Atalanta Bergamo – Napoli: Conte Continues His Quest Back To The Top (2-3)
With four points separating three teams, a matchup between the two would be crucial for the Scudetto’s location come May. Atalanta Bergamo started on the front foot until weaknesses in their off-ball and buildup plan arose, as Napoli converted the few opportunities they managed.
Tactical analysis and match report by Joel Parker.
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Ahead of a poised matchup for the title, both Atalanta and Napoli faced the brunt of football’s fast-paced and erratic nature.
After all, it was only a few weeks ago that Atalanta’s winning streak was the topic of conversation. Three consecutive draws have seen them fall away from the title pace, now four points away from Napoli and a game that feels more like it could make or break their chances of the Scudetto. Despite the drop in form, Gian Piero Gasperini could take courage from just how comfortable their 3-0 win at the Maradona was back in November.
Whilst the contenders were battling out in the Super Cup, Napoli quietly kept winning and collecting clean sheets in the process. However, the development in Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s sale soon eclipsed what was happening on the pitch, a much-loved star exiting the league leaders for reasons that aren’t clear. Antonio Conte has a lot to deliver and a big performance in Bergamo would cut through the noise.
Gasperini made four changes from the team that drew at home to Juventus. The suspended Sead Kolašinac was replaced by Isak Hien in the defense, whilst Davide Zappacosta came out for Raoul Bellanova at right wing-back. In the attack, Gasperini showed little caution: Lazar Samardžić and Mateo Retegui in for Mario Pašalić and Charles De Ketelaere.
Conte was still without the services of Alessandro Buongiorno, so Juan Jesus was still positioned as the left-sided center-back. Their only change from the 2-0 victory over Hellas Verona came at left-back as Leonardo Spinazzola was replaced by Mathías Olivera, who returned from injury.
The Lookman pocket remained prominent
Perhaps proceedings did not plan out as most would expect. After both Atalanta and Inter drew in mid-week, one would assume Conte would take a more conservative approach when going into this game. However, Napoli where afforded room to build amongst the backline and met counterpressing moments with some aggression through Olivera and Frank Anguissa in central spots.
With this in mind, the game was quite spacious. In possession, the fullbacks stayed wider; a good matchup against Atalanta’s 3-4-1-2 man-marking scheme, which did not press high in the final third. When Napoli had the ball on the halfway line, both fullbacks inverted and the wider center-midfielders switched positions as part of the rotation. With Giovanni Di Lorenzo committed in this manner, Napoli ran the risk of Giorgio Scalvini (the Kolašinac replacement on the left side of the defense) or Matteo Ruggeri having clear access to Lookman and this led to a number of transitions in the game’s first quarter.
The aggressiveness of the center-midfielders remained when Napoli where positioned in a 4-5-1/4-4-2 medium block. Anguissa and Scott McTominay stepped up onto the first line of the Atalanta buildup when possession was held in the middle third. In the process, Lookman could be left to move into his favored position as Stanislav Lobotka was occupied by Samardžić, Matteo Politano was more focused on pressing into the wider channel and neither Di Lorenzo nor Amir Rrahmani stepped out too far from the defensive line.
10th minute: Atalanta buildup versus Napoli’s 4-5-1/4-4-2 medium block. The wide center-midfielders stepped outwards onto Lukaku’s line to shut off central access. However, as Éderson allowed the ball to run across his body, Politano stepped up and anticipated the pass to Scalvini, whilst space opened for Lookman to receive and turn.
As a result, routes to Lookman were still open and his touches on the ball soon encouraged the Napoli block to shift towards him, opening up space to switch to Bellanova on the opposite flank. Fifteen minutes in and a turnover saw Éderson carry before Lookman moved the ball to Marten de Roon down the right side, just on the edge of the box. A one-two with Samardžić put De Roon through in the halfspace, before his cutback reached Éderson on the edge. Napoli bodies failed to compress the area, but it still took an incredible hit from Retegui, from a very difficult angle, and found the top corner of the near post.
