As difficult it is for this American living on the east coast to wake up at 6 AM for early matchday, it oftentimes seems equally as difficult for Atalanta to muster the proper energy for the early kickoff – even with a six hour head start over Americans living on the east coast.
By my calculations it has now been four consecutive lunchtime kickoffs in which La Dea have failed to secure three points, this time to newly promoted Cremonese. Atalanta’s Lombardian neighbor did well to earn its point, giving an Atalanta side that has already had difficulty scoring few opportunities on net. In the end it took a pinball goal off the back of Rafael Toloi for La Dea to ultimately earn a goal, and it raises some concerns going forward about how Atalanta handles squads that are ready and willing to let Gian Piero Gasperini’s squad hold onto the ball.
Yet perhaps even more frustrating than the lack of agency in possession was the manner in which Atalanta folded like a cheap suit immediately after taking a decisive lead. Four minutes after scoring, Juan Musso put the finishing touch on a comedy of defending errors, spilling a fairly easy shot right into the path of Emanuele Valeri. Sadly this was the dagger in Atalanta’s hopes of earning three points, as the offense had little to show down the stretch – save for one quarter chance that Caleb Okoli was close to converting.
Atalanta was bound to have one of these matches sooner rather than later. In the moment its difficult to remember how challenging it is to play perfect football match after match, but each top team will have one or two hiccups along the way. And if a given team doesn’t; then its fair to say it probably deserves to win the Scudetto. Holding onto the ball for 58% of the match and still only turning in a 76% pass completion percentage is sloppy. I can understand Atalanta’s more direct and prone to mistakes style of football when the squad isn’t sitting back and looking to hit on the break; but, when Atalanta is in a position to dictate tempo – how does it adjust its gameplan? That’s for Gasp to figure out with this current squad, especially if he has no interest in using Jeremie Boga. The pieces are still there to dictate tempo here and there, they just have to nail the execution and the tactics.
At the end of the day I think we can chalk this one up to being a casualty to the Scientific Method. Gian Piero Gasperini has been in the hypothesis formulating stage even since the season started, and today’s match was just another lesson learned about how to get better for the stretch run. Atalanta has yet to face a team that was as content to sit back as Atalanta is, and now there’s good feedback to take home and improve.
Atalanta Passione’s Match Ratings
Full disclosure: I missed the first 40 minutes, so some of these ratings will be a blend of my views and other strong opinions across the web.
Juan Musso: 5 – Spills one of the only shots he has to stop all match, and it costs Atalanta two points.
Caleb Okoli: 5 – His handball prevented an Atalanta goal, and he was often indecisive in his decision making that made for a few too many hairy moments.
Merih Demiral: 7.5 – The Turk has been on fire this year, and while the goal may have been rewarded to him, its more his assist that helped Atalanta get on the board.
Rafael Toloi: 7.5 – He’s been one of the most important players so far this year, helping to fill in at both left and right center back as well as left fullback. Oftentimes he seems to be the only player to create dangerous opportunities from turnovers.
Hans Hateboer: 6 – The Dutchman has been listening to a little too much Radiohead, as he’s taken How To Disappear Completely far too much to heart.
Brandon Soppy: 6.5 – I love his desire to create, it just didn’t fall today for him today. Plus take a wild stab at whose heatmap is whose. (apologies if I botched the grammar there!)
Sure Hateboer and Soppy likely had different instructions this match, but Hateboer was so narrow. And with Koopmeiners dictating so much offense from the right hand side, it makes one think is Koop’s desire to drift to the flank to help mask the lack of output coming from the players surrounding La Dea’s #7?
Teun Koopmeiners: 7.5 – He nearly had another goal, but his freekick is becoming a serious weapon for a team that has to rely on creative ways to score.
Marten de Roon: 6.5 – If only his legs were an inch or two longer, then maybe he could’ve been more useful in the clearances during Cremonese’s only spell of possession in the second half.
Ademola Lookman: 6 – A tough day at the office for most of the attack, but his missed touch in the box off the freekick stands out as a “what could’ve been moment.”
Ruslan Malinovskyi: 6.5 – He impressed again with some nifty killer balls, but ultimately did little to help with the offense’s flow.
Luis Muriel: 5.5 – The Colombian continues to be all out of sorts, starting continues to feel like a waste of his dynamism at the end of matches.
Ederson: 6 – The Brazilian had little time to come out and make an impact on the match.
Rasmus Hojlund: 6.5 – His work rate continues to be excellent, and he did quite well outmuscling the burly Romanian Vlad Chiriches in the middle of the pitch.
Mario Pasalic: n/a
Joakim Maehle: n/a
Nadir Zortea: n/a
Atalanta Passione Man of the Match – Rafael Toloi
Upon further review, he will probably have another goal to add to his stat line, but his MOTM performance comes from everything he did outside Cremonese’s penalty box. His defense was steady as ever, and as mentioned above his effort in spurring on attacks after winning a ball is second to none. I reckon if Atalanta was playing a squad that was a bit more open, some of these Toloi initiated attacks would have turned into more dangerous opportunities.
Other Match Odds and Ends
Atalanta xG: 0.87 | Cremonese xG: 0.53 – This feels fair over the run of play, but it does make you scratch your head how Atalanta can permit Cremonese to be play stout enough defense to hold La Dea under 1 xG.
Juan Musso did “well” to take a Santiago Ascacibar shot that had a 3% chance of going in, turning it into a new opportunity for Valeri that was 800% more likely to find the back of the net. I wonder if this spill can be attributed to the sun’s positioning. I don’t know where the sun is in Bergamo at midday, but I have a sneaking suspicion this spill doesn’t happen at dusk or at night.
Jeremie Boga again rides the pine in a game that could have really used his abilities. If that isn’t an indication that Gasperini does not see the Ivorian in his plans, I do not know what else would be. Its a bit of a shame since Boga’s tight dribbling and latent penchant for the remarkable could have been useful today.
One point, while its not three, is still enough to keep Atalanta joint top of the table. Atalanta may rue the day in 2023 when it dropped two points, but let’s not forget that La Dea have gone six Serie A matches to start the season without losing. Atalanta hasn’t done that ever since it has made it back to Serie A twelve years ago – so with the high level perspective of not diving into the details, this has still been a great start to the season. Hiccups come along the way, and other versions of Gasperini’s Atalanta squad may have even lost this match. Let’s keep the Scientific Method churning, as we’ll need a master game plan next time out when taking on a Jose Mourinho led Roma squad that gave Gasperini fits last season. Until then, Forza Dea!!!
