Date: August 21, 2022
Time: 20:45 CET | 24:45 EST
Atalanta: t1st, +2 GD, +1.2 xGD | Milan: t1st, +2GC, +1.6 xGD
Just when you think the lazy dog days of August are meant to ease into the rough and tumble matches of the autumn and winter, the schedulers through this doozy right in the face of the Atalanta faithful. So early in the season, La Dea has the (mis)fortune to welcome Scudetto winners AC Milan to the Gewiss. Atalanta has failed to take points from Milan in its last three matches, including two putrid performances last season that were an embodiment of Atalanta’s woes concerning mistakes. A match early in the season is never a great time to hope for mistake free football, but on the flip side the opposition has the same issue to combat. Ultimately it may come down to minimizing mistakes, but when Atalanta also has the task of trying to stop the sometimes unstoppable Rafael Leao, it quickly becomes an uphill battle.
Unfortunately the problems don’t just end with Milan’s stalwart attacker up front, Stefano Pioli’s side also boasts one of the best defensive units in the league. A defense led by Fikayo Tomori and Pierre Kalulu creates a vacuum for ground balls in the middle of the pitch, making it difficult to put together intricate precision sequences. Milan’s defense won it the campeonato last year, and it will take a disciplined and aggressive offensive plan to outfox the centerback duo. Fortunately for Atalanta, Duvan Zapata should be able to win any physical battle against Kalulu or Tomori, so this may be a match for Atalanta to hone in on its big center forward – as long as his teammates aren’t doing it by feeding him isolated long balls!
Milan Player to Watch – Ismael Bennacer
With Franck Kessie off to Spain, there is now a fulltime position for the Algerian international. He possesses a unique skillset of excellent defensive work on top of elite ball retention. Its incredibly difficult to win the ball off Bennacer, and he is so good at moving it forward both with his dribbling and his passing. Sandro Tonali was injured last week, so Bennacer may be without his most reliable pivot partner, but that still won’t prevent him for being his expressive self. Perhaps the best plan is to block off all his lanes forward, and force him to play the ball backward, because there are few other ways to neutralize him.
Atalanta Passione’s Preferred Starting XI
Atalanta’s biggest challenges comes down the right side of its lineup. The defense will have to contend with consistent runs and dribbles from not only Rafael Leao but Theo Hernandez too. Speed is their game, and while very few players have the raw pace to keep up, Atalanta should still put its most athletic lineup on the right. Giorgio Scalvini got a taste of the midfield against Sampdoria, and he would be the perfect inclusion to act as a spy on Leao, permitting the less fleet of foot Rafael Toloi to act as a security blanket and make his signature runs forward. That still leaves Hans Hateboer to contend with Hernandez, but another interesting shout would be to start Ademola Lookman on the right to help out defensively.
Offensively Luis Muriel cannot start; I’d be happy with pretty much any other offensive formation. His work up front was uninspiring, and put a strain on Mario Pasalic acting as the sole attacker to bring the ball forward. Jeremie Boga did not get any minutes against Sampdoria, and this may be the perfect time to unleash Atalanta’s potential talisman for the year. Of course Duvan gets the nod, and it’ll be up to him to try and solve the Kalulu/Tomori puzzle that perplexed so many offenses last year.
Biggest Key to Victory
Atalanta needs to play error free football. Atalanta nearly did against Sampdoria (save for a heavy Caleb Okoli touch that didn’t harm them), but errors were La Dea’s downfall against Milan last year. Two clear cut errors led to goals in the first face-off in last year’s campaign, and while physical errors didn’t lead to goals in the return fixture, horrific mental lapses were Atalanta’s downfall.
Oftentimes what separates the good from the great is the ability to punish mistakes, and Atalanta doesn’t need to give Milan any help to win in this match, the Rossoneri are already favored! A lot of this will fall on the Toloi and Djimsiti to help guide Okoli through a sea of complexity, as well as Koopmeiners turning into a holding defensive midfielder everyone knows he can be. If Atalanta can take care of the ball and minimize the short field opportunities for Milan, they have a good chance of pulling out points.
What a confidence boost it would be if Atalanta could pull off these three points so early in the season! It would certainly take out the sting of the mini-exodus ongoing Bergamo, and would be a great signal that Atalanta still has the pieces to field strong squads (which I believe they do). But of course Milan won’t make the task easy, and the Rossoneri’s ability to play mistake free football just adds that much more pressure to Atalanta. It cannot rely on its opponent to beat itself. So let’s go out, be focused, get the opposition scouting report from Brandon Soppy(!), and knock Milan down a peg or two! And as always, Forza Dea!
