Diego Simeone hasn't changed but Atletico Madrid have - now they must beat Arsenal after a season of drift

“There’s pressure, because this is the best bit. These are the games that we’ve worked to be in.” Diego Simeone has lost none of his hunger, or his desire to perennially cast his Atletico Madrid side as blue-collar heroes, as his mood showed looking ahead after his team’s goalless draw with Real Betis on Sunday night.

They might wish at the moment that he was still out there on the field with them, just as every manic lurch on the touchline suggests he does. Since arriving a few days before Christmas 2011, El Cholo has transformed perpetual also-rans into European big hitters, carving them in his own image; gritty, organised and occasionally cynical.

Yet Atletico’s image as masters of attrition has taken a bit of a knock. While he started against Betis with Antoine Griezmann, Koke and Diego Godin all on the bench, Simeone hasn’t rotated much in the run-up to Thursday’s Europa League semi-final with Arsenal, simply because he doesn’t have the squad to do so.

The loss of three players after the closure of La Liga’s winter transfer window, with Yannick Carrasco and Nicolas Gaitan joining Dalian Yifang and reserve goalkeeper Miguel Angel Moya being allowed to go to Real Sociedad in an emergency move, has left Atleti with a threadbare group incorporating just 17 senior outfield players. A key one of those, Diego Costa, is struggling to make Thursday’s game after injuring a hamstring during the quarter-final second leg with Sporting Clube de Portugal.

Simeone’s players are not excuse makers, but they have struggled to avoid acknowledging the prevailing wind. “There aren’t any explanations to give,” defender Stefan Savic said after last Thursday’s 3-0 defeat at Real Sociedad, in which Atleti lacked their trademark intensity. “The other team played very well and we’ve played a lot of games in a row without a big group of players.” Goalkeeper Jan Oblak also spoke of tiredness after the Betis match, though Fernando Torres suggested that the fact the squad were “a bit short” has brought them closer to each other, fostering a spirit of togetherness.

Either way, their away form is a real concern. They flirted with elimination during a wan display in the quarter-final return leg at Sporting, and it wasn’t a one-off. The last time they kept a clean sheet on the road was at relegated Malaga in early February. They’ve also suffered three defeats in their last four away games in La Liga, though the other was a draw at the Bernabeu in the Madrid derby. If Arsenal are to make something happen in this tie, Thursday night’s first leg provides them with their opportunity to do so.

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That’s not to say Atleti’s pedigree should be ignored. This isn’t really where they wanted to be, of course, having been Champions League regulars in recent years and having come agonisingly close to winning finals in 2014 and 2016. “If you’re asking me today,” captain Gabi said in October, after a second Champions League group stage draw with Qarabag pushed them to the brink of elimination, “I’ll tell you that the Europa League is s***, even if it’s given me a lot during my career.”

Those two stalemates with the Azerbaijani minnows – meaning a later win over now semi-finalists Roma and a draw at Chelsea proved to be in vain – underlined the problem that Atletico have been struggling with for much of this season. They have always been a reactive, rather than a proactive team under Simeone, but their reserve has been excessive this season, and has held them back from reaching the next level.

Their timid display in the 1-0 defeat at Barcelona last month was a case in point. Atleti went to Camp Nou to face Liga leaders that had dropped points three times in their previous five games, knowing a win would take them to within two points of Barca. Instead of going after the game they were passive, only throwing themselves forward when Ernesto Valverde’s side were set and it was too late. In the reverse fixture at the Wanda Metropolitano in September they tried to sit on their lead, Simeone’s substitutions were too defensive and they conceded a late equaliser to Luis Suarez.

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The coach has tacitly acknowledged this drift and, having committed his medium-term future to the club by extending his contract to 2020 back in September, he intends to begin evolving the side. He experimented by playing three at the back against Betis, and didn’t rule out using the same tactics this week in London, even though it meant pushing arguably his best player, midfielder Saul Niguez, out to left-wingback. “Better one of them be uncomfortable than four,” Simeone retorted to the idea Saul could be neutered.

By summer, change is expected to gather pace with significant squad turnover. Torres’ exit is already confirmed and the future of veterans like Juanfran (who is also out injured on Thursday) and Gabi up for debate. So they’re aiming for a last hurrah in the competition in which the Simeone era really started, with Atleti winning the 2012 final in Bucharest against Marcelo Bielsa’s eye-catching Athletic Bilbao with a controlled, nerveless display, underpinned by Radamel Falcao’s brace.

Even if this leopard aims to change its spots, a couple of moves out of Simeone’s classic playbook would do nicely for Atleti over the next week or so.