Internazionale – Atalanta Bergamo: Snakes Still Tight Around The Goddess Neck (2-0)

The Super Cup may not affect the Serie A standings, but Atalanta Bergamo needed to prove they could kick a poor record against Internazionale, especially when competing against the Scudetto holders. In a bizarre game, Atalanta showed some capabilities, only for Inter’s direct play and set-pieces to rip through.

Tactical analysis and match report by Joel Parker.

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Halfway into the Serie A season, two Lombardian clubs travelling 4,000km away to Riyadh pose ethical and moral questions. Perhaps the least of these concerns is the extra game in the schedule to contend with, but it gives a tactical insight into how a game may look like between these two in March.

After all, the scheduled game in March could have huge implications on where the Scudetto is likely to land. Inter have answered early season doubts by hitting very consistent form, destroying Lazio in Rome as a recent highlight. Simone Inzaghi’s team is a point behind the top two, but they have lost just once in the league and elements of their offensive play, especially in dead-ball situations, appear very strong.

Back in August, it was a 4-0 hammering at the San Siro that has shaped Atalanta’s season. Gasperini started Mateo Retegui upfront, without Ademola Lookman or Charles De Ketelaere in the team. He would not make the same mistakes, often opting for a flat 3-5-2 formation for the big games and relying on Lookman and De Ketelaere for attacking contributions out wide. In recent weeks, Gasperini has required tweaks in-game to save the day, but Atalanta is in a form that has them as close to the title as they have ever been. 

Neither Benjamin Pavard nor Francesco Acerbi travelled with the squad, remaining in Milan due to injuries. As a result, Yann Bisseck and Stefan de Vrij were the chosen defenders next to Alessandro Bastoni, in an Inter squad that went full strength.

Gian Piero Gasperini’s changes were more rotational in the attack; Marco Brescianini on the right, Lazar Samardžić in the false nine position and Nicolò Zaniolo on the left. There was also a place for Giorgio Scalvini in the midfield, Éderson, perhaps Atalanta’s best performer this season, on the bench with Marten de Roon captaining the team.

Nine Inter shots after 25 minutes

Away to Lazio just after Christmas, Marco Baroni’s team had a well-prepared plan to lead Isak Hien out and create advantages around him, through the movements towards the ball from Valentín Castellanos and the runs into space from Fisayo Dele-Bashiru. On paper, this seems like a ready-made plan for Lautaro Martínez and Marcus Thuram to replicate: just a few seconds in and a loose pass from Matteo Ruggeri already put Thuram up against Hien down the left channel. Lautaro’s shots were blocked, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s close attempt was also hacked away from Davide Zappacosta.

This was the first period in which Inter put a huge strain on Marco Carnesecchi between the posts, through attacking methods that have become a lot more apparent this season. In their deep buildup, Inter continued to be super flexible through their center-midfielders filling out into the center-back or wing-back positions, although they weren’t playing through Atalanta in short, vertical combinations. Gasperini’s mid-block scheme was still doing its job in this regard, allowing Inter’s backline to keep the ball to shorten the distance on potential receivers (intense man-marking still intact.) When Atalanta lost the ball in the final third, their counterpress was still capable of disrupting Inter from breaking forward.

11^th minute: Counterpress from Atalanta which stopped Inter from breaking forward. As Bisseck stepped inside with the ball, Zaniolo followed and Mkhitaryan was in a position to receive, only for De Roon to read where Bisseck was going to play too. De Roon’s interaction saw the ball run to Zappacosta on the edge of the box.

As a result, Inter’s connections between the lines were quite limited, but the pass from the backline straight to the frontline could still be engaged. The front three of Atalanta struggled to effectively jump towards the center-backs out of their medium block and passing lanes opened straight towards Thuram or Martínez. Sead Kolašinac pushing Thuram over sparked a dangerous spell from Inter set-plays, first was a driven volley by Martínez, into the ground and tipped over by Carnesecchi. From the corner, Bisseck’s header narrowly dropped over the goal.

The early Inter attacks followed the same patterns. A direct long ball from the defensive third could set Inter in a different arrangement, especially as Martínez dropped towards the midfield, which dragged Kolašinac away from Hien. As this happened, Denzel Dumfries moved into the striker spot next to Thuram, so two of Inter’s best physical forwards could compete in the duel. Martínez also took his turn in attacking Hien by sitting on his blind side. Inter were capable of isolating this one-versus-one through their ball-sided runs keeping Atalanta’s block pinned and Hakan Çalhanoğlu being in a position, in the defensive line, to quickly circulate the ball before the defensive block had shifted.

