What else is there to say? Handballs, handballs, and more handballs. They’re a cruel mistress, and unfortunately have become the prime talking point of Serie A after yesterday’s outrageous Atalanta/Juve 2nd half. It’s heartbreaking to think Atalanta’s dominance and slim Scudetto chances have been washed away by such misfortune. Granted while it’s easy to be outraged and bring out the pitchforks and claim that Juventus has the league in it’s pocket, let’s not forget that La Dea were also on the fortunate side of a questionable handball call that brought back a Giovanni Simeone goal, ultimately leading to Atalanta’s victory.
We can talk handballs all day, but with 3 matches in 7 days to discuss, there are surely more pertinent things to cover. Even though the score ended 2-2, Atalanta really took the game to Juventus yesterday, especially in the first half, and proved that when they’re firing on all cylinders there is hardly anyone in Serie A that can keep pace with them. While yesterday’s scoreline sucks, taking 7 of 9 points this is nothing to sneeze at. Especially with new contributions and goals coming from all sorts of places. Sutalo and Tameze made their first team starting debuts, and seem to fit right into the system, adapting to their roles relatively seamlessly. Especially Tameze, he’s quite lively in the midfield, tackles well, and has really good pace to shuttle the ball forward and is a strong alternative to keep Freuler and de Roon fresh when they need their rest.
Speaking of 2019-2020 transfers, Ruslan Malinovskyi is slowly starting to become my La Dea player, and perhaps is starting to make himself a starting 11 option over Ilicic. Which brings up another question that relates to the Ukrainian, is something wrong with Ilicic? He went through a similar stretch in the winter where it seemed like he was either injured or couldn’t care less about what was going on (moody as he is), but Ruslan is making a more and more convincing case to replace Ilicic for a variety of reasons. Beyond his incredible goal scoring strikes (the Juve goal > the Lazio goal to me), Malinovskyi brings in fresh enthusiasm that Ilicic either masks or lacks. Malin’s work-rate is incredible, and his dribbling twists and gyrations are sometimes Ilicic-esque. While I love Ilicic, he really did carry the team through January and the legs against Valencia, and he definitely is the player that pulls off the most “How the hell did he just do that?” dribbles he really has not been the same after the break. I’m hoping it’s just a knock he’s trying to get over, but given his age, I don’t think its unreasonable to think that his role may become more of change of pace super-sub rather than starting 2nd striker (I do hope I’m wrong!).
Beyond the offense, which has seen the Colombians both net brilliant goals this week, I’m curious and slightly worried about how Gasperini will handle the wingbacks for the rest of the season. Gosens, who was slated to start Saturday was scratched due to injury. If he is out of the lineup for any sort of time, there is no way that both Hateboer and Castagne can handle the demands and stamina required of Gasps’s wingbacks. We’ve yet to see either Bellanova or Cyzborra debut, but depending on Gosen’s health I absolutely think its necessary to get them in the lineup for minutes and to save the legs of Hans and Timmy. Castagne has been quite brilliant in the starts he has recently gotten, but now with three out of four (or four straight, did he start against Samp?) starts and six games still to go, fatigue will have to eventually become a factor for him.
Ultimately this week will be remembered for what could’ve have been unfortunately, in a game in which La Dea thoroughly outplayed Juventus and had a chance to cut their gap to 6 points. Perhaps its what we needed for Serie A brass to address the silly handball rule that has been a cruel mistress to so many teams this year. With six games to go, and only 2 points away from free-falling Lazio, La Dea still have an excellent chance to build on their success and finish the league in a club record 2nd place. Still with both Milan teams to play, and tricky fixtures against Bologna and Parma (plus the derby against Brescia), it will be interesting to see how Gaserpini balances finishing as high as possible, or being creative and curious with his lineups to find the best squad to match up against Champion’s League foe PSG. It’s been an exhausting yet exciting week of Atalanta football, and with the Brescia derby coming up next the intensity will remain relentless. Let’s keep riding high to the end of the year, and hopefully cement another club record and dethrone Lazio for 2nd in the league. As always Forza Atalanta!
