Christmas break is over, and we’ve got a doozy on our hands to begin the 2021 campaign. Sassuolo has been the surprise team of the Serie A season, sitting 4th in the table even without the fulltime support of Jeremie Boga and Francesco Caputo. Atalanta was able to handle the men from Modena relatively easy last year – although Gollini was fantastic in neutralizing Sassuolo’s blistering counter attack in the 2nd match of the year and make the game look like more of a blow out than it probably was. However, while the betting sites are making Atalanta a comfortable favorite to win at home, I wouldn’t want to take de Zerbi’s men for granted who haven’t been setting the world on fire the last month, but can beat any team in the league on their day.
The week and a half break hopefully did La Dea a lot of good. Asides from letting some of the Papu drama fizzle out, it was a perfect chance to rest the squad who absolutely needed to it – but still aren’t getting any favors with a midweek game against Parma coming up. Even with Joakim Maehle coming in as a reinforcement imminently, getting Hateboer some rest is still huge for his fitness and the club’s balance. Besides getting Hateboer some rest, two more defensive reinforcements in Ruggeri and Caldara should be huge for the depth and balance of the squad. Mojica being shipped back to Spain wouldn’t surprise me as Ruggeri looks to get become the prime choice for Gosen’s backup. Caldara on the other hand will have to do some yeoman’s work to crack the starting lineup again. With Romero firmly cemented in the middle, Caldara either has to get comfortable being 2nd fiddle in the middle or showing some prowess on the either the right or left. Frankly I wouldn’t mind a change of scenery to Toloi who’s mistakes are often far too costly, but I think it’s TDB if Caldara can play on the right – especially with Sutalo also competing for playing time. Regardless, La Dea are off to a good start with a healthy defensive backline, Gollini being at the top of his game, and Maehle coming in to hopefully become our next Castagne.
The midfield – however – is a different story. Asides de Roon and Freuler, we’re still missing that reinforcement in the middle to give one of the best pivots in Serie A a rest. Personally, I think Pessina excels more in a double pivot than a more attacking role. And now with Malinovskyi chirping for more playing time, Lesha getting more minutes, and Pasalic eventually coming back (who I think could absolutely thrive in the current Pessina role), I wouldn’t mind to see Pessina shifted further back on the pitch to make room for some of our better playmaking options. It’s nearly impossible to replicate Papu’s game changing ability, but I’d have to opt to Malinovskyi, Miranchuk, or even Pasalic as a better option to play the “1” in a 3-4-1-2. It’ll be interesting to see how Gasperini handles the midfield, especially someone to hawk Locatelli. Maybe its Freuler, but hey maybe Pessina is the “1” to run over the pitch and stick to Locatelli like white on rice and let Ilicic be the prime attacking option.
Offensively, Ilicic looks to finally be coming into prime form. Two games in a row now he’s provided the offensive spark to lead Atalanta to 6 goals in 90 minutes (across 2 matches). He has shown the capability of linking up with both Muriel and Zapata – even with their offensive differences – and while he remains most dangerous in the final third, he can still shuttle the ball up the pitch when asked for and win free kicks with his trickery. With both clubs looking to attack, I envision Ilicic being the key player for Atalanta. He’ll have the space to work in the open space that I’m sure will be there against a steady but not supreme Sassuolo back-line. If he can do it against Roma, he can do it against Sassuolo, and hopefully against the rest of the 2021 components. Let’s all hope Josip can become what we’ll miss with Papu, and always Forza La Dea!