How Atalanta failed to find control
With Lookman engaged in the action and Samardžić dropping to help circulation, the dynamics were there for Atalanta to take the reigns but this would not be the case. In the final third, moves were still quite hectic (generated from deep carries) and reliant on crosses into the box to try and create some chances.
Out of possession, Gasperini’s team where in their passive man-marking scheme which boded several problems. Firstly, the lack of intensity from the first line meant that Napoli could adjust in the channels without much pressure: De Roon and Éderson were responsible for stepping up towards the fullbacks.
Secondly, as Napoli moved the ball towards the middle third, a rotation between Di Lorenzo and Politano could easily take Ruggeri or Éderson away from putting pressure onto the ball and enable either man to carry the ball back towards Lobotka. If Anguissa was free, Samardžić had to switch his man-marker and Conte’s team had access to the second line through Lobotka and Olivera. In the process, Berat Djimsiti did not jump up the chain to approach and although these moments were not entirely cutting through from Napoli, it did enable them to access territory much higher up the field.
19th minute: Napoli’s progression against Atalanta’s passive man-marking scheme. After Di Lorenzo passed to Politano, the two exchanged their positions but Atalanta did not maintain separation and Napoli filled up the second line as Scalvini nor Djimisiti jumped from their defensive positions, nor did the scheme alternate within their roles.
In this regard, diagonal runs from central players were effective in creating space to move into. Napoli struggled to make central progression, a recurring problem throughout the campaign for Conte, but McTominay and Anguissa could move onto the same sides of the pitch to make more room for the fullbacks. These diagonal runs could also be seen in the final third and as the game progressed, dribbles from David Neres started to come into play after Atalanta had taken the lead. Before the half-hour mark, McTominay controlled a header back from Romelu Lukaku and Neres dribbled inward, before moving the ball around Bellanova towards the edge of the box. In the process, Politano moved across the entire forward line towards the left and appeared completely undetected from five Atalanta bodies perched towards the back post. Politano received and fired an excellent strike into the roof of the goal.
The momentum Atalanta had gained was gone, even though the spells of possession remained the same and Napoli was not entirely threatening Marco Carnesecchi’s goal. Neres was easy to engage because De Roon had to move up towards the fullbacks and Djimsiti was often caught between following McTominay (as he received underneath Lukaku) or covering his ground deep to support Bellanova. In the process, it was also easy for Napoli to transition into a higher block and force Atalanta to go long because the spaces between their center-midfielders grew in distance: Gasperini’s team struggled to build through the lines as a result.
Before half-time, Éderson found himself pinned towards the touchline through Anguissa’s pressure and he lost control as Neres swooped in to backheel into space. Anguissa carried towards goal as McTominay readied himself by losing De Roon and diagonally running for the cutback. A finish high into the goal put Napoli in front from their fourth shot of the game.
The low block starts to creep in
It may not have been the direct intentions, but Napoli started to revert into a deeper low block more consistently from this point. Deep carries put Atalanta into the opposition half and Samardžić started to take the ball in the right halfspace now they were able to access the final third in less chaotic ways. At the same time, Lookman started to take up wider spots against the last line because Di Lorenzo was taking more central positions when Samardžić had the ball on the right. Ruggeri also supported the circulation by being positioned in a narrower area, as well as encouraging Éderson to push towards the box.
These have been the standard dynamics for Atalanta in recent weeks, Samardžić being a lot more of an accomplished connector than Pašalić in this role, but the attackers are often just too wide to directly threaten in this state. Furthermore, Lookman was missing both Zappacosta and Kolašinac to rotate with to give himself better rotations and move the ball onto his right foot.
52nd minute: Chance for Retegui. As Neres lost the ball, the Napoli defensive block reset without the midfield intact. Samardžić got inside of McTominay’s line and excellent double movement took Retegui away from Jesus, with Olivera more occupied with Bellanova’s position.
However, if Atalanta could attack Napoli’s block with one of their midfielders missing, then spaces started to show. Bellanova tracked back to pinch the ball off Neres and Samardžić carried in the halfspace with space for adaption. Fantastic double movement from Retegui created separation with Juan Jesus and the pass was connected for the Italian striker to sprint onto, the angle too acute this time for his attempt at goal.
