Most people criticized Joao for his comments about Atletico but he was right. It’s way easier to perform in a possesion side than in a defensive side
When you only touch the ball 5-10 times per game it’s harder to perform that if you touch it 45-50 times per game. Joao wasn’t lying when he said most players would prefer to touch the ball 50 times than 10 times.
Just compare today’s game between Barca and Atletico. Just compare how much touches did Joao had in comparison to Griezzman and you would see how Joao actually had a point.
It come down to tactic of the manager. Rafa was pretty defensive coach for us but he still gave free role to likes of Gerrard and Torres to do their while the rest did the donkey work for them to shine.