Atalanta Bergamo – Juventus: La Dea Delt Another Stutter (1-1)

Beneath the surface of Atalanta Bergamo’s fantastic form, they were just getting over the line towards the end of their winning streak. Two draws in a row were coming, but a victory before they faced Napoli was needed if they were to provide more pressure on the other challengers. In the end, Juventus looked the more convincing.

Tactical analysis and match report by Joel Parker.


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Amidst Atalanta’s rise into the Italian elite, the Goddess has been in constant torment by a Grand Old Lady, unwilling to let go of her grasp.

When Atalanta hit over ninety goals, the Juve dynasty was in its twilight years of dominance. When the Coppa Italia final was played at the Mapei Stadium, a temporary home stadium for Atalanta at one point, it was Andrea Pirlo’s Juve that denied Gian Piero Gasperini of his first success. Even before their Europa League victory, Massimiliano Allegri had one final trick up his sleeve to rustle them once more in Rome, another chance of silverware snatched out of the Goddess’ grasp.

Gasperini could have done facing Juve in less strenuous circumstances. A weak performance against Udinese saw them drop points at the weekend, a result that had been coming. Now Atalanta needed to beat Juve to keep tabs on Napoli, who they will face at the weekend in a crucial game for the title. Thiago Motta’s team might still be unbeaten, but twelve draws in nineteen is hardly the record to be flaunting. As Andrea Cambiaso struggles for fitness, Motta needs to find another way to respark some of the creative rotations and combos that they were pulling off at the start of the season. 

Gasperini made just a single change from that 0-0 draw at Udinese. Raoul Bellanova was replaced by Matteo Ruggeri, a move which saw Davide Zappacosta be switched to the right wing-back role. Atalanta continued with Mario Pašalić as the advanced midfielder behind Ademola Lookman and Charles De Ketelaere.

Cambiaso was back in the starting eleven, as he replaced Samuel Mbangula in one of two changes from Motta. Douglas Luiz came out for Manuel Locatelli, who missed the 1-1 draw with Torino. Motta was in the stands for this game, serving a suspension from the Turin derby, so Alexandre Hugeux was in charge in the dugout.


Unusual alterations

Both team selections may have looked normal on paper, but both managers left surprises for one another once play transpired. Atalanta was in their classic arrangement, but Éderson being situated as the right center-midfielder, as opposed to his usual left, was an unusual pick from Gasperini. In possession, Pašalić dropped into spaces so that third-man runs could be created from Éderson and Marten de Roon, but Juve was well prepared to face this dynamic and Atalanta’s central progression was limited (a recurring theme with Gasperini’s flat 3-5-2 formation that he has favored.)

Out of possession, Juve started in a narrow 4-2-4 or 4-2-2-2 shape, with both Teun Koopmeiners and Weston McKennie as the double tens. Kenan Yıldız and Nicolás González were responsible for the slightly wider forward roles and joined the first line of the press when the pass was made from the center to the channel. Juve did try and counterpress more man-to-man but the early emphasis from Juve was to remain narrow and compact against the Atalanta build, so sitting in a medium block was a lot more suitable and effective.

What made Motta’s out-of-possession plan work was just how closely Khéphren Thuram and Manuel Locatelli were to the center-backs, whilst remaining in a position to close the spaces between the lines. As a result, when the pass was made to Lookman in the halfspace, Federico Gatti jumped onto the Nigerian and both Yıldız and Koopmeiners collapsed onto the ball, tripling up on Atalanta’s danger man. When this jump was triggered, Locatelli and Thuram were in positions to fill in the spaces of the defensive line. Not only would this block the third man run from being connected, but Pierre Kalulu and Cambiaso could continue to occupy De Ketelaere and Zappacosta on the far side to stop an overload being created on the switch.


8th minute: Atalanta’s buildup dynamics versus the Juve pressing trap. As Pašalić dropped, De Roon moved into a position in the forward line and Lookman showed for the ball. Gatti was able to step up as Locatelli and Thuram filled his space in the defensive line, whilst Yıldız and Koopmeiners were in proximity to collapse onto Lookman.


