The open questions surrounding Atalanta’s preferred starting XI knows no bounds. How do the new attackers all fit in together? Does Mitchel Bakker immediately move into the starting lineup as a coveted left-footed wingback (sorry Matteo)? Is Jose Luis Palomino here to stay and give us one more glorious run wedged in the middle of the defensive back three? All valid and probably unsurprising questions to encounter for a club that has gone through so much roster turnover.
But the one spot that you’d think La Dea would have on lockdown was goalkeeper. Alas, not even this is settled. Even without capable backup Marco Sportiello to vie for starting minutes, Juan Musso’s job is still in jeopardy with the Italian U21 keeper of choice lurking for starter’s minutes. Marco ‘Dried-Meat’ ‘Mick-Jagger-Lips’ Carnesecchi had a great year doing his upmost to try and keep Cremonese in Serie A last year.
Now Atalanta has a legitimate goalkeeper battle on its hands, with both having merits for the starting nod. Juan Musso didn’t do himself any favors last year, rating poorly in many goalkeeping statistics – including advanced stats like post-shot xG above or below average. Musso was in the bottom 10 in this stat that does a good including shot quality, while Carnesecchi was middle of the pack. Granted goalkeeper stats are still very hazy and a lot of questions on shot difficulty metrics make them purely a data point to consider in the overall picture of player rating.. Still Musso didn’t pass the eye test, making numerous blunders and failing to show any acumen on playing the ball out of his own area.
So why am I here to try and defend him in the next few paragraphs? First, there’s no guarantee that Marco Carnesecchi is a better option. I have next to no knowledge of his distribution prowess, and while he made some awe-inspiring saves last year, I don’t think it is enough to immediately don him a superior shot stopper to Musso (who’s made some insane reflex saves in his own right).
But as a new-father-to-be, my sympathies lie with Musso. Our baby isn’t even here yet, and there’s just extra chaos pent up in the house taking care of a mother (god-bless) that can barely bend to tie her shoes. And that’s all before the baby comes! Take the chaos into over drive after that.
If you all remember Musso welcomed a new baby into the world at the beginning of last September. While there’s absolutely no data to support the claim that Musso’s mental capacity may have suffered, is it not plausible to think that nurturing an infant took away from his capabilities? I don’t care if he had all the nannies in the world to help him and his girlfriend – he’s still not getting the best sleep at night – and sleep is the engine that drives everyone, especially athletes that need to be in peak performance. Especially, especially athletes that live and die by having their reactions and reflexes absolutely on point.
Even a 1-2% drop in performance across the razor thin margins in professional sports can have an impact. Remember that game against Cremonese where Musso spilled an easy chance that an opponent was then able to put away for an easy equalizer? That came four or five days after Musso’s baby was introduced into the world. While its impossible to say what would’ve happened under normal circumstances, you start to add up all the niggly blunders Musso had over last season – and it makes you wonder…
I’ll leave it at that! Musso’s baby will soon be one year, and the parents will ideally be in the rhythm they need to function normally. Also meaning that Musso hopefully regains his catlike reflexes and cuts down on the blunders. Perhaps this deserves a follow-up article once our baby actually is born and I can then confirm our sleep deprivation – but I can imagine most mothers and fathers reading this will be able to confirm this without my miniscule datapoint.
Until then – let’s give Musso another chance! As always, Forza Dea!
