Almost three years ago, or 1,090 days to be exact, Gianpiero Gasperini – either by choice or necessity – unknowingly started one of the most mind-blowing streaks in recent Atalanta history. Nobody knew at the time, but the de Roon/Freuler midfield combo was to become a mainstay in Bergamo. Quietly leading the club to three consecutive Top-3 finishes Marten de Roon and Remo Freuler, are so synonymous with Gasperini’s double pivot that it feels strange not seeing one of them in the lineup.
And for good reason!
Since Marten de Roon came back to Atalanta from Middlesbrough in 2017, last Saturday against Torino was the first Serie A match in which neither man played. Let that sink in for a minute. Either Marten de Roon or Remo Freuler has been in the lineup every match since both of them were on the squad together!
Besides one wrinkle almost three years to the day, we have been lucky to see at least one of them in Gasperini’s starting XI. The lone dark spot, until last week, was against Roma on the second matchday of the 2018/2019 season.
Looking Back to 2018
Its pretty funny to see where Atalanta is at now compared to 2018. Duvan was just getting his feet wet in black and blue, blasts from the pasts Mancini and Castagne were occupying starting positions, and we still had the heart-attack kids in Palomino, Pasalic, and Gollini. Moreover, you could play an interesting game of where are they now with the likes of Ali Adnan Kadhim, Luca Valzania, and Emiliano Rigoni. The match against Roma, finished in a crazy 3-3 draw with Rigoni slotting home two goals and Roma equalizing in the 82nd minute courtesy of Kostas Manolas. Neither Papu or Robin Gosens featured and Josip Ilicic was not even called up to the squad. That Atalanta’s lineup was a far cry from what we see today, and it leaves you thinking how this team placed top 3 on the year?!?
I’ll tell you. Quite remarkably, five of these players still get good minutes for La Dea, and obviously Papu Gomez was benched for this match. BUT – and here it is – the team sheet just doesn’t feel right without either de Roon or Freuler. Heck you can even overlook the absence of Papu and not blink an eyelid (at least I didn’t). But when neither #11 nor #15 is on the pitch, things just don’t go well.
Its really hard to pinpoint why Marten and Remo are such staples of the Atalanta machine. However, their remarkable consistency speaks for itself. From 2018 until now, there were 110 consecutive Serie A matches in which either one of them started, the equivalent of 10,000+ game minutes, and hardly a foot placed wrong that entire time. De Roon has sported a filthy 87% pass completion percentage in that span, including a 91% completion percentage on medium length passes.
Freuler has been no slouch himself completing 88% of his passes, and again nearly a 91% completion percentage on medium passes.
The world of analytics is improving each day in calculating success on the pitch, but it still cannot provide an answer for everything. How do you measure elite positioning, for example? Freuler and de Roon just don’t put a foot wrong, and they’re a beacon of calmed aggression in a sea of chaos that can be the Atalanta system. We can see it with our eyes, but can’t calculate it – I guess sometimes we’ve just gotta believe and accept it!
I don’t call them the Siamese twins for nothing. You could blindfold one of them and put a muzzle on the other, and they’d still be able to call shots better than pretty much any other midfield combination Atalanta has had to throw out there when one of them needs a reprieve. Folks love to talk up elite midfields in Serie A, from Kessie/Bennacer to SMS/Alberto to Barella/Brozovic. Instead, give me Freuler and de Roon all day.
For the Atalanta system they’re elite, and I’m pysched for the next triple digit string of matches seeing either one of them on the pitch. It will be a sad day when one of them eventually moves onto the next step in life (hopefully as a retiree rather than a transfer), but hopefully by then Atalanta has either mastered cloning or groomed the next prototypical Gasperini centerback. Fortunately, I think we still have years in the tank for both of them, and I can’t wait to cheer on their careers together as they both hopefully go down as club legends. Forza Marten and Remo!!!
