It has been a funny old season for Atletico Madrid. Imperious in the Champions League, a Copa del Rey semifinal berth sealed, but somewhat subdued in La Liga. They currently sit joint fourth and face a battle to ensure a seat at Europe's top table will be theirs when they enter the new Wanda Metropolitano stadium next season.
With the league now at its halfway stage, ESPNFC looks at how Los Colchoneros can kick on and ensure they finish where they want to be.
Home comforts against direct rivals
The numbers do not make good reading for the Vicente Calderon faithful: In seven games against the rest of the top eight, Atleti have recorded just one win, -- against eighth placed Celta Vigo -- two draws and four defeats, an abysmal record for a club who started the season with genuine title aspirations.
There is, however, a beacon of hope for Atletico. Of those seven games, six have been played away from home, with the defeats at Sevilla, Real Sociedad and Villarreal all coming immediately after midweek Champions League games, while last week's 2-2 draw at Athletic Bilbao was sandwiched in between their two Copa del Rey quarterfinal legs versus Eibar. They also travelled to Valencia -- notoriously one of the most difficult away trips in Spain -- on the back of a Champions League game, too.
While that quirk of the fixture list has not been kind to Diego Simeone, the Argentine can at least take solace in the fact he gets to welcome the majority of their direct rivals to the Calderon, where they fare far stronger. They will need to turn the ground into a fortress and give it the proper see off it deserves in its final few months.
More output from the forwards
Last week, Simeone called for "more consistency" from his forward players -- and he has a point. To be kind, the front line's first few months of the season were rubbish. New signing Kevin Gameiro flittered in and out of the side, while the less said about Fernando Torres the better. Even star man Antoine Griezmann went nearly three months without a La Liga goal.
Yannick Carrasco's stunning form helped paper over the cracks, however, with the Belgian himself now looking like he is enduring a crisis of confidence, Los Rojiblancos need their misfiring forwards to step up to the plate. To be fair, Griezmann has been on fire since the Christmas break and looks rejuvenated. However, he cannot do it all himself and needs help.
For that to happen, Gameiro needs a consistent run in the side. Earlier this season it appeared he and Griezmann were striking up an understanding, however the manager's bizarre Torres obsession often meant he would be in and out of the starting XI. He has not scored in the league since Nov. 27th and that is frankly just not good enough. However, the fact that "El Nino's" barren spell stretches all the way back to Sept. 17th shows why No. 21 must get the nod.
Bring back Jose Maria Gimenez
Admittedly, this is a problem all of Simeone's own making. At the very end of last season, he bombed out Jose Maria Gimenez and ever since Stefan Savic has been the first choice partner for Diego Godin. It is unclear as to why the Argentine favours Savic, especially given how uncomfortable the usually unflappable Godin appears next to him, however it needs rectifying.
Once again, the numbers do not lie. In 2015-16 the all-Uruguayan partnership at the back ensured Atleti shipped a miserly 18 goals in the league all season. This time round, with Savic as first choice, they have already conceded 16 times in 19 games.
While Simeone evidently has his reasons, there are rumours that the club are unhappy with Gimenez not signing a new deal (his current one expires in 2018) and his omission from the side earlier in the season was due to that. Whether that is the case or not only a few know, however the 22-year-old's recent performances have been stellar and show what a big mistake leaving him out in the first place was.
He should partner Godin for the rest of the season and the hierarchy must ensure he is given a new deal. He is one of the best -- if not the best -- centre-backs in the world for his age and the club must do everything in their power to keep him in the Spanish capital for years to come.