Saturday’s match ended as expected in Bergamo. A flurry of offensive chances fueled Atalanta to a two -nil victory against a Sampdoria team kept on life support on a device run on dying AA batteries. Now six consecutive matches scoring at least two goals, Atalanta’s offense has shown no signs of slowing down. Twenty one shots, nearly two expected goals, and seven unique players registering at least one 10% scoring chance demonstrates the serious offensive confidence the squad has right now.
What’s most impressive about this match is Atalanta’s resolve and not leaving anything to chance. Sure it took Atalanta over 40 minutes to score, but the offensive intent was always there – and you knew the squad would always come good. With the likes of squads like Milan and Juventus losing in shocking and even embarrassing fashion this week, important places in the table will likely come down to how teams do versus the squads they’re “expected to beat.” Everyone knows that Atalanta teams of the past would make these “trap” games a bit trickier to maneuver. Even the squad from October that lost to the likes of a plucky Lecce squad may have had difficulty navigating this contest.
But here we are, points taken in every January contest so far, and a green up arrow next to Atalanta’s name that likely has its richer rivals nervous that the fairy tale was never a fantasy, and was always real.
Atalanta Match Ratings
I never got to watch this whole match in its entirety, so I feel unqualified to give fair match ratings. So I’ll take an assist from Kunbrate on Twitter who always dishes out a strong read on how the match went: Link
Atalanta Man of the Match – Ademola Lookman
Another goal for the Nigerian, and it may have been the most brilliant individual effort of the year so far. Lookman has 12 Serie A goals this season already, continuing to be lethal on the right wing. Its fresh to not see an inverted winger all the time, as the directness Lookman provides in such a role is a perfect complement to Boga’s inverted and more calculated approach.
Three Match Takeaways
One- This match was Atalanta’s fifth Serie A victory of the season, already topping its tally from last season! Whatever the reason was for Atalanta’s home woes last season, its important that Atalanta has addressed them this season, or at least regressed back to its expected home performance. Atalanta now sits in 8th place in points earned at home, to go along with its glowing away form (2nd place).
Two- After writing about Juan Musso’s confusing form earlier in the week, he came up with the goods on Saturday. The expected goals on target may not tell the whole story (as it tallied less than one goal for the match), but his two key reaction saves to open match proceedings in the early stages helped the team to hold serve until the offense could come alive.
Three- Thanks to Jose Luis Palomino’s injury, Berat Djimsiti got a rare start on Saturday; and the Albanian didn’t disappoint. The stats suggest he played disciplined, yet aggressive, while barely misplacing a pass with his usually reliable ball control. With Merih Demiral seemingly in bad graces with Gian Piero Gasperini, more responsibility may fall on Djimsiti while everyone waits for spring. He hasn’t really played in the center of the defense in awhile, but more performances like this one will help to calm a lot of nerves around La Dea’s ever-changing centerback depth.
Its a good weekend when Atalanta wins. Its a great weekend when Atalanta wins and many of Dea’s direct rivals also drop points. As of this writing, it looks like all of Milan, Lazio, and Roma are all a bit closer to Atalanta in the standings. Places 2 through 6 are agonizingly close, and Atalanta has done itself well to maintaining its level of form, regardless of the opponent. Fittingly, La Dea gets to take on the squad who took Milan to school this week, Sassuolo, but if the boys keep taking these matches one-at-a-time everything looks possible. Until then (and midweek with the Coppa!), let’s keep it up, and always, Forza Dea!
