Where to begin…. Up 3-0, Atalanta squandered a brilliant opening 20 minutes of play to a scrappy Torino side. In fairness to La Granata, they came out on the front foot not looking to park the bus – as I thought they may – and were squarely on the front foot, totaling 20 shots and giving La Dea’s defense fits. Asides from the disaster of Palomino, this was one of Atalanta’s worst aerial performances as Belotti – of average striker height – won his fair share of fifty-fifties, including the final foul that won the free kick that set up the game tying goal. As this point of my writing, Roma lost and Napoli is down two goals, so we may be able to hopefully to hold serve in a crowded race for European places, but it still stings to squander such a comfortable lead.
Let’s start with some positives… La Dea were able to put away three goals in classic Dea fashion in a total of seven minutes. They were great on the break, and were clinical enough to ensure that Torino didn’t have the luxury to sit back in the bus and make Atalanta’s offensive afternoon more like code cracking.
In addition, while he didn’t score – although he was awfully close – we saw a new Miranchuk today. He looked like he had fire in his belly, was assertive on the ball, scrapped for aerial duels, and showed creativity to get off his own shots or get teammates some half chances. He was a nice change of pace from Ilicic who was pretty quiet in the 2nd half, and it was great to see an attacking player be able to rotate across the center of the pitch.
And Gosens? What else can you say about him. He was fantastic filling in duties on the right hand side in the first half, and was equally effective offensive as he was defensively. But unfortunately the accolades end there.
Oh, but the negatives were too much today to overlook. The weakest link theory was in full force as Palomino and Ruggeri severely struggled on the left. I’ll give Ruggeri a break – being a youngster, and looking more and more like he won’t have the pace to be a Gasperini winger. I liken him more as a future CB option. But Palomino, where to begin??? He is continually putting up shambolic displays that it is really time to question how he cracks the rotation over Caldara (and I don’t wanna hear the lefty excuse!).
Palomino’s poor clearance nearly led to Torino’s first goal that was miraculously cleared by Gosens. Then merely minutes later, he foolishly dragged Belotti to the ground in a very low percentage area. Gollini nearly bailed him out, but he could not be asked to do more than stop a penalty. Painfully Palomino has to continue playing given yellow card issues, but at this time I’d rather see de Roon at the back. He anticipates better, is equally as fast, and put up a good fight aerially. I’m officially on team #PalominoOut.
In addition to the left side’s poor display, another lefty has really been striking out big time, Ruslan Malinovskyi. Asides from his slick spin to start the build-up to the second goal, he’s offering very little offensively. He goes to ground quite easy, rolls around in Oscar-like agony, and is incredibly indecisive in the final third – both in picking a pass and firing a shot. I’m much more comfortable with Miranchuk picking up the offensive duties behind Ilicic now, and honestly if Malinovskyi can’t find his mojo he becomes incredibly redundant on the bench.
Last but not least, Maehle’s injury couldn’t have come at a worst time, and it showed both the essential nature of wingbacks in Gasp’s system and how it can crumble if the correct players aren’t available to fill in. Two injuries is extreme, but rotating three players still seems insufficient given the clogged schedule. Early in the year there were clear drops in efficiency when Depaoli and Mojica were in the game, and of course it was evident again today seeing Ruggeri and Toloi trying to play the flanks. I really don’t understand the resistance to keep shipping out Arkadiusz Reca on loan, and he would really bring some stability in dire situations like this. While he’s not Gosens nor Hateboer, he has all the abilities required of a wingback in the system: pace, stamina, aerial ability, and the understanding to get forward (plus a mean backflip!). A four deep wingback rotation of Gosens, Hateboer, Maehle, and Reca would be my wishlist given the circumstances.
As I finish this article Napoli have lost, and it makes the afternoon feel a bit better – considering both teams are gonna face of each other coming off significant let downs. But hopefully this is the gut punch Atalanta needed to get back on form for the final march of the season. This was worse than the Bologna match, and proves again that Atalanta really only has one speed… and when they try to play differently, brain farts occur, mistakes happen, and they can never turn that gear back on. I fully hope Gasperini entrenches the mentality in his men that they should never stop attacking, go for seven goals, go for ten, hell go for fifteen! I firmly believe, the outcome would have been entirely different if Atalanta stayed on the front foot in minute 25, and never gave Torino a moment to breathe. Live and learn, but let’s hope we’ve learned enough by Wednesday. Tough one, but let’s get it done in the Coppa!