Despite the miss, it was not too long before Atalanta got their equalizer and it came when the Napoli defense unravelled after a throw-in. As Retegui moved the ball to Lookman, Di Lorenzo committed and the Nigerian attacker got around him. He carried into the box, before shooting low into the far corner and Gasperini’s team had got themselves back into the game.
Napoli find a resurgence
Gasperini did not learn his lesson from the first half, even though Atalanta did increase the shot count. Out of the deep block, Neres started to have plenty of bodies around him on the counterpress and Lukaku was unreliable in retaining possession. Although Napoli struggled on transitions, they were still able to nullify their opponent after the hour mark due to them getting into their high block between situations.
Atalanta’s deep buildup did not enable them to take the ball smoothly between the thirds. Carnesecchi produced a lot of long passes when play circulated back into his box, with the Napoli defense in a lot more favorable positions to win the duel. Amongst the circulation, Éderson dropped between Hien and Scalvini to alleviate pressure on the right, but Anguissa was able to follow as Samardžić was often not in a position to provide a short progressive option. As a result, not only would this force Atalanta into a longer channel pass but there was also one less attacker that had a chance to regain possession or provide support for Lookman or Retegui.
61st minute: Atalanta’s deep buildup versus Napoli’s high block. Although they could get the ball out from one channel and into the other, Napoli was able to apply pressure because there was a lack of central coverage ahead of the player in possession so Atalanta could not smoothly move through the lines. Politano pressed Scalvini, whose long channel pass was aimed at Lookman but Napoli won the second ball.
The hosts may have had more of the ball in the second period, but they did not stop Napoli from harming their buildup from deep as well as having moments where they circulated themselves. Conte’s team killed their momentum but did not provide much attacking substance themselves. In recent weeks, Serie A opponents have exploited Atalanta by leading out Hien and rotating into the spaces that were made, but Hien was a lot more comfortable following Lukaku than other attackers he has faced.
Gasperini made changes, adding De Ketelaere and Zappacosta into the fray. However, the same problems remained and in possession, Napoli started to show signs of life. Conte took off Neres and added Leonardo Spinazzola, who was involved in some key combinations as Olivera and McTominay moved inside and the lane opened for Anguissa to move from right to left to take the ball up the pitch.
Napoli started to apply more pressure onto the box, and with under fifteen minutes left, they scored a huge goal. Olivera was able to take the ball out of the defensive third and his one-two with Anguissa saw De Roon commit onto the Uruguyan and for Spinazzola to rotate slightly inside. Anguissa and Spinazzola continued to exchange before Anguissa sprinted behind Bellanova and the Italian connected. With Hien committed to the channel, Lukaku faced Scalvini in the center of the box and the midfielder’s cross was perfect for the Belgian to head home from close range. Neapolitans have been waiting for a big Lukaku moment, perhaps he provided them with the most important goal of the season.
77th minute: Buildup to Napoli’s third goal. Olivera was able to take the ball up to the halfway line and continuous combinations could be made as Anguissa passed back to Olivera, Olivera moved it up to Spinazzola and the Italian passed back to Anguissa, who both continued to connect up the left side of the field, before Anguissa crossed for Lukaku to score.
Takeaways
A thrilling top-of-the-table clash with plenty of questionable defensive errors made in between. It is remarkable how Atalanta’s Scudetto dreams were put up in smoke going into the new year: their out-of-possession plans appeared solid until their passivity led to gaps too far away to fill. Of course, don’t rule out a team that has always had a strong second half of the season, but seven points is a huge deficit to make up.
Napoli still holds a lot of flaws within their play, but Conte has had an unbelievable week going his way. At the time of writing, Inter has two games spare and six points needed to match them. Even if this is accomplished, they only have Lazio and Bologna to visit out of the top eight teams, without any competition to mix with their schedule. An undefeated Juventus are next to travel down south, another pivotal game in Conte’s dreams of returning as Serie A’s top dog.
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