I’ll be the first to admit that it’s super cool that Atalanta has international representation from a swath of countries all over Europe and South America. However, the international break becomes an extremely subjective term when nearly the entire club has no match time off, but instead must get ready to prepare for either 2 or 3 games in the span of less than two weeks. Just to make it to this point the season has already felt like a slog, and a break is needed and justified to get players some rest, recover from injuries, and work on team tactics without the pressures of match day. But will Atalanta be fortunate to receive that? Will the international break be more of a burden for the club, or perhaps a well needed change of pace to help break up the brutality of fighting on two fronts? Only time will tell.
Just take a look at who’ll be on the move this week:
Albania: Berat Djimsiti
Switzerland: Remo Freuler
Argentina: Papu Gomez
Germany: Robin Gosens
Netherlands: Hans Hateboer (normally de Roon too if he wasn’t injured)
Slovenia: Josip Ilicic
Ukraine: Ruslan Malinovskyi
Russia: Aleksey Miranchuk
Croatia: Mario Pasalic and Bosko Sutalo (U-21)
Italy: Matteo Pessina (congrats on the first call-up!)
Colombia: Duvan Zapata, Luis Muriel, and Johan Mojica
That’s over half the squad, with four South Americans having to fight with jet-lag to contest all-important World Cup qualifiers! Especially with the Euros and Copa America coming this summer, there will hardly be any resting time for squads with significant international participation (including Atalanta). I have mixed feelings about the international break, especially after Zapata foolishly got hurt in a meaningless friendly against Chile about this time last year. With the gauntlet we’ve been through so far this year already, it feels like a very unfortunate time to have the squad outside of Bergamo.
But unfortunately this is a side effect of Atalanta’s current squad set-up and scouting strategy. Fielding some of the best players from the smaller nations of Europe will always result in a healthy quantity of international caps for the players and time outside of Italy to fulfill their national duties. However, now more than ever it feels necessary that the squad rest and regroup before the final round of the Champion’s League and onslaught of league games coming. The squad still hasn’t struck a proper balance, a lack of preseason could be the culprit for that, and frankly some players just look dog-tired. Hateboer doesn’t look the same as last year, Freuler has been run rampant (and probably will be again with Switzerland), Gosens isn’t even fully fit and was called up by Germany, and Mojica has struggled to learn his duties as a Gasperini wingback.
I imagine 10-12 days of rest and tactics training would’ve done wonder’s for Gasperini’s squad, but we will not be afforded that luxury. The defense may be given the opportunity to gel a bit, with only Djimsiti leaving out of the starters. However, the same can’t be said for the midfield and attack. Perhaps the best thing that can come out of this is a better working relationship between Toloi and Depaoli on the right side. Depaoli has struggled the most to adapt to his role, and perhaps some dedicated one on one time with the Brazilian will help him feel more comfortable when he is backing up Hateboer.
Unfortunately all is fair in love and war, and a Serie A season is definitely a sporting struggle. So we have to deal with the hand we’re dealt. A quality international roster, plus the existence of international breaks means that Gasperini will always have to walk the tightrope on how to best handle these weeks. And really all we can hope for is no injuries and no overuse by National Team managers in relatively meaningless games (only Carlos Quieroz gets a pass in Colombia for playing the 3 Atalantini given the importance of the CONMEBOL games). Regardless, I’ll root hard for the players to do well internationally, and perhaps I’m overblowing the direness of the situation. Maybe a change of pace and being around players you grew up with is a refreshing change of scenery? Who knows? At least we still get football to watch, and let’s still cheer on all of our international participants! As always, Forza La Dea!
