Ademola Lookman began Atletico Madrid’s La Liga campaign in an unfamiliar position, but Diego Simeone has made it clear that the Nigerian’s deployment through the middle was driven by necessity rather than a permanent tactical change.
Lookman started as the lone striker in Atletico’s 5-4-1 formation as Simeone’s side opened the season with a 2-0 victory over Malaga on Wednesday.
The Nigeria international completed the entire match and showed enough threat to suggest he can provide an alternative in the position, registering two shots on target and forcing an impressive save from the Malaga goalkeeper.
The decision to move Lookman into the No. 9 position came with Atletico short of their usual attacking options.
Julian Alvarez was not called up for the fixture, while Alexander Sorloth was unavailable because of injury, leaving Simeone with fewer recognised forwards to choose from.
Rather than allowing the shortage to disrupt his attacking plans, the Atletico coach opted for a solution that allowed Lookman to operate centrally.
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Simeone explained that the situation required creativity while acknowledging the importance of strengthening his options in that position.
“Creativity. Trying to look for what can make us better because we do not have at this moment a forward who can give us (something) from the beginning because Julian was not called up and Sorloth because of his injury,” Simeone said, as quoted by Eldesmarque.
The Atletico boss added; “That position is important and we hope to be able to improve it.”
That suggests Lookman’s role should not necessarily be interpreted as a permanent conversion into a centre-forward.
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The experiment nevertheless gave Simeone another tactical possibility. Lookman has traditionally been more effective when starting from wider attacking positions, where his pace, movement and ability to attack defenders can create problems.
Against Malaga, however, he was asked to operate closer to goal and lead the line although he did not get on the scoresheet, his two efforts on target showed that he was capable of contributing from the central position.
His versatility could therefore become particularly useful while Atletico continue to manage their shortage of established forwards.
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The Nigerian will now hope to build on his opening-day performance when Atletico return to action on Sunday against Villarreal.
Whether Lookman remains at the head of the attack will depend largely on Simeone’s available personnel, but his first outing as a No. 9 has at least given the Argentine another option to consider.
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