How Conor Gallagher’s Off-the-Ball Work Has Helped Transform Atlético Madrid

Conor Gallagher might not be grabbing headlines during his first season at Atlético Madrid but he is playing a vital role as Diego Simeone builds yet another title challenger.

Andrea Berta, Atlético Madrid’s sporting director for over a decade officially left the club at the start of January. As a parting gift, he left Diego Simeone with a treasure chest of new signings after an unprecedented summer of spending by the club.

Robin Le Normand, Alexander Sørloth, Julián Alvarez and Conor Gallagher were all recruited by the outgoing Berta during a bustling summer of transfer activity. Clément Lenglet was added as a free agent and Guiliano Simeone was promoted to the first team to complete a squad the likes Atlético fans haven’t seen for a very long time.

They have won 14 games in a row now in all competitions, a run dating back to the end of October. It’s the longest run in the club’s history, and they’ve shown their credentials as serious title challengers in La Liga. They are also guaranteed at least a spot in the playoffs of the 2024-25 UEFA Champions League with one game to play.

What’s more exciting is that the team looks refreshed. All of the players signed are close to their prime years with Gallagher and Alvarez still only really getting started.

With this injection of energy in the summer, we are seeing Simeone push himself beyond the limits imposed on him by his squad.

The style of play that elevated Atlético into the elite category over a decade ago has been talked about at great length and repetitively. A 4-4-2 low block, defend as if your dinner depended on it, and counter with dizzying speed. It’s 2025 and it might feel like it’s time to park those ideas of Cholismo.

But the central theme of the Argentinian’s time at the club has been one of forced evolution because of how successful that system was and how slow he was to move away from some of its central principles. They had become too good to play purely counter-attacking football and at the same time Simeone has found it hard to just let go of the demands he makes on his players.

The attack can only be as good as how hard the players are willing to work when they don’t have the ball. So, Berta’s job has always been to trawl the transfer market for players who work hard enough off the ball while improving the team technically when they do have it.

One summer signing in particular is proving to fit that mould perfectly, in the shape of Gallagher. He is the most comprehensively Diego Simeone player we have seen at the club since the days of old-school foot soldiers like Diego Godín and Gabi.

Gallagher’s Remit

For those who watched Gallagher gallop into the penalty area as a late runner and pick up loose balls around the box for Crystal Palace and Chelsea, watching him in Spain might seem like an aberration. Not since his days at West Brom under Sam Allardyce has he done as much heavy lifting in defence as he has this season.

There are moments when he does offer bursts of creativity and a threat in the box with his runs into the box, but he is touching the ball just 0.94 times per 90 in the opposition box. That’s the lowest number of his career with his previous low being 1.35 with West Brom back in 2020-21.

But he was not signed to aid in the creating or scoring of goals. He is attempting just 11.4 forward passes per 90 minutes. His midfield partner Rodrigo de Paul, for example, is attempting 23.5. Gallagher’s 3.0 progressive carries pale in comparison to De Paul’s 9.5. Among Atlético players to have played at least 500 minutes, the Englishman is 13th in chances created per 90 with 0.31. Only Jan Oblak, centre-backs Lenglet, José Giménez, Axel Witsel and Le Normand and back-up left-back, Reinldo, are creating fewer.

It’s a really low-volume role too, with just 42.2 passes per 90 during his 860 minutes in La Liga – 13 fewer than last season. That’s 52nd among all midfielders in the league this term with at least 500 minutes played and it shows you where Simeone wants him to focus his attention.

A cursory glance at his touch maps between this season and last season shows the difference in how and where he is playing. His defensive actions have increased and where he is making an impact defensively adds another layer to the story.

Gallagher plays a hybrid role on the left of midfield where he can play as a traditional left midfielder or drop into a back five as a left-back with Javi Galán tucking in to play as a left centre-back. The left-back position has been a particularly problematic area for Simeone since Lucas Hernández left the club for Bayern Munich back in 2019.

It’s a big part of the reason he started playing a back five with wing-backs in the first place. He couldn’t find a single player who could be an attacking threat while maintaining their defensive responsibilities to play left-back. He plays Galán there now who has the first part covered but has weaknesses defensively.

It’s Gallagher who makes it work. He has no problem drifting inside, vacating the entire wing for Galán to get forward while still being useful – his in-possession stats might be low volume but it’s not no volume. Likewise, he can push forward and play wide on the left, crashing into the box when the switch is on or pressing an opposition player to make sure they don’t progress the ball unimpeded.

There’s a new dynamism to how Atlético play out of possession, which is part of the reason why Simeone wanted and needed a player like Gallagher. They’re still capable of sitting and soaking up pressure. They only have 132 high turnovers this season, which is slightly below the league average and fewer than they had on a per-game basis compared to last season. They’re very specific about when they do press and have also slightly increased their sequences containing at least 10 passes from last year. They are slowly shifting towards a more controlled state.

But on the ball, Gallagher is more of a space creator and decoy than a genuine threat. We regularly see him drifting into the centre to either make space for Galán to race forward or for Alvarez to drop into.

The selflessness required to earn minutes under Simeone means that while Gallagher’s season might not be one of headline-making performances and personal accolades, he is playing a role that then allows others to be at their best too.

Conor Gallagher, The Facilitator

Marcos Llorente has been given the chance to settle into life as a full-time right-back with Gallagher in the squad. The 29-year-old used to be moved around the field to cover up the lack of players in the squad capable of doing what Simeone required.

We can see below how Llorente has played the majority of his time at right-back this season. Last season he had to play everywhere from central midfield, where he spent over 40% of his time, to left midfield and even as a striker. Sometimes he played several positions in the same 90 minutes.

That led to frustration, confusion and an inability to create connections with his teammates. The constant moving put a ceiling on how good Atlético could be. This season, however, Atlético’s right-hand side is as potent as any in Europe’s top five leagues.

This is where you find Antoine Griezmann working his creative magic. With Llorente’s driving runs forward and De Paul pulling strings from this area of the field, Atlético have found the formula to break down any team.

It’s no coincidence too that De Paul is having his best season in red and white with Atlético’s new found balance. His passing numbers are all up this season, from passes attempted to forward passes, through balls and passes into the box while his tackling numbers and interceptions have all gone in the other direction. With the arrival of Gallagher, Atlético’s best players can focus on what they do best and it has turned them into a more dangerous team in all facets of the game.

The expected goals numbers around Atlético’s performance back that up. They have the highest xG per game (1.77) since Simeone took over at the club. Their xG against (0.96) is higher than average over the course of his tenure but it is better than last year (1.16 per game).

But their overall xG difference per game in all competitions (+0.81) is the best it has ever been under the Argentine.

When Simeone first emerged as a world-class coach, his team and style of play were a revelation in a world filled with gegen-pressing and possession football. He shunned those ideas and those who believed that possession as an objective was enough.

Based on Atlético’s success, it became clear he was eventually going to have to build a team that could switch gears. They would, at times, have to be the protagonists, prodding and poking at opposition low blocks just as they had once been prodded and poked. He has built and rebuilt teams on a platform that still contained the same principles as his original title-winning side: self-sacrifice, hard work and energy.

This is a brand new era of Atlético Madrid football but the keys to success under Simeone are the same as always. Gallagher is proving the perfect prototype for this exciting new dawn of football at the club.

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