A quite drab first 70 minutes built up enough fuel for a wild finish to a match which fortunately still never had Atalanta in danger of losing its lead. While the lead never dipped below a two goal advantage, it felt dicey at times. Yet, the combination of a woeful Parma midfield plus a dynamite Atalanta attack was sufficient to stave off any last minute attempt for a Parma club that will unfortunately depart off to Serie B next campaign. On the flip side, Atalanta move one step closer to clinching a coveted Top 4 spot, and dangerous attacking options were coming from all angles. Occasional offensive threats in Joakim Maehle and Aleksey Miranchuk, along with the usual gang, were firing on all cylinders in the 2nd half to finally do good on a possession dominated first half that didn’t see La Dea put away the match early.
Freuler Leaves And The Game Goes To The Dogs
Its probably coincidental, but once today’s calming captain Remo Freuler left the match around minute 70, the game advanced into overdrive which saw both clubs score multiple times. Parma’s goals came thanks to an absentminded Palomino losing his mark, and Gasperini rightfully so was none too pleased. It’s probably the only gripe of the match that the Atalanta backline lost its head with the match seemingly wrapped up – but fortunately a repeat of Bologna was not in the cards erasing Palomino’s dream sequence. A wide open pitch saw Muriel secure two of his easiest goals of the year – eclipsing the 20 goal mark (congrats!) – and Miranchuk blasted a missile into the cross bar, which may as well just have gone through Sepe’s heart after a Herculean effort to keep two Pasalic shots out of the net.
The goals are great, but Gasperini was rightfully fuming at the end of the match with Atalanta lack of defensive awareness. Awareness is still Palomino’s biggest weakness, and it almost felt like he took his foot off the breaks once Cornelius came off. Granted both Romero and Palomino had a whale of a time muscling up the big Dane who had his big body everywhere, making Route 1 football the only sensible choice for Parma. Fortunately no other striker Atalanta will face this year should match the sheer size and physicality of Cornelius (not even Zlatan), and should make the Argentinian duo’s job a bit easier on long balls as the season winds down.
Finding Balance
There’s nothing else to say about Malinovskyi, and it seems he has really turned the corner for good cementing himself into the elite of Serie A. (Un)fortunately this is at the expense of everyone’s favorite Slovenian Josip Ilicic, who is becoming more and more redundant in the squad. The lefty pecking order is a long list, and with Malinovskyi being white hot, Miranchuk showing his penchant for style (and getting a bit dirty in the press), plus Pessina being the glue in the middle of the pitch, I’d say it is getting closer and closer to that this season is Ilicic’s swansong in an Atalanta kit. It’s bittersweet, but the team is probably better off for it. Ilicic picks and chooses when to play defense, him and Malinovskyi do too many similar things on the pitch, and Ilicic is on the highest wages (or at least 2nd) on the club. A front three with Malinovskyi leading the charge is so fun, and he has so many tricks up his sleeve – rather than Josip who has one go to trick that is just really difficult to stop.
Some concerns do creep into my mind about the offensive fluidity with Zapata on the pitch, because the offense looked instantly more dangerous when Muriel stepped on. But this could also be a symptom of Ilicic’s more meandering tempo? I don’t know yet, but Muriel and Zapata certainly offer different skills on offense, and I still don’t know who merits more starts – unless both start together which is always a blast! Zapata did nearly pull a goal from nowhere that clanked the crossbar (and Gosens stole a wide open header from him), so it’s not like he’s just playing target man like Cornelius. But Muriel just running down your throat is much more threatening than Zapata beating a man, taking the ball out wide, and spraying a cross in. Granted this was Parma so, there’s not a whole lot to read into. Yet, in a one striker set-up I’m become more and more open to the idea of Muriel getting the lion’s shares of the start. Zapata wearing defenses down early is nice, and maybe that’s the formula too? I dunno, maybe I’ll just call it a wash, and be happy that we have both of them to throw different looks at defenses!
2nd place is now firmly Atalanta’s again. With Benevento and Genoa in quick succession, Atalanta can hopefully close out it’s Top 4 race before next weekend finishes. The last thing La Dea want is needing a result against Milan with the Coppa Final in roughly 10 days time. Benevento looks seriously gassed at the moment, and a midweek match, should not do Inzaghi’s side any favors in recovery. Thus, its time for Atalanta to continue pushing the pedal to the floor and subdue upcoming opposition exactly like it did on Sunday. With Milan embarrassing Juventus, Atalanta are sitting very pretty essentially 4 points above Juventus in 5th place. They just cannot squander what they’ve worked so hard for. That means, no defensive lapses (hello Jose), a balanced attack, and a continual excellent work rate. Its so near we can sniff it, let’s make it a reality! Today was an awesome start to realizing that reality! As always, Forza Dea!
