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MADRID -- Atletico Madrid is not used to struggling like this, not under coach Diego Simeone.After its third loss in five Spanish league games on Monday, Atletico dropped to sixth place -- its worst position at this point in the season since Simeone took charge in 2011.The 3-0 loss at Villarreal left Atletico 12 points behind leader Real Madrid after 15 matches. It also trails Barcelona, Sevilla, Villarreal and Real Sociedad.There have been some mistakes, said Simeone, who won the title with Atletico in 2014. We accept the criticism. When a team loses two games in a row, things need to improve.Atletico also lost 1-0 at Bayern Munich in the Champions League, a result that snapped the teams perfect record in the European competition. It was held to a disappointing 0-0 draw at home against Espanyol in its previous Spanish league game. One of its recent losses in the league was a demoralizing 3-0 setback against Madrid at home in the city derby.The team is trying its best to get in position to win, Simeone said. But in these last few games we are not having any luck, especially with the scoring chances, and that leads to losses. We have to keep working, because its the only way we can improve.Atletico has not been worse than third in the league since a fifth-place finish in 2011-12. The club was only 10th after 15 matches that season, but it improved significantly after Simeone took over in December 2011. Atletico was third at the end of the following season and won the league in 2013-14 to end a drought of nearly two decades.Atletico was third again the last two seasons, and now it has some work to do just to secure a Champions League spot.Obviously we have to improve if we want to fight for the spots atop the standings, Atletico captain Gabi Fernandez said.The letdown comes as a surprise as Atletico entered the season with high expectations. Thanks to a significant increase in income from television rights, Simeone was able to add important pieces to the squad and fans expected Atletico to move even closer to the perennial powerhouses of Barcelona and Madrid.But Simeone started experimenting with different formations and the team struggled with inconsistency. The squads offense got a boost but the usually stout defense lost some of its strength. Atletico conceded 11 goals in its last seven league games, and 14 in 15 games, only four goals less than the 18 it conceded in all 38 games in the league last season.We have to improve and stop allowing so many goals, Fernandez said.To make things worse for Simeone, he may be without goalkeeper Jan Oblak for a long period because he dislocated his left shoulder in the game against Villarreal, having to be substituted in the 40th minute at El Madrigal Stadium. Defensive midfielder Tiago Mendes also left the game before halftime because of a discomfort in his right knee.Atleticos next game is Saturday against 10th-place Las Palmas at the Vicente Calderon Stadium.There is still a lot of league ahead of us, Atletico defender Stefan Savic said. Its not all lost. Last year Barcelona was 12 points in front and we got to within two at one stage. We are going through a difficult moment but we will rebound.---Tales Azzoni on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tazzoni Fjallraven Kanken Mini Pas Cher . A statement from the worlds top-ranked player says all checks "were satisfactory and showed positive evolution" regarding the injury, which contributed to his loss to Stanislas Wawrinka in the final in Melbourne. Fjallraven Kanken Soldes . In the lead up - which seemed to begin the moment Mike Geiger blew the whistle in Houston last Thursday night - the Impact rumour mill went into overdrive. The speculation went into meltdown mode, of the golden nugget variety. http://www.sackankenpascher.fr/ . -- Stanfords Kevin Danser knelt on one knee and hardly moved on the sideline as Michigan State celebrated its Rose Bowl victory and his Cardinal teammates made their way to the locker room. Kanken Mini Soldes .C. Lions has come to an end. Banks told TSN on Jan 2 that he had no interest in playing out the option year of his contract with the Lions in 2014, and he again made that clear in a conversation with Lions GM Wally Buono last week. Fjallraven Kanken Pas Cher . How great will be revealed in the next couple of days at the board of governors meeting in Pebble Beach, Calif. Aspiring NRL teams like the Brisbane Bombers should enter a team into rugby leagues new-look second tier instead of pushing for direct entry, NRL head of football Brian Canavan says.Canavan has declared expansion of the NRL is off the table, but expansion of the Intrust Super Cup in Queensland and NSWs Intrust Super Premiership is very much up for discussion.Those competitions will take on added importance from 2018 as the NRL phases out the Holden Cup and replaces it with under-20s leagues in each state.By 2022, rugby leagues second tier could include more teams from regional areas, the Northern Territory, Western Australia, Pacific Island nations and even a second New Zealand team, all of which have been earmarked as potential new sides by the NRL.But it could also serve as a springboard for new entities like the Bombers, who have been pushing for a spot in the NRL for several years, only to have been repeatedly turned away by a reluctant governing body.Asked if the Bombers would be welcome to apply for an Intrust Super Cup licence, Canavan said: That would be a more appropriate wayy to go about it.dddddddddddd(If you) develop from the bottom up, that ensures sustainability for the future rather than just be a one-out club.It builds the capacity, builds the brand, builds a player base, an administration base - all that ready to go for the next level.Australian Rugby League Commission chairman John Grant said last year the NRLs 17th club would likely come from south-east Queensland.However, the NRL has since gone cold on the idea of expansion in the short term and Canavan said there would be no new additions for several years.Expansion at the NRL level is off the table. Thats not to say it wont come back onto the table at some stage into the distant future, he said.But expansion is on the table at the second-tier, state cup levels, and if we can accommodate affiliate states ... that widens our base.Then, if we wanted to expand way down the track, weve got a bigger base, a bigger pool of players to call upon to advance the competition. ' ' '