Even with the thrilling victory a man down to cement advancing to the Coppa Italia semi finals, Sunday’s brutal barely contested battle stings and takes away from the midweek win (recency bias, perhaps?). Lazio thoroughly dominated Atalanta over the weekend, scoring three, barely missing two or three more chances, and hardly let Atalanta get a sniff at the box. Passing wasn’t crisp, long balls from the back were the only offensive strategy, and Romero’s absence made the back three look amateurish. Now sitting 7th in the league, Sunday was a very telling game about what Atalanta should and needs to do against competition in the final 17 league games to now surpass the club they just lost against, and a slew of other opponents who distanced themselves from La Dea with three points earned this weekend.
Musings
-Romero may be the most important player in the squad now (in terms of what do we do when he’s out of the lineup???). The defense looked in shambles on Sunday, and due to Romero’s unfortunate positive COVID test, Atalanta may have to learn how to cope without the Argentinian for a few more matches. I envisage his calculated aggression and pristine 1 vs. 1 play would have prevented Correa’s breakaway goal, and there’s no may he’d let Muriqi go unmarked for his tap in.
-Missing both Hateboer and Gosens at the same time is extremely unfortunate. Maehle can only do so much covering one flank, and Ruggeri showed he can’t handle pace yet (or maybe ever, hard to think that he can get faster). It’s unfortunate that both were unavailable and perhaps a more freak occurrence than anything that both starters on the wings happened to miss on the same day (which rarely if ever happens). Positively Maehle did play very well, and was one of the most lively players on Sunday. It also brings up the question if its finally time to bring back Reca as support on the left side, since he’s fast, athletic, and can slot in nicely in a backup role.
-I’ve had close to enough of Palomino. His straight red in the Coppa was foolish, and I counted three incredibly costly errors that led to goals or near goals on Sunday:
~Missed covering SMS running into the box who had a free header that hit the post
~Poor communication with Djmsiti leaving Correa wide open for a 1 on 1 (probably equal fault on both of them)
~Didn’t track back and gave Muriqi one of the easiest tap in goals that a U10 player wouldn’t have missed
Frankly his clock is running out for me, and he’s becoming more and more unreliable being the middle man of the back three. Keeping my fingers crossed that Ahmedhodzic’s transfer rumors can be a reality.
-Pessina is an enigma, and has become essential to the attack. To quote Atalantino Daniel Lister (@DanielLister10 on Twitter), “Pessina’s one of those that you can’t explain, but he adds so much.” It’s 100% true; you can’t pin him down, he won’t rack up goals or assists, but his motor is unrelenting, and he’s always in the middle of the action causing havoc – giving de Roon and Freuler a breather in their pressing duties. To steal a basketball term, Pessina is a glue guy. In the mold of a Shane Battier, Nick Collison, or a Derek Fisher; he’s not flashy but is now an instrumental component of a team pushing for Champion’s League again (and he’s not a wily veteran!). Not sure what Gasps’s intentions are with Kovalenko, but I hope they don’t take away from Pessina’s playing time.
-Rustiness is an evident symptom of a stacked front line. Asides Lesha’s tidy goal in the Coppa; he, Malinovskyi, and especially Lammers have looked incredibly sloppy in the minutes they’ve gotten. And if Ilicic has an off game like he did on Sunday, who’s there to pick up the slack? Tough to call on a guy who hasn’t had the opportunity to get consistent playing time. With only one true attacking midfield role, this may become an issue, but hopefully one of Malonovskyi, Miranchuk, or Kovalenko can show enough consistency to spell Ilicic; we’ll need it!
It’s important to not get worked up over one game. But looking back in retrospect, and reminiscing about the first half, I think its safe to say we can draw some good conclusions about what’s necessary to be successful in the 2nd half. There’s nothing to be ashamed about losing to a strong team that dominated the game from the first whistle (hey we did it to them back in September), so let’s shake this off, and get back to winning ways with hopefully some easier Serie A matches with relegation candidates Torino and Cagliari. As always, Forza La Dea!
