Its tough to figure out which was uglier on Tuesday night, the Ferraris playing pitch in Genoa or Atalanta’s football. Regardless, Atalanta’s worst performance of the year has everyone’s feathers ruffled, as the team limps into the Christmas break only earning one of its final six points. Genoa had no plan but to play for a nil-nil draw, and unfortunately Gian Piero Gasperini and his squad played right into the Giallblu’s hands – registering a meager three shots on goal, and hardly any activity inside the box.
Its a frustrating end to the first half of the season, but its prudent to recognize how well the club has played to date. Tuesday’s draw puts Atalanta at 38 points and a guaranteed 4th place in the league. With 38 goals scored and 24 conceded, the goal differential may not be as impressive as seasons’ past, but given how the Serie A season has materialized, there is so much to be excited about going into the 2nd half. Gasperini has a few weeks to draw up strategy to address a few key points on offense and defense, and with a deep and healthy squad available at his disposal in 2022, Atalanta should be ready to charge into January nearly at 100%.
But still none of this has to do with Genoa match, which was a neatly gift wrapped culmination of Atalanta’s biggest weakness over the past few years – beating a low block. Atalanta was devoid of attacking ideas, eventually resulting to hoofing the ball up the pitch hoping it would break in the right direction. Even after Duvan Zapata came off due to a minor injury, this was still Atalanta’s primary strategy even with the slight Luis Muriel leading the line. Questioning Atalanta’s offensive strategy feels futile – given the club is still 2nd in the league in goals scored – but it is becoming increasingly frustrating how toothless the offense can sometimes be.
Case in point against Genoa – Duvan Zapata was consistently marked by at least two of Genoa’s back three, and without the runs of Robin Gosens from the left wing, there are very few options left to penetrate the box. The redundancy of Aleskei Miranchuk, Ruslan Malinovskyi, and Teun Koopmeiners all hovering around the box to make a killer pass into an 18-yard box with very few white shirts is a puzzling strategy.
Regardless, at a best case scenario this was a lesson learned for La Dea, as it continues to search for ways to be a consistent offensive threat. The balls didn’t on Tuesday, and fortunately everyone has two weeks to regroup in what was frankly a grueling first half of the season.
Atalanta Passione Man of the Match – Teun Koopmeiners
There was not enough to individually write about each player, so I felt it was better to forgo match ratings this week and just give a shoutout to the best baller of the match. Out of all the attacking threats Atalanta threw forward, Teun Koopmeiners was not only the most threatening, but his work in the midfield winning balls and neutralizing Genoa’s midfield was top notch. Gasperini taking Koopmeiners off rather than a wingback or centerback was puzzling, but Koopmeiners continues to demonstrate each week that he deserves to be a starter in the midfield.
Drawing against a Genoa side that has been unable to stop most of Italy’s top sides is still frustrating. A potential injury to Duvan Zapata doesn’t make matters any better, but as mentioned above this match is a perfect lesson learned into how La Dea should adjust tactics ad-hoc. Far too frequently we have to talk about Atalanta difficulties dissecting stingy defensive setups, and if anything Atalanta have become too predictable and a more straightforward opponent to prepare against for teams looking to play for a draw. Fortunately Atalanta has the talent to adapt, and has the talent to still earn marvelous results despite the tactic employed – and we all should be confident that Atalanta still has good things coming in its future. Not the result we wanted, but let’s enjoy the Christmas break, and as always, Forza La Dea!!!
