Date: February 2, 2020
Time: 9:00 EST
After a 0-7 drubbing away against Torino, Atalanta look to carry their momentum into Sunday’s home draw against relegation candidate Genoa. Atalanta were barely able to scrape by against Genoa, which took a stoppage time brace from Duvan Zapata to put La Dea up 2-1 in the final minutes of the game and giving them 3 points. Times have changed since the 3rd week of the season, and with Genoa fighting for their relegation lives, they will go out in full force to steal points from Atalanta.
As of this writing, Sassuolo is doing their job against Roma (3-0 as I write this), so there are two important things at play. First, Atalanta has to be mentally prepared and firmly ready to take 3 points, and put themselves back in 4th place. Another blunder similar to SPAL would have not just me but most others questioning the mental preparedness of the squad, and why (as the old sports cliche goes) they play either up or down to their competition? Carrying the momentum they built up from the Torino match will be huge, and they need to come out with the relentlessness they have shown recently in their victories.
Second, with an array of new signings, it will be interesting to see if any of them get the calling card, and are called into action. If Castagne is still hurt, I imagine one of Czyborra, or Bellanova could see some playing time. Personally I’m excited to see what Tameze can bring to the midfield, and I am very curious how Gasperini expects to use him in his system. However, knowing Gasperini’s use of new signings, I imagine he’ll work his new guys in slowly, and give them more time to gel within his system. No mid-week game helped, so their should not be any issue with fatigue for the first squad.
All in all Zapata’s heroics were incredible to watch in the first match, but Atalanta should really see themselves comfortably ahead where they won’t need to rely on stoppage time winners to steal points. As always I’m thrilled for the game, and the atmosphere we will see at Gewiss (especially with Masiello coming back, hopefully he gets a nice applause for his tenure). And as always Forza Atalanta!
