In a wild first matchday of the year, a clinical Atalanta showed no prisoners, comfortably handling a Torino squad unable to cope with its offensive barrage. While Torino looked good in spurts, and made the first half quite interesting, it was evident that they’re quality dropped off after halftime; thus allowing Atalanta to dominate the second half with very little worry. With three points in the bag to kick off the year, there is no rest for the weary as Atalanta have a midweek fixture with the always dangerous Lazio to look forward to.
For Atalanta it was more of the same, sublime offense, shaky defense, and eventually wearing down an opponent to control the offensive flow. There aren’t more accolades you can throw Papu Gomez’s way, he’s simply magical. He was so efficient with his touches that it seemed like he either scored, assisted, or drew a foul in a dangerous area each time he possessed the ball. It’s quite evident that he still remains the heartbeat of the team, but the rest of the offense around him was either equally or close to being as good. Muriel was outstanding, Zapata (though not scoring) gave the Torino backline fits, and both Hateboer and Gosens were handfuls going down the flanks. Essentially it was an offensive display we’ve come to expect from La Dea, with goals coming from everywhere, and even defensive workhorse Marten de Roon got in on the action.
And as good as the offense was, the defense was equally as questionable. A huge Sutalo error almost saw Torino go up 2-0 early, but Zaza was unfortunate to meet the cross-bar on his cracking strike. Though shortly after, Belotti was able to creep through the backline and strike home the first goal of the game past Sportiello. Overall Sutalo, Caldara, and Toloi were quite poor, and the defense didn’t really settle down until Palomino came on for Caldara to start the 2nd half. The ultimate wildcard, Palomino is prone to absentmindedly getting burned, but today he was quite strong effectively neutralizing Belotti, acting much less cavalier than he usually does. I’ve always liked him in the middle of the back-three, and I think he did enough today to earn himself another start, and take on the huge task of containing Immobile. Djimsiti’s return into the defense should help to shore things up at the back too, and also reignite his partnership with Freuler who was absent in the first half, but came on strong during the 2nd 45 minutes.
Overall, there is still more to be happy than worried about after today’s performance. The offense hasn’t lost a beat, Gasperini made the right defensive adjustments in the second half, and the gaffer wasn’t even scared to use his new subs. Seeing Mojica barely a week after signing was encouraging (considering Mojica’s predecessor Cyzborra saw only garbage time minutes against a now Serie B side), and even Lammers got in on the action even though there wasn’t much need for him to contribute. You can’t make marathon prediction after the first mile, but Atalanta showed the poise and concentration you want to see from a team that will be fighting on two fronts, and with an outside shot at the Scudetto. Great victory today, and let’s keep the momentum going into the first international break! As always Forza La Dea!
