Even though Atalanta has had difficulties scoring as of late, it is still astounding that this was the first time Atalanta scored on the road, in Serie A, since the boys dropped six against Udinese in early January. Even crazier is Atalanta’s game clinching goal came for a teenager who was not even with the squad two months ago. Yes, Guinean teenager Moustapha Cisse played hero for La Dea in his senior debut, giving Atalanta a decisive goal to squeeze past a scrappy Bologna squad. A fatigued Atalanta looked destined for another nil-nil draw in the league, and it may have not been the worst result. Atalanta clearly looked tired, and lacked the normal punch in its press that normally permits the squad to control the midfield battle.
But throw the narrative out the window for this one. Atalanta won’t care that it was comprehensively shutdown in the second half, or Marko Arnautovic missed an absolute sitter. La Dea just needed points, and three points on Sunday still gives Atalanta a puncher’s chance of finishing Top-4, while keeping pace with Roma for a consolation battle for fifth place. Thanks to Cisse and Juan Musso tidying up on the book ends of the pitch, Gian Piero Gasperini can thanks the cruel mistress of randomness for finally being on his side for the first time in…. who knows when!
Atalanta Passione Match Ratings
Goalkeeper: 7.5 – Juan Musso earns another cleansheet, capped off by a wonderful reaction save on a pointblank range shot from Ricardo Orsolini. More to come on his brilliant save.
Defense: 7 – Arnautovic may be the most physical striker Atalanta has faced since Dusan Vlahovic (even the Serb does really compare). Besides the gifted one-on-one opportunity given to the Austrian, the defense did well to not let Bologna’s 60% possession turn into an onslaught of shots on goal. Its a shame Scalvini came off after 45 minutes – he continues to look the part in every match he plays.
Wingbacks: 6 – Hans Hateboer slowly looks to be working his way back into form, he just needs to work on his end product. Giuseppe Pezzella, on the other hand, needs to find a bit more offense creativity beyond stutter step inside the box.
Midfield: 6 – Remo Freuler and Marten de Roon looked tired, and it showed. Both weren’t able to energetically control the middle, giving Bologna a lot of open space to work balls further up the pitch than the gaffer would have liked.
Attack: 5.5 – Beyond it being one of Koopmeiners’s worst matches in black and blue and white, neither Luis Muriel nor Matteo Pessina offered much more in attack. Pessina particularly has been off in 2022, and his autopilot offensive move to slowdown and wait for the wingback overlap (while also waiting for the rest of the defense to regroup) does his offensive counterparts no favors.
Substitutes: 7 – Valentin Mihaila was the worst of the bunch, but hats off to Palomino, Pasalic, and of course Cisse. Gasperini’s substitutes have had mixed results this year, but today’s changes turned the tide. Additionally, Joakim Maehle is the only wingback Atalanta has that can spur a counterattack with skill rather than relying on open space and pace.
Atalanta Passione Man of the Match – Moustapha Cisse
Given his performance over 90 minutes, Juan Musso probably deserves the award, but how can you not give it to Cisse? Cisse’s story feels like a screenplay that has been sitting on a Hollywood producer’s desk for months. Now we should half be expecting his third act to be him injuring his knee only to come back on the final matchday, hobbling up the pitch, to head home a cross from Josip Ilicic to seal the Scudetto.
…Life is stranger than fiction….
But it is evident how raw Cisse is. He still lacks refinement in build up, and it looks like his nerves got the better of him in a few challenges with Bologna’s backline. But at least he can finish! The finish wasn’t particularly difficult, but I have nightmarish visions of Mario Pasalic or Matteo Pessina having that shot drift wide. Let’s hope we have a real gem on our hands!
Other Match Odds and Ends
FotMob’s xGoal- Bologna: 1.26 – Atalanta: 1.37 – This feels about right, although it is surprising that Arnautovic’s miss only had a 0.30 xG which helped to swing the score more in Atalanta’s favor.
Cisse’s chance only had an xG of 0.36, but is strong placement gave him an 81% chance of converting, ensuring that Lukasz Skorupksi had no chance of stopping his shot.
Juan Musso came up with his second elite save in as many games. On Sunday Ricardo Orsolini was his victim. After deftly turning Demiral around, Orsolini had a pretty wide open net to work with on his left. But Juan Musso stood firm, stopping Orsolini’s shot that had a 69% of being converted (post shot).
Marko Arnautovic confirmed for me tonight that he must be an insufferable teammate. Not only does he bark at referees for every non-call, but he aggressively rants and pouts at his teammates constantly when a ball is not supremely placed for him to make an attacking move on. Who knows how he is off the pitch, but if is broodiness on the pitch is any indication, he’s probably not inspirational in the locker room.
Atalanta had ten minutes of extra time to hold off a furious last minute attack from Bologna. The hairline offside call on Pasalic’s scratched off goal was a nice counterattacking move, but Atalanta was quite poor in the killing off the match. With the acres of space Atalanta was afforded to sit on the ball, the guys gave it back to Bologna far too easily on too many occasions. They didn’t even try once to play corner flag??? Atalanta could’ve killed off one or two more minutes with more astute endgame play.
With Roma handling Lazio on Sunday evening, Atalanta now has spring boarded back into fifth place, ahead of Roma solely because of its game in hand. Nothing gets easier for Atalanta. With only Roma and La Dea left to focus on international competitions, Atalanta will have to continue to battle through fixture congestion and fatigue. An international break could not have come at a better time for La Dea who is in desperate need of a rest. But even with two weeks to rest, the Serie A calendar offers no favors with an immediate matchup against Napoli.
But for the time being let’s soak in what it feels like to win in Serie A. It’s only happened three times in 2022, and has to happen a lot more after then international break if Atalanta wants to play European competitions next year. Regardless, today was a resilient and gritty performance that felt like it could have gone haywire at any moment. Let’s celebrate a vital three points; as always, Forza Dea!!!
