Date: April 23, 2022
Time: 15:00 CET, 9:00 EST
A Quick Tale of the Tape
Atalanta: 8th place | 51 points | +16 GD | +13.4 xGD
Venezia: t18th place | 22 points | -22 GD | -27.2 xGD
Something’s Gotta Give on Saturday
Pollen doesn’t seem to be the only allergy in the air, with both squads struggling mightily to find some semblance of form. Atalanta have lost three straight Serie A games, Venezia seven. Regardless one team will snap its winless streak, and given Venezia’s meteoric fall in form, Atalantini should go into Saturday with confidence. However, fans across the globe have learned to curb our expectations with the squad this season, especially since the calendar has turned.
Its difficult coming up with news ways to constantly demonstrate how poor the club has been recently, but here’s one more: Atalanta has failed to score more than one goal in a Serie A match since February. The good news Venezia has averaged two goals conceded during its seven game losing streak. So again, something’s gotta give. Atalanta scored for fun against Venezia last time out, including a hattrick from Atalanta’s flat track bully Mario Pasalic. Just one goal from the Croat this time out would be sufficient as long as the offense gets rumbling. Because more than anything, Atalanta could use a laugher for a game in which it is not on the receiving end of the jokes. Venice is known for the gaudy and ostentatious – so why not be like good tourists and bring some obscene offensive chops on the way journey? You know what they say, do as the Romans Venetians do….
Venezia Player to Watch – Mattia Caldara
Bergamo’s own has been thrust into a difficult situation marshalling a leaky backline, but encouragingly the Bergamo-born Mattia Caldara has held his own. Injuries may finally be behind, the not-so-young-anymore defender, who has now clocked over two thousand minutes this year in Serie A – a number he has not reached since the 2017-2018 season. Beyond health, Caldara has actually been a steady contributor in his minutes. He ranks top 20 in Serie A this season in adjusted defensive actions per minute (tackles, interceptions, and blocks), and he has certainly done enough to find a new job in Serie A next season after the likely relegation of his current club.
He may not be able to find success in Bergamo again, but we should all be elated that one of Atalanta’s brightest prospects in the Gasperini era is finally coming good again on his talent after years of injury!
Atalanta Passione’s Desired Starting XI
Notice how I said desired and not predicted starting XI! After the turmoil that Atalanta has had to pass through just to muster shots on goal, shouldn’t the team go nuclear and try something completely different? Why not? The offense couldn’t be worse at this point, and experimenting against a Venezia squad with little left to play for could be the perfect gateway into finding some offensive prowess. Plus it hides the few vulnerabilities the club has from an injury standpoint.
A defensive pairing of Merih Demiral and Jose Luis Palomino keeps Berat Djimsiti fresh to come if needed. Offensively it permits Jeremie Boga to continue to express himself offensively, giving him two options to dish off passes to at striker. Boga was one of the only encouraging players from Monday’s Verona debacle, and he needs to keep being run out to fine tune his final decision after some nifty dribbling.
While this would be a throw-the-clipboard-out-the-window lineup I’d be willing to get behind, deep down I’m pretty certain we’ll still see the same old 3-4-2-1 formation. Maybe Mario Pasalic gets a start based on his performance against Venezia in the first leg. But really all of this is boring, let’s dream big and go for the shocker of a lineup!
Some Fun With Numbers
Venezia has a shaky defense this season, so it should come to no surprise that no team has given up more goals in extra time (after 90 minutes) than Venezia with 8 goals. In the same vein, Atalanta is also one of three teams that has given up more than one goal in first half stoppage time. Spezia and Genoa are the only other teams to give up multiple first half stoppage time goals (great company!).
Speaking of topping tables that are not the envy of the town, no squad has drawn more yellow cards (90) and straight red cards (6) than Venezia this year. On the other hand, only two straight cards have been issued to keeper this year, with Atalanta’s own Juan Musso valiantly earning one of those red cards. Bonus points to who can guess the other keeper to draw a red card this year.
With Giorgio Scalvini’s first Serie A goal last Monday, Atalanta now has two teenagers who have scored this year (the other being the Guinean Sensation Moustapha Cisse). Roma is the only other team that has had multiple teenagers score this season. For Venezia, Gianluca Busio also put a goal away at the tender age of 19.
Knowing that Champion’s League football is off the table for next year is kind of relieving. Once you get over the agony that is the poor football that has been played the last few months, you can eventually see the positivity and excitement that comes with being able to try something new. The fear of it not working is minimized because the previous tried and true method isn’t working either! So you could potentially fail doing the same thing over and over again, or fail trying something new. But the benefit of trying something new – if it works there’s something encouraging to build upon for the final six games of the season. Change is coming in Bergamo regardless, we may as well welcome it, and try new things and see what sticks. Heck we may even solve the problem! But for now and as always, Forza Dea!!!
