Simeone: The solution to Costa and Morata's poor form is work, work and work Atletico Madrid vs Valencia The pair are still struggling

Diego Simeone says the only way for Atletico Madrid's underperforming players to find their form is to work tirelessly.

Diego Costa and Alvaro Morata have been misfiring this season and although the former opened the scoring on Saturday with a penalty against Valencia, his first home goal of the season, they're not delivering as expected.

"It's hard to give advice to players of such a standing," Simeone said.

"They're in complicated runs [of form]. But the way out is to work, to persist, be simpler in their play, and surely one will soon bounce off their knee and go in.

"We always look for culprits, but the solution is to work, work and work."

Atleti led from the first half but let the points slip in the second, drawing 1-1, as their mixed start to 2019/20 continued.

"We're a new team," Simeone explained.

"We have to get used to the game and we have to find our balance in handling certain spells of the game.

"The problem is when the opponent puts you in a position and you can't solve it. We still have a lot of work to do."

Atleti did go down to 10 men when Joao Felix was forced off injured, after Simeone had made his three changes.

"The doctors will report more accurately soon," he said, "it didn't seem so much at first, but the referee told me he bent his ankle.

"I hope it's as little as possible."