In typical Atalanta fashion this year, the defense didn’t do the club any favors – not only permitting Roma to take an early lead, but doing so in less than a minute. The second time this year that Atalanta has conceded a goal within the first minute of the match, La Dea never got on track against against a Roma side that played its counterattack to perfection. 70% possession, 700 passes attempted, and 17 shots on goal hardly means anything when the defense was, at best, a sieve permitting Roma to score on four of its five shots on goal.
As lopsided as the final 4-1 score line was, Atalanta was miraculously still in the match up until the 70th minute in which a puzzling VAR decision overturned a Duvan Zapata goal off a corner kick. His shouldered equalizer could have fueled Atalanta’s fire to push on for a victory; but alas, it was not meant to be, and frankly never deserved to be for a home side that learned first hand how difficult it is to defeat a well set up counter attack.
Atalanta Passione’s Match Ratings
Juan Musso: 4.5 – Beyond conceding four, his hesitancy to snare Jordan Veretout’s cross that set up Chris Smalling’s goal was amateur hour.
Rafael Toloi: 6 – He showed a lot of spirit in setting tempo and driving offense, but had nothing to show for defensively.
Jose Luis Palomino: 5.5 – Same as Toloi his offensive contribution was nice from the back, but was caught out just like everyone else at the back.
Berat Djimsiti: 5 – Perhaps the worst of the back three, his botched tackle on Tammy Abraham in minute one led to the ping-pong like goal conceded.
Hans Hateboer: 5 – Still clearly not up to speed, his offensive repertoire consisted of ineffective back-passes.
Giuseppe Pezzella: 6 – He did fine in his unexpected start, but failed to find a working partnership with Luis Muriel on the left.
Remo Freuler: 6.5 – The Swiss was everywhere and looked his old self completing driving runs through the middle that Dea tifosi have grown accustomed to.
Marten de Roon: 6.5 – A good metronome in the middle; however, very few of his astounding 98 completed passes did much of anything.
Josip Ilicic: 6 – He looked slow and sluggish, and was ineffective against the type of aggressive defender he can usually feast on.
Mario Pasalic: 5.5 – An invisible match for the Croat, he offered little movement to get past Roma’s back wall.
Duvan Zapata: 5.5 – He was looking for fouls far too early and often, making Chris Smalling look like an elite rather than just good centerback.
Luis Muriel: 6 – His strike off the back of Bryan Cristante gave Atalanta its only goal, but he didn’t do a lot else with his freedom to roam around the pitch.
Ruslan Malinovskyi: 6.5 – He was the closest to spurring on the Atalanta attacking, but again fell short in creating any meaningful chances.
Aleksei Miranchuk: 6 – The Russian was getting into some good places, but please learn to shoot with power once and awhile!
Davide Zappacosta: s/v
Joakim Maehle: s/v
Atalanta Passione’s Man of the Match: Remo Freuler
Hardly an award worth winning this week, Freuler stood out the most among a bunch of average performances. Regardless of his play and that around him, Freuler was by far the most active trying to win the ball back and directly attack the Roma defense. He excels when he’s able to play box to box, but everyone was just on a different page trying to get past a well disciplined Roma backline.
Other Atalanta vs. Roma Match Odds and Ends
Atalanta’s overturned goal was bizarre in many ways, and now apparently the AIA (Association of Italian Referees) has now issued an apology in the Gazzetta dello Sport, stating that it made an error in its decision to overturn the goal. A crocodile tears apology is meaningless now, but it is confounding that the referee did not even go to video himself to confirm with his VAR counterpart. Regardless if Palomino was offsides or not, going to video would have been beneficial for two actions prior to the offsides – Zapata’s body part that directed the ball toward goal, and the ‘offensive line like’ blocking Roger Ibanez was using to try to get the best of Zapata. Its not out of the question that Atalanta could have been awarded a penalty after all was said an done.
This was the second consecutive match Gian Piero Gasperini opted for Josip Ilicic instead of Ruslan Malinovksyi on the left hand side, and also the second match in which the offense seemed more lively once the Ukrainian came on the pitch. Gasperini’s propensity to favor the certain players when others have clearly been showing equal or even better form is puzzling. It seems pretty evident that Ilicic’s best moments now come in spurts, and arguments can also be made that both Zappacosta and Koopmeiners should be starting over Hateboer and de Roon (in certain circumstances) as well.
Duvan Zapata had his worst performance of the year, and he let Chris Smalling take him to the cleaners. The Colombian went down far too easily looking for fouls, while letting his temper get the best of him. Granted, he was often surrounded by a sea of yellow, making the Route 1 football to the target man extremely ineffective.
This is the second week in a row where I am mentioning Juan Musso’s handling of crosses into the box. His passivity that led to Roma’s third goal confirms the notion that he lacks conviction on balls coming into his area. As good as his shot stopping can be, being able to judge dangerous balls such as Veretout’s will be essential. Especially when many opposition’s offense will consist of rapid counter attack football.
With Genoa coming up midweek, Atalanta fortunately has a good opportunity to put this unforgettable match behind it real quick. Losses happen, and Atalanta and Gasperini got another good lesson in what a disciplined and clinical counter attack can do. But this is now the second time in three matches that Atalanta has lost in an agonizingly similar fashion. Against Villarreal and Roma, Atalanta won the expected goals battle, but in both cases the quantity of chances did not outweigh the opposition’s quality of chances.
And these results really should be raising questions as to why Atalanta is so horribly caught off guard when it loses possession. Atalanta’s style will always be a double edged sword, but is starting to reach levels of concern – and perhaps a change in tactic that can diffuse frantic spells of lost possession.
Granted this should not pose an issue midweek, and Atalanta can get a much needed rest to kick off the winter season – and impressively still be within striking distance of Inter at the top of the table. Winter tends to be good to La Dea, and if Gasperini and his coaches can begin to address its transitional frailties, there’s still a lot to be excited about. Let’s shake this one off, and keep charging forward! As always, Forza Dea!!!
