End to end football, missed chances, what could have beens – Atalanta’s travels to Milan to take on Inter had everything for both the diehard as well as the footballing neutral. A crazy game was sent into overdrive in the final ten minutes that saw Inter’s Federico DiMarco clunk the crossbar on a penalty, only to be followed up by a Roberto Piccoli disallowed goal only because Samir Handovic was too slow to clear a ball before cross the goal line for a corner kick. A scoreline of 2-2 doesn’t seem to do justice for just how epic this game was.
On one hand, it feels great to go into the San Siro and hold serve with one of the strongest teams in Serie A. But on the other hand, that greedy side of the brain that’s always wanting more has every reason to be going into overdrive. Let’s just list a few things:
-23rd minute, de Roon shot inches wide
-26th minute, Pessina sitter blocked at the last minute
-48th minute, Palomino header inches wide
-51st minute, Malinovskyi hits the post, and Zapata’s rebound attempt is blocked at the last minute
-75th minute, Maehle’s shot inches wide
By this count there were five opportunities that on a different day, Atalanta could have comfortably seen out a victory had at least two of these chances gone in. Yes, Inter had its chances as well, but none of Inzaghi’s boy’s attempts were agonizingly close – except the missed penalty – so it stings even more to have a game of inches be decided so ruthlessly. But at the end of the day, if you ask most Atalanta fans they’d be happy walking away with the point before the match. Post match frustration may stunt this sentiment, but it is important to remember the importance of the result and how Atalanta fought tooth and nail with one of the strongest sides in Italy.
Man of the Match- Ruslan Malinovskyi
I am now sticking to my earlier belief that the Ukrainian needs if not a tundra like climate to play football in, at least one where the humidity is not 90%. For those not following, I hypothesized that the players from northern European countries do worse in extreme humidity, hence the poor performance specifically against Salernitana. Who knows if we’ll every get an answer on this.
But I digress… Ruslan Malinovskyi was a man possessed today. Beyond his thunderbolt strike to score Atalanta’s first goal, he was much better in possession, and his free kicks and corner kicks were on point. Gasperini flipped the switch and decided to start Malinovskyi on the left hand side with Matteo Pessina on the right. At first it seemed like a puzzling and overthought strategy, but after twenty minutes both lefties found their flow – it paid off in spades. Not only did Pessina just feel more dangerous cutting in from the right, Malinovskyi drifting center and even right of center set up extremely threatening overlaps for La Dea. And specifically for Malinovskyi it allowed him additional freedom to move around with the ball and not be pigeonholed to one spot on the pitch. It looked to help his dribbling, decision making, and even his shooting. Gasperini definitely may have found something with this tactical change.
Other Inter-Atalanta Tidbits
-Merih Demiral is an excellent man marking defender, but is becoming a serious liability in zonal coverage. His handball notwithstanding, this is the second game in a row where he’s been caught out on picking up a man from a cross, and was fortunate Edin Dzeko headed his shot far wide of goal in the waning minutes of the match. He’s gotten away with it twice, eventually he and his teammates will not be so fortunate.
-Roberto Piccoli was almost the hero again for Atalanta, but it wasn’t to be with his goal called off. He is quite lethal when he’s in good positions, but he too often needs to be guided to these positions and struggles to create offense in the build up. Not throwing shade at a teenager, but it remains evident that build-up play and strength are where he should be focusing his development.
-Marten de Roon and Remo Freuler have had an average partnership since de Roon’s return to Serie A. Specifically de Roon, who had some paralyzing touches (or touches lack thereof) that put Musso and the defense in some really difficult positions. De Roon’s role is thankless because the slightest of errors can turn into grave mistakes, but something has not clicked with him yet just from pure decision making and reaction plays.
-Malinovskyi’s shots are so difficult to stop. Even if a keeper does, Handanovic displayed today that its difficult to parry into a harmless area. Toloi capitalized on this today, but it’d be great to see Malinovskyi continue to take shots just for the havoc that can be caused on the rebound. It can be equally as good as an assist, and with all the players that Atalanta loves to throw forward, there is never a worry about players not being around the ball to clean up the mess.
-Jose Luis Palomino had to be subbed off in the 2nd half due to some sort of injury. For everyone’s sake, let’s hope its not too serious – as he still remains Atalanta’s best defender at the moment.
After six matches Atalanta have now earned eleven points, and remain only three points of a direct rival in Inter. For all the early worries that Atalanta’s uneven start could turn into a catastrophic mess, Gasperini and the guys are still set up in a very good position. A loss on Saturday and Atalanta is staring up at Inter from six stories below rather than three, and the club has so far handled a very challenging stretch of fixture congestion much better than it did last year. The congested autumn is still just beginning, so no one can let his foot off the gas yet – but it is encouraging that this year’s Atalanta seem to be demonstrating continuing growth rather than uneven form.
Who knows what the pinnacle for the club is, everyone’s still waiting for Atalanta to unleash an offensive onslaught. But there’s many ways to win football matches, and if La Dea happen to become a more balanced defensive and offensive unit, than so be it. If it comes with more points, no one will complain. For now just enjoy a full team effort that stole a point from a challenging place to win any kind of points – and then wait to seek revenge on the return fixture. No doubt, Atalanta’s confidence will be there – as always, Forza Dea!!!
