With all the locker room drama we’ve experienced this week so far, it oddly got lost in the shuffle that Atalanta got back to their winning ways in Serie A, putting 3 goals past a scuffling Fiorentina. While Fiorentina’s attack was toothless – even when Castrovilli, Ribery, and Callejon came on in the second half – the defense held strong, and even came through with a goal and assist contribution. In addition, the Ukrainian missile saw his first gametime in weeks, and was remarkable in the Papu trequartista role – even scoring a great free kick over the flat footed Milenkovic.
One thing that has been missing from Atalanta attack recently, was scoring goals from set pieces – both the glorious and grunt-like picking up the trash goals. And when you’re struggling to find the back of the net, sometimes all you need is a nice stroke of luck or a brilliant piece of individual effort to regain offensive confidence again. Malinovskyi showed why he is the first choice free kick taker when he’s in, and even put in a bunch of good corners that could have resulted in multiple goals, instead of only the one Toloi was able to put away after a nice Djimsiti flick. Dragowski could only keep La Dea out for so long, and hopefully this is a sign of more goals to come.
While Fiorentina are a shell of the team they have in paper, it is always great to see La Dea perform well (and win) whenever Papu is not in the lineup. Both Malinovskyi and Pessina (I actually think Pasalic could play the recent Pessina role very well too when he comes back), while playing two different roles in the midfield are demonstrating their importance to the club as it tries out new formations and new ways to win. Gasperini has iterated multiple times how teams and tactics must always be adapting, and if Papu does indeed leave, what’s next for the club? And, I think we may have seen some of it today. More midfield coverage, Duvan performing more target, harder pressing, and hold up duties, and the wingbacks being ever present in the attack build-up (well this isn’t really new, but it may become more critical for them to be successful in attack).
It feels refreshing to be back to winning ways in Serie A. With a game in hand in the league, we’re still within sniffing distance of the Top 4, especially with two enormous games coming up in the next seven days. Stealing a victory in Turin (revenge is needed) would be unreal, and hopefully our offensive momentum and continually improving defense can continue to fuse together into a new look Atalanta. Bring on Juve, and as always Forza La Dea!
