Yes, the title is confusing – yet oddly true. You probably need two hands to count the number of chances Atalanta had right on goal in which players just blasted the ball right at Pau Lopez. An unfortunate red card – fun fact Atalanta was the last team to get a red card in Serie A – forced La Dea to play defense the final 20 minutes of the match effectively killing off any chance the club had to put away the match. It was incredibly frustrating to watch, given the umpteen chances the shaky Roma back three gave Atalanta to serve up sweet desserts in front of Lopez. In fact Malinovskyi’s goal was one of the most difficult chances La Dea had, and the men converted it! With Napoli thrashing Lazio, dropping two points stings, but it is still better than dropping three. Atalanta is still third (ahead on tiebreaker) with Juventus, and still hold all of the cards to push for the not just the Top 4, but 2nd in the league.
Gasperini’s reactions in today’s match epitomizes the state of the game. Frustration, fury, and bewilderment. Constantly pacing on the pitch line – he’s shorter than I thought! – I’m surprised Gasperini didn’t get a heart attack just watching missed chance after missed chance. It’s starting to become a minor problem for La Dea now. I’ve lost count of the number of times that fans will say, should’ve had 5 or 6 goals, or even the extreme homers will say should’ve had 10 goals. But normally it never really caused concern, because Atalanta would still find a way to win. Today is different, and better teams with more quality players will make you pay for mistakes. Granted Cristante’s goal was just a ‘let’s rip it and see what happens,’ and Gollini should have done better with it. And finally being down a man, Atalanta had no real option to get the horses back up and go get another a goal. It was the perfect recipe to let a team back into the match that probably didn’t deserve it. Gollini saved us from zero points, but its hard to believe it even reached that place to begin with.
On the bright side, the three matches that stick out in my mind that Atalanta “blew” at least ended in draws. Roma, Torino, and Bologna all at least ended in three points earned, and right now that’s the difference between being in Champion’s League spots versus Europa League. Draws suck, but losses are even worse.
Some Random Thoughts
This game really brought about some random thoughts that don’t merit a paragraph, so I figured it’d be easier to rapid fire them off…
- Romero feels wasted when he’s not in the center of the pitch. He looked fine, but doesn’t provide the same attacking threat as a Toloi. Difficult to go against Palomino in the middle after the form he’s shown.
- I was convinced the Muriel sitter was a goal, and knew it was going in when I saw him go clear of his man. Probably the worse miss of his season, let’s just hope it doesn’t linger on and affect his confidence.
- Why take off Malinovskyi and Ilicic at the same time? There was no one left to handle the ball and become a playmaker, and I felt let Roma get some added pressure on our back three after looking dogged in the first part of the 2nd half. Gasperini’s worst substitutions probably in Serie A this year.
- Pasalic puts in a stormer 1 out of every 8 games, and I don’t want to wait 7 matches for him to pull a rabbit out of his hat.
- Ilicic’s attitude when things don’t go right is really rubbing me the wrong way. He gets on Maehle too hard, who I thought played pretty well offensively in the first half. I cannot imagine it boosting morale on the pitch with him complaining everything doesn’t go the way he wants.
- Palomino’s continued excellent play in the middle makes me keener to player a back four with him and Romero throwing elbows in the middle of the defense
I realize a lot of these thoughts were pretty negative, but I don’t want to end on a downer. Yes we drew an incredibly winnable match, but there’s still so much positivity to take away from recent performances. We weren’t going to win out the season, and drawing against a team like Roma is nothing to thumb your nose at. The resurgence of Palomino and Malinovskyi has been nothing sort of exceptional, and the players will be out for blood against Bologna. It’s still a tough pill to swallow, but let’s continue to hold our heads high, and see out these final six games like the Champion’s League team I know this team is. Onwards to Bologna, and as always Forza Dea!!!
