Almeria vs Atletico de Madrid preview - Defensive frailty troubles Miranda

Posted Tuesday, September 23, 2014 by PA

Atletico Madrid defender Miranda has expressed his concern about the number of goals his side have conceded in recent weeks.

The Primera Division champions head to Almeria on Wednesday in search of a morale-boosting win after drawing 2-2 with Celta Vigo in the league and losing 3-2 at Olympiacos in the Champions League, results which have provoked inevitable questions about the team's normally solid defence.

"It's not normal to concede five goals but we are working on it, we are working on what we did wrong in those two games and we're certain it's not going to happen again," Miranda told reporters.

Atletico have largely kept last year's title-winning back four intact, with just Filipe Luis leaving over the summer, but Miranda stressed that the entire team was responsible for defensive duties and pointed to the large number of changes in the squad as a whole.

"It affects us because the whole team defends, from the forwards to the attackers," said the Brazilian centre-back.

"When there are changes you lose a bit of the harmony you had before. I think that at the start of the season the group is still in formation, because important players have left and it's normal that when there are changes the team takes a while to react."

The Brazilian pointed to inconsistency, citing the contrasting 2-1 wins over bitter rivals Real Madrid and lowly Eibar.

"We've played some good games such as against Madrid, and haven't played so well in other games, such as against Eibar," he said.

"That can happen at the start of the season but in two or three weeks we'll be better and we're going to start winning games again."

The Brazilian also played down the significance of Atletico fans booing Diego Simeone's decision to replace Antoine Griezmann with Raul Garcia against Celta and backed Mexican forward Raul Jimenez, who was also the subject of boos from the Calderon faithful.

"It's normal that the fans are happy sometimes and not happy other times. But we are sure that everything we do is for the good of the team, sometimes the fans might not like it but that's expected," he said.

"It's normal for the fans to boo one day and applaud the next. They can boo me, (Diego) Godin or Raul Garcia and then applaud us immediately afterwards. You have to be patient. You win the fans over with hard work."

Atletico are still without striker Mario Mandzukic while the Croatian recovers from a broken nose, and Cristian Rodriguez is also out with a calf injury.

Almeria meanwhile will be short of midfielders for the game at the Juegos Meditaraneos, where they beat Atletico 2-0 last season.

Thomas Partey is prevented from playing against parent club Atletico due to the terms of his loan deal, Corona remains out with a thigh injury and Sebastian Dubarbier is suspended after being sent off in the 2-1 win at Real Sociedad last weekend.