Cholo Simeone's final straw: it can't always be others who are to blame.

Atleti has already lost the league. It didn't even take six days, the time between Simeone 's hara-kiri against Espanyol and everyone's display of helplessness against Elche. It's the new world record for throwing away a season... and it's also a lie. It's ridiculous to write off a team after two games, even less so one that has changed half its starting eleven and (I'd like to believe) its game plan, but what it has done is dash the renewed enthusiasm of a fan base whose patience is increasingly short. And with good reason.

Since winning the title in 2021, Atleti's decline has been unstoppable. Little by little, but at a steady pace, like that friend you don't realize has gone bald until you haven't seen him for a few months, the team is increasingly moving further away not only from Barça and Madrid but from what it once was, that competitive machine invented by the same Cholo who has commanded its current demolition without rebelling.

The main culprit has been the club, as so often. It let the squad age and decay because its only ambition was to finish third, and for that, in this suffocating La Liga, a geriatric squad like last season's will do. But this summer, it has seen the wolf's ears (that Athletic with Nico and Sancet , who would be two of the three best in Atleti; that Villarreal, who are now fishing in the same pond as the red-and-whites) and has invested in talent and youth ( Baena , Cardoso , and Almada are a real leap in quality; Hancko , a professional).

He's signed fewer players than necessary after so many years without watering the plant (where's De Paul 's replacement and Giuliano Simeone 's competition?), but enough to demand an improvement that isn't in sight. That's where we need to look to Simeone.

The problem is that the figure of Cholo, now more legend than human doing a job, makes analysis impossible. It's all guts and shouting. For Cholo fans, demanding anything from him is disrespectful and a Real Madrid fan, as if the damned Atlético de Madrid hadn't won before or Luis Aragonés , the only true god, hadn't been fired. For those against him, continuing to trust in someone who made you happy is mere nostalgia, selling out to Gil Marín , Milei , and the devil himself. For a sensible Atlético fan, having to take sides amidst so much nonsense is a pain. And unnecessary. You just have to be fair.

Simeone hasn't suddenly become a bad coach, but football waits for no one and has evolved faster than he has in recent times. This has happened to all the greats at some point. Guardiola adapted when he arrived in England, Mourinho never managed to and is now in Turkey. El Cholo, after these years with teams from another era, deserves the chance to show if he can return to the elite and finally enter the current decade with a modern squad. Not perfect, but modern. This one is. He has one year. If not, there will be no more excuses. It can't always be someone else's fault.