They say 2-0 is the most dangerous lead for a reason, and Atalanta didn’t do anything to squash the cliche last night. After getting out to a storming two goal lead on the back of a Luis Muriel brace, Atalanta let complacency get the best of them allowing two lackadaisical goals in nine minutes – made worse by the fact that centerbacks scored both goals. The result is even more frustrating considering the fashion in which Atalanta dominated the first half. While not controlling possession, Bologna’s possession was pure empty calories in the first half – which nearly carried through the full ninety minutes. However football can change on a dime, and brain farts finally got the best of La Dea; before they had time to even react the match was back even and there was no ignition switch anywhere on the field to go for an all decisive third goal.
While we’ve seen a more tempered Atalanta attack this season, this would’ve been the perfect match to go full cutthroat and try to put away four or five goals. They even had their chances in the first half! Gosens, Pessina, and Ilicic all had very good opportunities to add a third goal, but they couldn’t finish their chances. Then its almost as if Gasperini told the guys to put the breaks on in the second half, and not even try for the third goal. Granted it didn’t help that Ilicic – who played well again – came off at halftime, and Muriel came up gimpy and had to be subbed off. Still, overall, it was a very confusing 2nd half.
Miranchuk had his first real opportunity to show off his chops for a full half, but all he really did was recycle possession back to the center-halves and never really challenged the Bologna defense. In fact it was such a timid performance, it was almost as if he was told to focus on maintaining possession rather than creating attacking chances. A 97% pass rate is great, but when all your passes are backwards, what difference does it even make??? Frankly I’m a little disappointed by Miranchuk’s performance. He’s been the signing I’ve been most excited about this year, and he was brilliant against Inter – also just go back and look at his UCL games against Juventus when he was with Lokomotiv! A depleted Bologna was the perfect opponent for him to show off his creativity, but nothing. I’m not writing him off, I just want to see him unleashed or to have the confidence to attack! Perhaps he should be playing the Pessina role instead, I’m still a fan of having him and Ilicic on the pitch at the same time. We’ll see if I ever get my wish.
Right now 24 points feels so much better than 22 points. This was the perfect opportunity for Atalanta to go level with Juventus, and be within 2 points of the Top 4 with a game in hand. But unfortunately we squandered 2 points, just like the 2 goal lead squandered today. Now with a longish break, a bitter taste in the mouth, and a tough opponent coming up with Sassuolo, we’re beginning to run out of time to continue saying “it was just one game.” 3 points would have looked nice here, and ultimately we fell apart in a very un-Gasperini like fashion. Sitting back, mental errors, and set piece mistakes are not common in Atalanta, and its a terrible way to let an opponent back into the match – especially one who has been allergic to offense the past month.
But time for perspective again, we’re only 1/3rd of the way through the season, we’re still going through the turmoil of losing a club icon, and this was the final game in a brutal stretch of games over the last three months. Sitting tied with Juventus and Napoli in 5th sounds better than being in 7th, but honestly it could be worse. Muriel, Zapata, and Ilicic haven’t been their true selves all year, and I think they’re finally coming around after the lull they experienced post international break. Let’s take time to rest, and come back strong in 2021 and show Serie A that we still belong in the Top 4. On to Sassuolo, Buon Natale, and Forza La Dea!
