SIMEONE MAKES SURE I THINK ABOUT ATTACK AND DEFENCE
KIERAN TRIPPIER LOVED BOMBING ON AT SPURS...BUT AT ATLETICO HE IS ALSO LEARNING THE ART OF KEEPING CLEAN SHEETS FROM THE MASTER
‘If the cross is not on, turn out. If you give it away in this league, you can be chasing it for ages’
ENGLAND defender Kieran Trippier is broadening his horizons at Atletico Madrid. But he has not forgotten his roots. He says his move to a different competitive environment has woken him up and extended his football education. He is even learning Spanish.
But he still speaks to his old Burnley boss Sean Dyche once a week. And he misses the darts. No one plays in the squad, and there is no ‘Ally Pally’ in the Spanish capital.
He will miss cheering on his pal, the Dutch World Champion, Michael van Gerwen, when he defends his title next month.
‘I still owe him dinner,’ he says of the friendly wager made last December that if Holland beat England in the Nations League he would pick up the tab at Mayfair’s Novikov restaurant, and viceversa. ‘I want him to know I haven’t forgotten.’
When that bet was made Trippier would have expected to be playing in the Nations League. Instead, after a poor season at Tottenham, he was left out of the squad. It might have been the beginning of the end. Instead it was the start of a new chapter.
‘I knew it was coming in a way because of the performances and because you’ve got Trent Alexander-Arnold, you’ve got Kyle Walker, you’ve got Aaron Wan-Bissaka and you’ve got Reece James so there is so much competition,’ he tells
Sportsmail.
‘But I felt — and I spoke with Gareth Southgate about this — that it could be the time for a new challenge, coming out here and playing. I thought, “Why not give it a go?”’
The criticism of him last season centred on defensive shortcomings. He does not hide from the drop-off in form.
‘I have come to a different league and maybe the new challenge has woken me up,’ the 29-year- old says. ‘It was there for everyone to see last season that sometimes my concentration was lacking.
‘I have said many times over the last 16 months that my defending needs to improve and before I came here people were questioning the move but I didn’t have to think twice. It was coming to play for the perfect team. If I play for Cholo (Diego Simeone), I know defensively I can improve.’
There is nothing like being parachuted into an alien environment to sharpen the senses. And there is no one like Simeone to get the best out of defenders.
‘In the Premier League there were times when I would be bombing forward and not really thinking about my defending,’ he says. ‘But here I have to think about both and Cholo makes sure of that.’
Why was the concentration missing last season? The worst thing for Trippier was not really knowing the answer to that question.
Looking out on to the main pitch of Atletico’s modest training ground with its transport cafestyle canteen where the players have breakfast together, he takes time over his answers when this topic is raised.
‘I don’t think it was anything to do with the World Cup,’ he says. ‘Sometimes you do need a break, but that’s not an excuse. There are injuries and there are other things that happen behind the scenes and your head is not quite there. You are still trying to do your best but things are not quite right and it’s an awful place to be.
‘Sometimes I feel that I was selfish in the sense that when I was really struggling with injuries I didn’t maybe open up to the manager and say, “I’m injured”. As players we don’t want to lose our place. That ended up damaging me because I was getting murdered on the pitch. I was making silly errors.
‘Maybe I should have taken a step back and said, “I’m struggling”. But I just wanted to play. If I am ever in that situation again for sure I will think about the team more than myself.’
Tottenham fans might point the finger at Mauricio Pochettino too. Should he have done more to try to turn Trippier’s season around, or sat down with him in the summer to make sure his revival this season happened in London and not Madrid? Trippier prefers to speak about another former coach, albeit provoked by the suggestion that Simeone is really just the Argentinian Dyche.
‘I don’t know how to answer this one,’ he laughs. Obviously the honours do not compare, but maybe their characters are similar?
‘No, no, I know what you are saying,’ he says. ‘They are both very passionate managers. Even when I have been on the bench and watching Simeone in the technical area, or when I’m playing and
we score a late goal you see the passion from him.’
the Burnley days — and the excellent physical conditioning at tottenham — stood trippier in good stead for atletico’s feared fitness coach Oscar Ortega. he’s known for running new recruits up hills until they are physically sick.
‘i had heard about him before i came here,’ trippier says. ‘But at tottenham we worked extremely hard with Jesus Perez and mauricio Pochettino so i was ready.’
and nothing is tougher than the tractor tyre racing at Burnley right? that drill, borrowed from the army, was part of pre-season training the year Burnley were promoted to the Premier league with trippier pushing tyres almost bigger than him to build power.
‘i still speak to Sean Dyche about it to this day. We still keep in contact every week,’ he says.
he did not crack during Ortega’s pre- season of pain and it is his stamina, the quality of his crosses, and his willingness to fit in that have made him popular.
‘the language barrier is difficult,’ he admits. ‘You have to make sure you get involved. i try to speak a little bit of Spanish and i might say the odd daft word but it doesn’t matter.’
Diego Costa — now there’s a potential darts partner for trippier, although as he points out ‘a lot of people are in trouble if he’s got darts’ — has christened him ‘Rooney’.
‘i think he calls me it because it’s the first name that comes into his head. now everywhere i go, even in the warm-up, everyone’s shouting “Rooney” at me.’
it has planted a seed of doubt in his mind: ‘i don’t think i do. Do you think i look like Rooney?!’
But the welcome has helped him settle. ‘i have never experienced an atmosphere at a club like this before,’ he says. ‘except with england because we have got that real bond. and that comes from gareth, as here it comes from Cholo.’
the supporters, who have also welcomed him, knew who he was before he arrived, thanks in large part to his World Cup semi-final goal against Croatia.
‘even though i scored in that game i feel like the most important game for me was the Colombia match,’ he says. ‘We had meetings before that game just to be ready. You saw with harry Kane’s penalty they were kicking the spot, little things like that. they wanted to try to get one of us sent off. it’s game-management from their side. and i understand what they are trying to do but i thought we dealt with it excellently.’
england’s game in Bulgaria last month — when black players suffered racist abuse — was another example of Southgate having prepared his players. ‘We had meetings. gareth and the staff are perfect. he got us prepared if anything happened,’ trippier says. ‘it was horrendous for me to witness. my dad’s mixed race, my brothers too. it’s not nice. i thought we dealt with it in the right way. We punished them on the pitch.’
Southgate was doubtless not just looking out for trippier when he backed his idea of moving to la liga. he knew it would potentially give him a more complete player at his disposal. the importance of keeping the ball certainly seems more ingrained.
‘last season i was maybe putting the ball in the box for the sake of it,’ he says bringing up a recent alvaro morata goal scored in part because trippier played a short pass to keep possession.
‘if i was at tottenham, i would have just crossed that ball. We do that with england too. if it’s not on to cross, turn out, play to Jordan henderson, whoever is there. in this league, if you give the ball away you can be chasing it for a long time.’
another change for him will be having the festive period off this year — perfect timing for the Darts World Championship maybe? ‘i’m gutted i can’t go,’ he says. ‘it’s true we have a winter break here but i have to take the family away for Christmas.’ they have made sacrifices too and he is grateful for that. For the moment it is paying off. there is a huddle of supporters at the training ground gates and he stops for photos before driving away. this trip to madrid is going well. he is gaining from it — and so are england.
‘Diego Costa calls me Rooney. I don’t think I look like him. Do you think I look like Rooney?!’