Atalanta Bergamo – Napoli: Palladino Finds Points From The Flatness (2-1)

A busy schedule and depleted squad saw a blunt bout between two Champions League-competing clubs. But where Antonio Conte struggled to draw influence from the bench, Raffaele Palladino made substitutions that complemented his team’s strongest phase.

Tactical analysis and match report by Joel Parker.

When these two met in January last season, the chase for the title had both clubs within four points (alongside Internazionale) of each other. Come February this year, the Scudetto is well out of the picture.

For Atalanta Bergamo, there has been little expectation after a poor start. Palladino has improved the mood and mobilized Atalanta into competing for European spots once again. However, this is a young coach who needs to add more strings to his bow: an early collapse to Borussia Dortmund has given them an uphill battle in retaining their place in the Champions League, whilst Palladino’s record against Napoli has been a notable flaw in his time as coach (six games, one win, four defeats, and Conte went into this game 3-0 up in the head-to-head).

Napoli had maintained some hope going into the new year, but injury problems, as well as a lack of tactical diversity, have seen this diminish. Results since last week have been transformative.

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