and creating the better chances. Their third goal came from a neat one-two on the left between Filipe and Diego, which culminated in Adrían bagging his second of the evening.

Zaragoza got one back late on though, when some woeful defending allowed Postiga to head home completely unmarked from a corner. But it was only to be a consolation for them, one that will do nothing to paint over the cracks of what looks like a club on the ropes.

In short Zaragoza look like a side in serious trouble. They were awful tonight from start to finish and their coach, Javier Aguirre, will no doubt be very concerned about what line of action to take from here.

Unlike Manzano, the “Avispa” manager has consistently stuck to the same small group of players from the outset this season, mainly due to the limitations bankruptcy imposes. The former Atleti coach’s squad is wafer thin as he pointed out after the match, “The squad is short. We have four players from the B team. We try to rotate but we can’t. It’s not a physical problem but a small squad”.

They have a tough few weeks ahead of them as well, with an on-form Sporting next, followed by Barcelona and then Sevilla. The likelihood is that they’ll find themselves near the foot of the table very soon if things don’t start to improve on the pitch.

Atlético shouldn’t get too cocky either, after tonight’s showing. They will be tested with more difficult opposition and they are still showing an over reliance on certain players to get them goals-so far only three players have scored for them in the league: Falcao, Adrían and Dominguez. But for tonight at least, Manzano can breathe a sigh of relief.