Date: April 3, 2022
Time: 15:00 CET, 9:00 EST
A Quick Tale of the Tape
Atalanta: 6th place | 51 points | +20 GD | +15.3 xGD
Napoli: 2nd place | 63 points | +31 GD | +22.3 xGD
Atalanta Kicks of a Brutal Stretch of Matches
Yes the international break may have been a good opportunity to get some rest, but the other side of the vacation is not roses and puppy dogs. Atalanta starts April with an insane five game stretch that includes matches against Napoli, Lepizig (x2), Sassuolo, and Hellas Verona – all within the span of two weeks. Yikes! And of course there is no ramp up into such a stretch, with arguably the most difficult opponent first on the docket. Atalanta was able to get the best of Napoli back in December. A thrilling 3-2 victory had Atalanta flying high before the turn of the calendar, but how things can change in a matter of months. Napoli is now in a dog fight for the Scudetto and Atalanta is hoping to fend off Fiorentina and Lazio to ensure European football.
And perhaps most importantly for Napoli now: they’re healthy! Last time out in Lo Stadio Maradona, Napoli’s roster was thin. Kalidou Koulibaly, Fabian Ruiz, Andre-Frank Anguissa, Lorenzo Insigne, and Victor Osihmen were all absent. While Osihmen and Giovanni di Lorenzo will not be suiting up for the Partenopei on Sunday, Luciano Spalletti has nearly a full roster at his disposal. And for Gian Piero Gasperini, well – we all know how injuries have gone in 2022. Fortunately, reinforcements are getting healthy, but it is still to be determined if these key offensive assets will be ready for the weekend. Regardless, Gasperini will have the troops ready to go!
Napoli Player to Watch: Kevin Malcuit
Napoli’s Mr. Dependable, Giovanni di Lorenzo, is now missing matches for what feels like the first time ever since he joined the side. His consistent and steady presence on the right side of the pitch will be difficult for Spaletti to replace, but his likely back-up flashed strongly against Atalanta in December.
Kevin Malcuit has barely gotten a touch for the Partenopei this year. In fact over one-third of the minutes he has played this season in Serie A came against Atalanta. However, he did played very well in his brief spell – even assisting Dries Mertens on Napoli’s second goal of the match. Offensively Malcuit is capable, but Atalanta should look to exploit his flank on defense, where he most likely lags behind the man he is replacing. Additionally, targeting Malcuit also prevents Atalanta from surging head on against Koulibaly.
Malcuit may not be the difference maker in the match; but if he does start, there is a high probability a lot of action will come to exploit the flank that is likely weakest for both squads.
Atalanta Passione’s Predicted Starting XI
There is still a lot of uncertainty on the severity and status of Atalanta’s injury list. Rafael Toloi is likely still out due to the injury he sustained against Bayer Leverkusen. But up front it’s anyone’s guess who is and who is not healthy. Duvan Zapata is probably not fully fit to participate this weekend, but Jeremie Boga and Aleksei Miranchuk are scheduled to coming back, but still question marks a few days before kickoff. It probably does not change a whole lot with the frontline – as Luis Muriel and Ruslan Malinovskyi are likely locks to start. As long as Malinovskyi has overcome his stomach illness, and Muriel has not picked up a knock on international duty. Have to monitor these still.
Further back the pitch, Joakim Maehle needs some love in this lineup but it is hard to see Gasperini choosing the Dane over his preferred choice in Davide Zappacosta. Maybe if Maehle can bottle up a little of whatever magic juice he uses on national duty he’ll be permitted to start…
At goalkeeper Juan Musso’s excellent last few games should give him the nod over Marco Sportiello. However, with Musso traveling back from Argentina midweek, there is a chance that Sportiello gets the start in case something goes wonky with travel plans.
Some Fun With Numbers
Both Dries Mertens and Duvan Zapata are two of the most prolific non-Italian goals corers in Serie A history. At 109 and 105 goals in the league respectively, only Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Gonzalo Higuain, Marco Icardi, and Edinson Cavani are ahead of the two strikers among active players. Atalanta should do its best to not let Mertens net a hattrick – or any goals for that matter! Three more goals will put Mertens level with former Napoli great Edinson Cavani (among active players).
Napoli has the stingiest defense in Serie A this year. Only conceding 22 goals on the year, Atalanta and Inter are the only two squads in Serie A to put away at least three goals past David Ospina and Alex Meret.
On the Atalanta POD last week Dan and I talked about the potential misuse of Teun Koopmeiners in a more advanced role. The thinking was that playing further forward, often pinned on a flank, does not let him do what he does best: view the entire field and dictate offense through pristine passing. Digging into the details the, numbers seem to back it up. Ever since Koopmeiners has played further forward his progressive passing distance and completed passes into the final third have precipitously fallen. It makes sense that these stats have fallen with him already being in the final third often as an attacking midfielder – constricting the quantity of pitch he has to work the ball forward. But it begs the question, should he be utilized like this when he was already so good at what he did further back? His central midfielder stats are among the league leaders (only Maxime Lopez and Marcelo Brozovic have tallied more progressive distance per match as CMs!) – significantly higher than what Freuler and de Roon can provide offensively. Honestly, there is an article in here, I’ll stop for now!
Guess who leads Serie A in goals per 90 minutes? Yes, Atalanta’s very own Moustapha Cisse with 3.46 goals per 90 minutes! Of course the sample size is ridiculous, and this is a straight up throwaway stat, I just had to add this in to demonstrate the craziness of Cisse scoring on his debut having only played 26 minutes.
The attrition continues for Atalanta. With Leipzig looming large on Thursday, it is important to stay focused on the task at hand, even if Atalanta may be prioritizing going for glory in the Europa League. But beating a revamped Napoli squad twice in the same year is still a mighty good feat. It may be too late to catch Napoli in the table, but three points may go a long way in continuing to put pressure on Roma, plus whoever is the big loser in the Inter and Juventus clash this Sunday. Let’s just hope some rest did the squad good, and they come out firing. As always, Forza Dea!!!
