Simeone: It's my job to annoy the players

Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone believes annoying his players helps bring the best out of them.

Simeone's men sit third in LaLiga after 13 matches, just two points adrift of leaders Sevilla.

In an interview with France Football , the Argentine - who has been in the job since 2011, winning the top flight once, reaching two Champions League finals and claiming a pair of Europa League crowns - discussed the coaching methods that have enabled him to achieve such longevity.

"I am convinced that the footballer needs the work we give him," said Simeone. "Respect lies in that work, not in arguing for a particular number of minutes. 

"My role is to take the player to his limits, to provoke him, to annoy him against me, because in this nervousness is the will to improve."

He added: "I try to forget everything that has happened to us in previous years and I focus on one thing: how to win tomorrow! 

"My ambition is to work to improve my players. My enthusiasm is there, in the challenge that is proposed to me. In fact, a coach is primarily a trainer, not only in tactics but also in emotional matters."

Antoine Griezmann has been a key figure for Simeone since his arrival from Real Sociedad in 2014 and the coach says it is difficult to underestimate his importance for club and country, having won the World Cup with France earlier this year. 

"He's the huge player a team needs to be a champion," he commented. "He is with Atletico and he is with Les Bleus. 

"Antoine knows perfectly how to choose decisive moments. France works with his brain. 

"When Antoine is lucid and physically fit, there is no one in the world who can understand and interpret football like him."