In a match that there is almost nothing positive to talk about, I questioned whether it was worth writing an article. What are you really going to talk about after a 5-0 thrashing, where the only lively player all night was Zapata? However, I was perusing twitter earlier and came across some interesting Gasperini quotes that he gave to Sky Italia post match. I quote:
“We have to reflect, because we lost badly in Manchester last season, but were confident we could change a few things and make a big difference. Unfortunately, they blew us out of the water in terms of intensity….I’ve seen it before this season in Serie A too, we don’t have the intensity we did in the past and have to change our style a little bit to compensate for that.”
What did I just read??? Gasperini thinking of changing up his style? The man who would is synonymous with his high press and man-to-man marking is thinking of making some changes? Honestly I was surprised to read this and it got me thinking what could he possibly do to change his tactics?
If the Liverpool game taught us one thing it is that the defensive high line gets torn apart by a technically superior team. Liverpool was able to pepper passes to the front three at will, and also gave the back five very little room to breathe in getting the ball to Freuler, Pasalic, and Papu to get the offense moving. It’s evident that Palomino, Toloi, and to a lesser extent Djimsiti can’t handle speed and technical superiority of a club in the ilk of a Liverpool. This was exploited against PSG with Neymar and Mbappe, and again against the Liverpool juggernaut. And unfortunately it is starting to trickle in to Serie A matches a bit.
There’s no way that Gasperini does a major overhaul, but I imagine he’ll make some tweaks to how the back three moves up and down the pitch, and perhaps maintains some conservatism to ensure that teams don’t kill them on the counter. All three of Toloi, Djimsiti, and Palomino love getting up the pitch, and the tweak may be as simple as having the middle CB sit deeper back, and the other two CBs being less cavalier on their runs forward. Granted at the end of the day, the overloads with the CBs probably confuse defenses, but they’re not essential in providing attacking options for La Dea. With the plethora of offensive weapons at their disposal, the CBs can still be aggressive with their man marking, just not do it as high up the pitch. The return of de Roon will be interesting (since he is key in providing cover to the aggressive CBs) in seeing how Gasperini changes his tactics, but if I was a betting man, I’d imagine all he’ll ask is a little more conservatism from his back three.
I don’t want to read too much into Gasperini’s comments, but I was surprised that a man quite steadfast in his beliefs had a potentially slight change of heart into his football philosophy. Football and sports in general are a chess match, and you always have to be prepared to adapt (I could talk your ear off about all the changes in baseball the last 10 years that have changed how the game is played). I think we’re just seeing a little of that in Gasperini’s thinking. Not that the “Atalanta style” has been “figured out,” it just may need a few alterations to adapt to how Europe and Italy are playing against them and the personnel he has at his disposal. Gasperini’s a smart man, he’ll figure it out, and I’ll go to the grave with him being able to figure out how to ride the ship and come out stronger. While the Liverpool match was a complete stinker, we still have to get revved up for Inter, so as always Forza La Dea!
