According to AS, Newcastle United apparently want Diego Simeone as their new manager, and on the surface, that looks like a very exciting appointment.
Indeed, Simeone knows what it takes to be a winner. He’s led his Atletico Madrid side to two La Liga titles despite the fact Real Madrid and Barcelona usually dominate Spanish football, while he’s also taken Atleti to two Champions League finals – and he was unlucky not to win both.
However, one man who isn’t a fan of Simeone is former Newcastle boss Graeme Souness.
The Scot stated after Atletico beat Liverpool back in 2020 that Simeone’s brand of football has caused Madrid to come up short on a number of occasions, claiming that his success has been born out of luck rather than genius.
What’s been said?
Souness gave his view on Simeone after they eliminated Liverpool from the Champions League in 2020.
“What I didn’t like about Atletico is that they defended really, really well to a man and they put their body on the line, time and time again – but you have to play a bit, haven’t you, when you defend?” Souness said.
“This man [Simeone] gets them playing a brand of football which has caused them to come up short many, many times. It’s not a brand of football that I would enjoy or endorse. But it’s been effective tonight. However, it has mostly been down to Liverpool not taking their chances. They rode their luck enormously tonight.
“I would never be in charge of a team that would want to play like that. If you are stuck with a group of players and you end up playing like that, you must say to yourself, ‘we really have to be lucky every time we go out to play to play like that’ – I think anyone going down that road and playing like that has to be a lucky manager – you have to say they were lucky tonight.”
Wide of the mark
Souness is very knowledgeable about football, but he’s really wide of the mark on this one.
Simeone is a fantastic manager. He was voted as the manager of the decade ahead of both Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola, and it’s not just about luck.
In fact, we would have to say that Simeone has been a victim of bad luck. After all, he lost a Champions League final via a last-minute goal in 2014 before losing another on penalties in 2016.
Regardless of what Souness thinks, Simeone would be a fantastic manager for Newcastle.
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