A few cheap giveaways in possession did enable Atalanta to gain more territory, mostly through De Ketelaere being accessible in a wider position. However Juve’s defensive block was highly organized in resetting, and without a consistent central presence, Atalanta could not maintain a sustainable tempo, which could have found alternative routes through.


Looking to the left

On the ball, Juve had a different look too. A lot of the balls played were quite direct into the forward’s feet, not showing the very patient play that they have adopted under Motta. Despite that, Juve showed that turnovers in the middle third could quickly turn into progression through Cambiaso stepping inside, Zappacosta delaying his response to the left back and the lane to González still presented by another Juve midfielder being available on the underside of Cambiaso.

As play continued, the same left-sided space was regularly open for Juve to combine because Zappacosta would constantly be occupying Cambiaso in the center and Éderson could be taken out wide by Locatelli positioning wider. As a result, González could move into the pocket and as Scalvini jumped, lateral space opened for Koopmeiners.

This would be the basis of one of Juve’s best chances in the first half. As González dropped, Berat Djimsiti jumped and three Juve runs were partaken. McKennie dropped, leading Scalvini out; Locatelli made a third-man run into the forward line and Koopmeiners made a lateral run into the space left behind Djimsiti and Scalvini. Koopmeiners won the duel with De Roon, turned into the box but pulled his shot wide of the far post.


20th minute: Buildup to Koopmeiners chance. As the ball circulated from the right channel, González dropped into the huge space that opened behind De Ketelaere and Djimsiti had to switch from tracking McKennie to stepping onto the Argentine. As this happened, McKennie moved further to drag Scalvini, Locatelli moved forward into the space and Koopmeiners could make a lateral run, against De Roon.


Atalanta also had more success on their left side. Though Gasperini’s men were still coaxed into circulating round Juve’s medium block, they were a lot more dangerous when Juve tried to trigger presses into the wider channels and Atalanta could launch attacks from deeper areas. Lookman would often be sacrificed in this regard, but dropping towards the touchline would also take Gatti into the channel as well, connecting a one-two with Ruggeri/Sead Kolašinac to bypass Nicolò Savona pressing.

Dragging Gatti into the wide channel meant that Pašalić had more space to make runs against Locatelli and Thuram, the problem for Atalanta is that they needed Lookman to be the player to dribble against the more scattered defense and cut back inside on his right foot for productivity. When this dynamic arose on the counterattack, six minutes before half-time, it led to getting their cleanest box entry of the half, a one-two between Lookman and Pašalić put the Croatian through on the outside of Lookman, but Thuram was in a position to block.


22nd minute: Buildup combination from Atalanta to release Pašalić down the channel quicker. A one-two was made between Ruggeri and Lookman to bypass Savona and Gatti trying to press. The distance between Gatti and the two center midfielders increased and the chances of connecting with Pašalić’s run increased.



Juve with more threat

Atalanta may have held onto the ball but it was Juve that was being more threatening with it. A flurry of late first-half chances was created from Juve transitioning forward and spaces opening around for the narrow forwards to attack the last line. After a Yıldız shot was blocked, McKennie came agonizingly close to placing a shot into the bottom left corner from just outside the box. A deep Yıldız cross was dealt with by Marco Carnesecchi, but all that was needed was a connection from Koopmeiners who slid into the box, almost connecting.

Into the second half, Juve altered their passing patterns a little differently. In the process, they were able to find Atalanta’s kryptonite, runs being made from the first line of the buildup. This started with Gatti, who made a one-two with McKennie (dropping from the left), and Koopmeiners made a run on the right to make space for Gatti. His carry fed Yıldız, who cut onto his left foot but the shot squirmed just wide of the near post. A minute later, Gatti pounced onto a loose pass from Kolašinac and charged into a similar space. This time he would have a shot of his own and Djimsiti’s intervention saw the ball go out for a corner. Kalulu met with the outswinger, his header connecting with the inside of the post and Carnesecchi palmed the ball away with a blade of grass spare before crossing the white line.

Another alteration that Juve made was through Kalulu taking up much wider positions in the deep buildup phase. In the process, Thuram and Locatelli filled into vacated center-back positions or between them, and with Cambiaso still inverting, Juve could pull Atalanta’s man-marking scheme into very distanced positions away from their set areas.


