Tag: Alumni Watch

Tripps in Spain: Kieran Trippier Makes His Debut for Atlético Against Numancia

  • Alumni Watch

Kieran Trippier looked calm and collected in his debut for Atlético Madrid, where he featured in the starting XI for a low-stakes friendly against Numancia on Saturday 20th July.

Trippier played the entirety of the first half, where he was a confident presence. We can see, perhaps unsurprisingly, that Kieran will be playing in much the same spaces that he played in for Spurs under Pochettino. As his RB position demands, he tracked back regularly to the bottom right corner (Fig. 1), but frequently pressed high up the pitch into the attacking spaces Spurs fans became accustomed to seeing him in (Fig. 2).

Fig. 1 – Trippier is circled in purple
Fig. 2 – Trippier pushes up the pitch

This attacking stance paid off, resulting in a brilliant pass to Morata on the edge of the box, although on this occasion Morata’s effort sadly curved slightly over the bar and Trippier was denied his first assist in an Atlético shirt (Figs. 3, 4).

Fig. 3 – Trippier delivers a great ball to Morata
Fig. 4 – Morata’s effort, which came courtesy of a ball from Tripper, was struck well, but curled just over the top right corner of the goal

Overall, Trippier seemed to be fitting in well with Simeone’s system (which is not dissimilar to Spurs’ style under Pochettino) and is already showing good positioning and footballing chemistry with the rest of the team. It’ll be interesting to see how he develops in competitive matches as Atlético start their season. ⚽

The match result at a glance

Next match: Trippier should make an appearance for Atlético in their International Champions Cup game against Guadalajara on Weds 24th July (KO 02.00 BST).

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