Gian Piero Gasperini is expected to leave Atalanta’s top scorer Mateo Retegui on the bench for tonight’s game against AC Milan, a report claims.
This morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) begin a team news update on Atalanta by stating that there is no fixed rule in Gasperini’s choices of formation, and therefore the players he will pick.
Precedents and habits – which obviously arise from precise convictions – can simply help to predict, but they do not provide certainties. Tonight it is more likely that the coach will face Milan’s four-man defence with two strikers and an attacking midfielder, rather than with the De Ketelaere-Retegui-Lookman trio.
The paper recalls that for the two Atalanta-Milan games that were probably the most significant of his management, Gasperini chose not to have a natural centre-forward. In January 2019, the 5-0 against Stefano Pioli’s side, he played Josip Ilicic and Papu Gomez, plus Ruslan Malinovskyi in behind.
In last season’s 3-2, sealed thanks to a 95th-minute backheel from Luis Muriel, it was De Ketelaere and Lookman as could be the case tonight. Teun Koopmeiners acted behind them, and he scored three times against Milan last season.
Mario Pasalic should be asked to play the Dutchman’s role rather than Lazar Samardzic (too attacking) or Marco Brescianini. However, what all this means is that Retegui – the top scorer in Serie A with 12 goals already – should begin the game on the bench.
He’s gonna play a false nine (prob Lookman) to try to draw our CB’s out.
Retegui was the CF that we should have got. 17 goals contribution in 20 games. And only for 20mil.
Are you serious or just desperate, you want this guy to be our no9, both Morrats and even Tammy are way ahead of him
Fonseca has never defeated Gasparini. We’ll see if Fonseca will pull off some magic when facing stronger teams like he did with Inter and Real, but this is indeed concerning. In the last 11 games Atalanta has scored a mind-boggling 38 goals while conceding 5. Given our enduring defensive weaknesses and our poor form in away games in Serie A, this is a huge mountain to climb.
I hope you’re not insinuating that Atlanta are stronger then us or on par with Real or Inter, we should beat them, a draw or a loss would be dropped points for us!
Yes, Atalanta are CURRENTLY stronger than us. And yes, they are CURRENTLY on par with Real and Inter. Actually they are ahead of both, respectively in the Champions League and Serie A. They are 5th in the Champions League, and Real are 24th. They are second in Serie A, and Inter are third.
If you haven’t noticed, Atalanta has scored 11 and conceded 1 in the Champions League. They have scored a mind-boggling 47 goals so far this season, adding their 36 in Serie A to the 11 Champions League goals. They are 9 points ahead of us in Serie A (we do have a game in hand but there is no guarantee we’ll convert those 3 points and even if we discount those 3 points, they are still 6 points ahead). Their positive GD in the Champions League is 10 while ours is 2. Their positive GD in Serie A is 20 while ours is 9.
In EVERY way they are currently stronger than we are.
They beat the previously undefeated Leverkusen 3-0 in a dominating manner, something that NO club was able to do all season long. They eliminated Liverpool! Liverpool! They are the reigning Europa League champions.
They also have a coach who beat our coach every single time their teams played against each other.
Please tell me, what exactly have we accomplished recently that suggests that we have the same firepower? Our history? I would agree with you on our history but history doesn’t win games. Their current form is way ahead of ours.
Can we win? Sure, and I hope so. But to pretend that Atalanta are not CURRENTLY stronger than us is just a denial of reality.
And yes, weaker teams can beat stronger teams. It has happened multiple times in the history of football, and I hope it will happen again, tonight.
But let’s not kid ourselves; Atalanta are just better than we are, at this point in time.
Yes, a draw or a loss would be dropped points for us like you said, something we can hardly afford given our table position, while THEY can afford to drop points precisely because they are way ahead of us on the table.
Don’t read me wrong, of course I will root like crazy for Milan to pull this off and beat the currently stronger Atalanta, but that doesn’t mean I can’t see that they are indeed stronger.
Well, they beat us. I told you so.
“In the last 11 games Atalanta has scored a mind-boggling 38 goals while conceding 5.”
Jesus…
Oops, sorry, 36, not 38, while conceding 5, and 12 games, not 11.
3-0 Shaktar Donetsk
5-1 Genoa
2-0 Venezia
0-0 Celtic
6-1 Verona
2-0 Monza
3-0 Napoli
2-0 Stuttgart
2-1 Udinese
3-1 Parma
6-1 Young Boys
2-0 Roma
Now with their 2-1 victory against us, it’s 38 while conceding 6 in 13 games. Still very impressive.