53rd minute: Buildup to Juve’s goal. Kalulu dummied for the short ball, before running in behind to create a two-versus-one on De Roon, as McKennie came across from the center and Koopmeiners dropped to drag Djimsiti away from the long ball’s location.


As Michele Di Gregorio passed to Locatelli, who stepped even wider, Pašalić was the midfielder approaching whilst Zappacosta was as central as Cambiaso. De Ketelaere followed Kalulu down the left channel, but the Frenchman faked coming short to make a run in behind as Koopmeiners dropped to take Djimsiti and McKennie made a run from center to the left of the attack. Suddenly, Juve had created a two-versus-one on De Roon and Kalulu continued his run to appear inside of McKennie’s position. The American poked the ball through and Kalulu fired past the goalkeeper to break the deadlock.


Gasp calls to his cheat code

Immediately, Pašalić was replaced by Lazar Samardžić and Atalanta’s connectivity between the channels improved with the technical Serbian being able to control in small spaces. Juve where still in the same defensive arrangement but the addition of Samardžić posed a problem, now that he was actively patrolling the space behind McKennie and Koopmeiners, Locatelli and Thuram could be caught between not covering the zone, as the center-backs jumped or delaying their response as space opened up. Just before the hour mark, Samardžić was able to enter the box and his low ball was footed away, but only as far as De Ketelaere, who kicked back to Lookman and the shot was blocked on the line by Koopmeiners.

It may have been Atalanta that needed the goal, but Juve was not actively forced into a low block by their opponents because they were more than capable of engineering chances of their own. Atalanta’s more passive man-marking appeared to have more cracks as González still dropped into spaces from the left and Savona was left in a lot of room to thread a short pass into McKennie’s lateral run, which led to him having a shot in the box.

Gasperini called to his biggest source of goals this season, Raoul Bellanova and Mateo Retegui were added and Juve responded by dropping McKennie into the right wing-back spot, creating a narrow 5-2-2-1/5-2-3 deeper block. Juve could still alleviate pressure and find the same left-sided spaces that they had found throughout the game, Locatelli’s line-breaking abilities played a big part in this regard. One-twos may have been created consistently, but Juve was not creating at this point.

After circulating the ball around the final third, eventually Atalanta found their equalizer. Juve dropped deeper and deeper for De Roon to make a cross from the left halfspace. Bellanova comfortably beat Cambiaso in the duel at the back post, knocking the ball into a dangerous path and Retegui beat Savona, his first goal on his return from injury.

The game remained very open, Gasperini replaced Lookman with Nicolò Zaniolo and both teams experienced big chances to win the game. Cambiaso’s curling cross connected with Locatelli from close range, but his header was denied by Carnesecchi. A minute later, it was Carnesecchi creating the next opportunity after Kalulu allowed Zaniolo to race onto the ball behind him down the right channel. Kalulu would recover, but Zaniolo’s low shot was saved by Di Gregorio.

The best chance was saved until last; Atalanta committed a lot of bodies on one transition, which saw the ball rolled to substitute Douglas Luiz, in a lot of space. McKennie threaded a pass with Djimsiti beaten and Yıldız ahead of Bellanova, across was Samuel Mbangula in a position for a squared ball. Yıldız opted to try and find the far corner by himself, but his shot bounced wide.


Takeaways

An entertaining game with a lot of stakes. Atalanta needed to get their Scudetto hopes back on track after two consecutive draws: but like their draw to Udinese, they were quite fortunate not to lose the game. It leaves them four points away from Napoli, whilst Inter (level on points with Atalanta) have two spare games to create distance. Their matchup with Antonio Conte is pivotal to keeping the title pace into the second half of the season.

On the very long list of Juve draws, this ranks as one of the more upbeat ties that they have experienced this season. Motta has been missing some important figures in his team, but it still means that their ability to rotate and build through teams has taken a massive hit in comparison to the start of the campaign. January remains a busy month for them, with games against Milan and a trip to Naples coming up before the month has concluded.



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Joel Parker (24) is an Everton fan. Whenever he’s not watching his beloved Everton, Joel spends his time analyzing all sorts of football. Chief editor and Founder of Toffee Analysis. [ View all posts ]

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