Statement game is not enough to describe the way Atalanta grabbed this game by the horns. Amid the Papu drama and the bitter taste of squandering a 2 goal lead to Bologna, it looks like a bit of rest did the entire squad a whole lot of good. Besides the first 10 minutes of the game Sassuolo didn’t look dangerous, and barely had a sniff of the attacking third. The La Dea press worked to perfection, de Roon and Freuler scooped nearly every 50/50 ball, and de Zerbi’s preferred play out of the back tactic played right into the hands of the Atalanta pressure. In a match where nearly everything went right, it’s tough to look on what to improve; except fighting off the ever present shadow known as complacency.
If I were to pick out a moment and man of the match it would have to be the play of Matteo Pessina, and his remarkable goal to give Atalanta a deserved 2-0 lead before the break. After Zapata’s first of the match, Atalanta had capped off a streak of 200 straight goals by foreign players – quite remarkable when you think about it – but like me Pessina likes the rule of round numbers and firmly put an end to that streak with a clean weak-footed scissor kick goal. In fact, Pessina was all over the place, had some fantastic first touches to lead attacks – including the goal he scored on – and is already making me rethink my thoughts that he’d be preferable a little further back in the midfield. His emergence is making some of our attacking options redundant – even without Papu – which is a great problem to have. Malinovskyi is struggling for playing time, and even after his storming game against Fiorentina I don’t think he can provide the same consistency that Pessina can (although he can certainly provide more fireworks than Matteo on his day).
Asides from Pessina, there isn’t really anyone else that deserves highlighting. Zapata is coming into goal scoring form, Muriel got his obligatory goal off the bench, Gosens scored [again], Ilicic continues to provide wizardry – even with his arrant shots on goal – the defensive backline shut down a dangerous Sassuolo attack, plus de Roon and Freuler made Locatelli invisible. If anything this match continues to demonstrate the fortitude and resilience of the club which starts up top with Gasperini. Another club may have crumbled over the divide between the coach and the captain, but oppositely since the drama started Atalanta have been playing some of their better football this year. The players have bought in or at least recognize the point of no one being bigger than the club. Who knows what goes on at the training pitch, but given for the propensity for drama and gossip to fester into any organization, its fantastic that the club is at least able to keep it out of sight and out of mind for 90 minutes on the pitch. Its a testament to Gasperini and the mental fortitude of the players, and hopefully can continue carrying them to great heights in what will be an action packed second half of the Serie A season. Beautiful win ragazzi, and always Forza La Dea!
