How Atalanta are trying to adapt ahead of Liverpool test in the Champions League
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Updated 03/11/2020 at 10:40 GMT
Atalanta have become a finely-tuned team under Gian Piero Gasperini, but they have not been without their troubles at the start of the 2020/21 season. With the help of Eurosport Italy’s Simone Eterno we look at how Atalanta are attempting to adapt and integrate new arrivals ahead of their Champions League clash with Liverpool.
Atalanta have had a mixed start to the season
Image credit: Getty Images
Adapting. Everyone is having to do it, but some are finding it harder than others. For Atalanta it’s proving tricky right now.
The Bergamo club have enjoyed a remarkable few years under Gian Piero Gasperini, who has transformed them from a team battling relegation to a side challenging for European places, and this year playing in the Champions League for the first time in their history.
But, ahead of their home game against Liverpool, they are facing their own adaptation process.
“The problem so far for Gasperini has been pretty clear: dealing with Atalanta’s new dimension,” explains Eurosport Italy’s Simone Eterno.
That ‘new dimension’ is partly the arrival of several new players over the summer. Aleksey Miranchuk, Sam Lammers, Simone Muratore, Cristian Romero and Fabio Depaoli were among the new faces to join, and, as a number of clubs are finding out, a lack of pre-season means they are learning about their new team and team-mates as they progress through the season.
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Gian Piero Gasperini has transformed Atalanta since taking charge in 2016
Image credit: Getty Images
For Atalanta – a finely-tuned team wedded to Gasperini’s style - the adaptation process may take even longer.
“Gasperini built an ‘automatic machine’ with Atalanta in the last years,” says Etorno. “But he did it by playing with pretty much the same people. So the issue right now, and the explanation for a couple of bad games in Serie A, is teaching the new players the same movement the usual starting XI knows automatically and that makes Atalanta so good.”
Atalanta have lost two of their last three games in Serie A, and Gasperini admitted he tried to make too many changes in their 3-1 loss to Sampdoria.
“I did the damage with some experiments, creating a work in progress,” he said, having made seven changes from their Champions League win over Midtjylland.
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“This happens when you try to get too many new players embedded too quickly...On the one hand, we do need to get the new players settled as soon as possible, but on the other we must balance it out with not performing too many experiments when we need to get points in the early rounds of the season.”
It’s a difficult balance for Gasperini to get right, and it will be tested against Liverpool as Hans Hateboer and Robin Gosens, both regulars over the last few years, are set to miss out, meaning summer signings Johan Mojica and Depaoli could start.
“They don’t yet how to play in the same way the other two do,” says Etorno.
But history suggests Atalanta will work things out. They have made inconsistent starts in both the previous seasons and haven’t really got on a roll until the second half of the campaign. Their form in both seasons was good enough to secure third-place finishes in Serie A.
And even as they integrate new players, Atalanta are sure to stick with their style. “They play a system with 100 per cent conviction,” was Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp’s assessment of the Italian side.
Klopp also said Atalanta will be Liverpool’s “biggest challenge in the Champions League so far”. But can the Serie A side get the better of Liverpool, even though their attacking approach is likely to leave opportunities on the break?
Etorno believes Liverpool’s recent form suggests Atalanta will create chances.
“For sure they will begin the match with that kind of attitude that you’ve seen also last season: trying to play their football against everyone, no matter how good the opponent.
“Liverpool of course is a stronger team, but they have some issues as well, especially in defence. Without this Covid-19 situation Bergamo’s stadium would have been a factor: I would say it is like a ‘little Anfield’ in terms of the passion of the people and the noise they can make.
“But if Atalanta play at their best I still think they can be a pretty bad opponent for Liverpool, especially if Liverpool is the same team that I've seen against Sheffield United and West Ham, then the home side will for sure have chances.”
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