In football there’s a razor thin line between a hard nosed – ugly – victory an da head scratching – WTF happened – draw. Sadly Atalanta walked that tightrope on Sunday against Udinese, and unfortunately fell off it in the final minutes when it mattered the most. A 1-1 draw is Atalanta’s prize for not putting away a game Udinese had very little business turning into points.
People can talking injury and fatigue all day, but neither was the culprit in Atalanta’s uneven play (well maybe fatigue had a bit to do with it, but that’ll kill the narrative!). Even with five starters and two key substitutes absent, the team was not lacking quality, but instead it was missing intensity that did La Dea in. From the poor defending on the game tying corner kick, to the inability to maintain a semblance of tempo and hold onto the ball in the last quarter of the match – there’s no denying that the level of intensity that Atalanta fans have grown accustomed to was severely lakcing in the final minutes of the match.
Players and coaches are both culpable, as the tides begun to turn once Gasperini made his first substitutions in the 64th minute. Its understandable to take a calculated risk and give the squad a reprieve – especially with the current fixture congestion and injury situation. Unfortunately, each substitute, bar Giorgio Scalvini, made the team worse. Adding insult to injury was taking off Mario Pasalic, who was arguable Atalanta’s best player. It’s still puzzling why the Croat was removed. Even if Gasperini wanted to bring Koopmeiners on, at least shift Pasalic further up the pitch and take off Malinovskyi – sadly La Dea were already stuck with both a rusty Miranchuk and a disinterested Muriel up front. Pasalic’s versatility makes substitution creativity easier, instead he went for a like-for-like and then was stuck substituting on Scalvini for Malinovskyi throwing more confusion into an already bizarre team structure. Extremely frustrating…
Atalanta Player Ratings
Juan Musso- 6.5: Did brilliant to prevent an own goal, but one has to wonder if he stayed home on the corner, would he have stopped Beto’s shot that went right down the middle?
Matteo Lovato- 6.0: Clumsy has a new definition, as he almost singlehandedly dropped Atalanta points with his “lack-of” footwork – yet he was still decent in his first start with La Dea.
Jose Luis Palomino- 7.0: This man needs a statue as he continues to hold strong on his own at the back.
Marten de Roon- 6.5: A better go around this time in the defense, but he loses his tackling bite as a center half.
Davide Zappacosta- 6.5: Not his greatest match offensively, but no grave errors to hurt the club.
Giuseppe Pezzella- 6.0: The king of the back pass did very little to contribute into a setup that needed offense on the left.
Remo Freuler- 6.5: I imagine the new dad is a bit sleep deprived, but his performance was still steady, albeit not great.
Mario Pasalic- 7.0: His best game in the double pivot in a long time, his liveliest performance of the year in terms of sheer energy exerted.
Josip Ilicic- 6.5: Clanked the post on a great run to the net, but offensively his usual magic was not on full display.
Ruslan Malinovskyi- 6.5: Scored a great goal, but a lot of his ideas were nowhere near hitting. He lost possession 33 times on Sunday!
Duvan Zapata- 6.5: Didn’t provide a goal scoring threat, but was still useful in dishing off passes and holding the ball up in the channels.
Aleksey Miranchuk- 6.0: He only lost possession once, but did not do nearly enough to help thwart Udinese’s late pressure.
Luis Muriel- 5.5: Looked like he was going through the motions, and just put in a lazy shift.
Teun Koopmeiners- 6.0: Missed marking Beto on the equalizer (questions can be asked why he was marking the forward), but the match got more out of hand when he was substituted for Pasalic.
Giorgio Scalvini- s/v: Congrats nonetheless on the Dea debut, physically he looks the part.
Man of the Match- Mario Pasalic
Another match where its difficult to select a man of the match, but Mario Pasalic stepped up big to fill a big hole in central midfield. Pasalic didn’t make any splash plays, although he did have a nifty shimmy to get through on goal and get a shot off, but he was remarkably consistent in the midfield. He was easily the busiest player on the field, and was a far cry from the player that was playing in the double pivot earlier in the year. Granted Udinese is no Torino in terms of intensity, but it is not coincidence that Atalanta’s shape started to suffer when Pasalic was removed from the match with fifteen minutes left to go.
Other Atalanta Udinese Odds and Ends
Beyond Muriel’s lukewarm performance, he has not scored in his last six matches – his longest goalless drought since joining Atalanta.
This is the second straight match in which Matteo Lovato has gotten tangled up with an opposition player and simultaneously receiving a yellow card. His clunky play does not look malevolent, but looks more like a player who is lacking some awareness on the pitch. Something to monitor, especially after his terrifying near-own goal.
Giuseppe Pezzella converted 44 of his 48 pass attempts. Sadly a majority of them were back passes to Marten de Roon. If Joakim Maehle is going to miss time, Pezzella is going to have to learn to become a bit more adventurous on the left. Perhaps he was worried about the double speed of Molina and Stryger Larsen both occupying his same flank, but his heatmap was position much further back than Zappacosta’s on the right.
Jose Luis Palomino still leads the team, among outfield players, in minutes played. With the injuries at centerback, god only knows where the club would be without his consistent presence. Who’d thought we’d be saying that four months ago!?!
On a weekend where most direct rivals dropped points, its more of a shame Atalanta couldn’t capitalize and walk away with three points. Still the club sits 5th in the Serie A table, but some doubts are beginning to creep in whether the club club can hold out until the next international break. With Lazio and Manchester United still on the schedule until then, the ultimate test of fortitude is coming. Let’s hope today’s visible chink in the armor is quickly patched up and the necessary adjustments are made. Head high, and let’s keeping moving on! As always, Forza Dea!!!
