Date: August 21, 2021
Time: 20:45 CET
It really felt like a slow march post Euros to the start of the new Serie A campaign, but we finally made it folks! Saturday kicks off Atalanta’s chance to make splashes in the upper echelon of the Serie A table, with a second weekend trip in a row to the city of Turin. This time, however, our opponents are “the other Turin club,” Torino. Limping across the finish line last year to stave off promotion, Torino seemingly always feel less than the sum of it’s parts and desperately need some consistency in its managerial ranks.
Well, this summer the club astutely brought in the latest Serie A coaching revelation in Ivan Juric. After doing wonders with a small budget Verona side, Gasperini’s disciple will have the ability to flex his muscles a bit more this year with a club that is a bit less hamstrung by its budget. After seeing what Juric accomplished at Verona, Torino have to be seen as a dark horse to sneak into what has been a pretty firm Top 7 over the past few years.
Nonetheless Torino will still have some growing pains to overcome to kick off the season. Adjusting to the strategies of a new coach and tactic always takes time, but most importantly La Granata are most likely going to be without it’s captain and top goalscorer: Andrea Belotti. After suffering a sprained ankle in preseason, Torino will need to look elsewhere for its goals – and will have to get some consistency from Antonio Sanabria and former Atalanta great Simone Zaza.
Player to watch: Wilfried Singo
In Atalanta’s agonizing 3-3 draw last winter to Torino (after being up by three goals), Wilfried Singo came out of that match as the standout performer. He torched the young Ruggeri on the wing on plenty of occasions, and he had a nifty trivela shot that clunked off the cross bar that almost tied the match earlier for Torino. The Ivorian is still only 20 years old, and this season could be an even bigger breakout for him. Fortunately for Atalanta, Gosens will be patrolling the same side of the field as Singo, hopefully neutralizing his pace and attacking prowess.
The Expected XI
Atalanta’s starting XI for the first match of the season comes out of necessity, rather than any sort of forced creativity. Both Zapata and Hateboer have longer term injuries (with Duvan’s hopefully only lasting for two matches). Toloi and Freuler are out on yellow card suspensions, and de Roon will be suspended for the first four matches of the campaign for his discretions against Milan last May.
Therefore, the spot on the field that tends to always feel the most stable has now become the most fragile. A Pessina and Pasalic double pivot does not inspire confidence, given their performances in a deeper midfield role in the past, but given Atalanta’s inability to promptly land a proper defensive midfielder (although that could be solved soon), Gasperini must play with the depth that he has. Both players have shown flashes in the past, and Pasalic even played quite well in the latest friendly against Juventus. Ultimately, it is probably better to find out sooner rather than later whether both guys (especially Pasalic) are capable of being adequate backups to our preferred Siamese twins. With Morten Thorsby potentially on the way, a lively Pasalic may prevent the Percassi’s from pushing all their chips in to sign additional depth.
With Rafael Toloi absent, new signing Merih Demiral will also get a baptism by fire into the Atalanta starting XI. All indications have pointed that he has the chops to lead the middle of the defense for Atalanta, and fortunately with Belotti out he may be eased into his defensive duties a bit (his first real test won’t come until Fiorentina and Vlahovic). Again similar to the midfield, forcing Demiral to play immediately should help the club to answer plenty of questions about the best defensive lineup going forward. There’s also an outside shot to see Matteo Lovato get a starting nod, if Gasperini has liked his play on the right. However, I do doubt that would be his first choice, and I envision he would not want two brand new centerbacks slotting into the back three immediately.
The anxious nerves are starting to hit already, but more than anything its just great to have some Serie A ball back. Starting a week later than every other league, watching other leagues last week doesn’t stack up to the excitement that comes with some good ‘ol Calcio. Atalanta should be poised to get off to a strong start Saturday, even with its absences, and must be looking to seek revenge after the debacle that ensued the last time these times faced off. Brace yourselves folks, we’re back, and let’s get off to a fast and furious start to prove again that we belong at the top of the Serie A standings! As always, Forza Dea!
