Date: December 13, 2020
Time: 9:00 EST
Champion’s League is done for now, and Atalanta gets to return to their Serie A focus against one of the biggest thorns in their side last year, Fiorentina. A Coppa Italia loss at the hands of the Viola, including a draw and barely scraping by with a victory in their final duel of the year, few teams provided as many problems to La Dea last year as Fiorentina. Fortunately La Viola has not found their stride in Serie A yet this year – even with the coaching change in Prandelli – failing to secure a victory since late October, beating Udinese 3-2.
Granted Atalanta have been equally poor in Serie A in the same amount of time, having not secured victory since the Crotone match. However, now with Champion’s League out of the way, hopefully the squad is ready to put all their focus in climbing the standings of Serie A. Sunday will be an interesting battle in that we don’t know exactly how Atalanta will come out. Will they attack, play more of a neutral game, or invite Ribery and Castrovilli to come forward and then capitalize on forced turnovers? If history is any evidence, Fiorentina probably won’t have any issue in letting Atalanta hold the ball and wait to counter. Both Serie A matches last year saw Atalanta hold the ball for over 60% of the match, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see more of the same. The last Midtjylland match really springs to mind, as they set up their defense perfectly to prevent Atalanta from walking the ball into the net. I vividly remember the last Fiorentina match last year being almost identical. Besides Zapata’s pinball goal, a long distance shot from Malinovskyi was really the only thing to get by the wall of Purple and past the grasp of Dragowski. I fully intend a similar style of matchplay from Fiorentina, and Atalanta may need another missile from the Ukrainian to gain 3 points (he’s finally available again!).
On the other hand what if Gasperini opts to play more conservative offensively, and absorb Fiorentina pressure? They’re obviously gelling in this tactic, and successfully gained 6 points from it in the Champion’s League against superior opponents than Fiorentina in Liverpool and Ajax. If anything its a great wrinkle for Gasperini to throw at opposing managers. He’s no longer a one trick pony, and can dismantle an opponent beyond just outscoring it. My only wish is that Atalanta gets better on the counter with this less possession oriented tactic, as Duvan is often isolated when the ball is outlet to him, and he has to hold up the ball far too long for everyone to meet him. Against Ajax, Hateboer was very close on a breakaway a few times, and better passes would have saw him on goal or streaking down the right – so they’re still working out the kinks, but close (Hans and Gosens will be key in initializing counters). Frankly this all may be moot, as I don’t see a counter attacking flow even available for La Dea – my guess being Fiorentina lines up much more conservatively and dares Atalanta to get one past them. But I still love the option of being able to play multiple styles, if anythings its fun to guess what Gasperini’s going to do, and a conundrum for opposing managers.
More than anything I’m thrilled about two things. One- players are finally getting healthy and rested (we’re just missing Pasalic, Miranchuk and Caldara), and two- Champion’s League is in the rear-view mirror for now. Gasperini mentioned in his pre-match interview that players aren’t robots, and a lot of the squads focus was on Europe. This is the part we often forget about athletes, they’re human. They’re not droids on Football Manager or FIFA that make decisions through statistical algorithms; they think, breathe, worry, and prioritize like the rest of the world. Fighting on one front for a while should do a world of good for the squad, I just wish they didn’t have to go back into Serie A Only mode by playing such a tricky squad that should be much higher in the table (on paper) than they currently are. However, it is becoming more and more evident that “In Gasp We Trust,” is a proper rallying call, and regardless of what the media may have you believe about the “feud” between the skipper and captain, the squad will fully buy in to whatever Gasperini wants them to do on Sunday. Time to get back on form in Serie A boys! As always, Forza La Dea!