19^th minute: Buildup to Martínez and Dimarco’s chances. In circulation, both Bastoni and Dimarco charged forward down the left channel, which delayed the Atalanta block from shifting over. The delayed press from Samardžić gave De Vrij time on the ball and Martínez gained separation from Hien to get behind the center-back.

This combination created another great chance for Inter by Martínez exploiting Hien’s decision to jump forward. A distanced attempt was saved and Federico Dimarco could not convert the rebound, a double save made by Carnesecchi. Within this period, the best chance fell to Atalanta when they quickly circulated the ball from right to left, and Ruggeri’s cross searched for Brescianini at the back post, Alessandro Bastoni had it covered, only for his header to go into the opposite direction and for Scalvini to be in a perfect position within the six-yard box, but his attempt was straight at Yann Sommer.

Atalanta nullifies the game

After a frantic start to the match, the effectiveness of Atalanta’s medium block started to show as they were able to slow down the Inter attack after twenty-five minutes. Inter may have threatened through their direct play, but their combinations through Atalanta were quite limited due to their opponent’s ability to follow the rotations that Inter attempted.

This is because the center-midfielders have hybrid roles within the scheme: as Inter circulated the ball, Marten de Roon often occupied Hakan Çalhanoğlu when the Turkish midfielder did not drop between the center-backs. In the process, De Roon kept his distance from the player, still tracking his movement but covering the space in front of him. As a result, when Thuram or Martínez tried to knock the ball back towards Nicolò Barella, De Roon could be in a position where he could provide coverage and the man-marking responsibilities would switch.

30^th minute: Attempted rotation from Inter against Atalanta’s passive man-marking scheme. Barella is allowed to move out wide and Zaniolo drops back so he can follow Bisseck as he moves higher inside. Scalvini can follow and close the passing lane towards the strikers, Samardžić blocks the pass to Çalhanoğlu and De Roon tracks the Turkish midfielder’s movement but also can drop into the space if needed.

In the deeper buildup, Barella moved into the space out wide on the right, created when Bisseck stepped up higher than the rest of the center-backs. However, this did not create the spaces that Inter was looking for as Zaniolo dropped deeper and Scalvini maintained distance before approaching. This kept the passing lane shut and enabled both Samardžić to block the pass to Çalhanoğlu, and De Roon to both occupy the Turk and provide coverage in the central space. Inter were encouraged to make longer passes from deeper positions and even when Inzaghi’s team got into up-back-and-through combinations, the Atalanta midfield was efficient in supporting its defensive line.

In possession, Atalanta had not deviated from their usual plan. Zaniolo and Brescianini were the wide attackers, whilst Samardžić connected the channels, performing more as a false nine and dropping into vacant spaces than Mario Pašalić, who is usually the additional midfielder who enters the box more frequently. Samardžić possesses the technical ability to jump through counterpressure and in the attack, it was down the right side where they showed more flexibility.

32^nd minute: Rotation from Atalanta in possession. Samardžić moved to drag Mkhitaryan inside and Brescianini dropped into the vacant position. As he moved, De Roon also moved into the position he came from and he received with Samardžić available. However, as Samardžić received, De Vrij forced him towards the touchline and an Inter transition broke out.

Dumfries dances on La Dea

In the second half, Inter was able to provide early pressure through Çalhanoğlu dropping into the right center-back spot and Bastoni driving up the field on the left. As Çalhanoğlu was left in space, he had time to pick out his ball towards Bastoni and Dimarco’s ranged attempt was blocked by Hien. From the corner, Bisseck headed towards the goal, before flicking up for Dumfries to perform an overhead kick from close range. A truly bizarre way for Inter to break the scoring.

From that point onwards, Inter continued to cause problems by catching Atalanta dropping deeper, circulating the ball for Çalhanoğlu to receive in space and for direct balls to be launched towards the left of the attack. Both Martínez and Mehdi Taremi, who replaced Thuram at half-time, dropped into spaces behind De Roon, which encouraged one of the center-backs to step out. Due to this dynamic, spaces opened around Kossounou for one of the strikers or Mkhitaryan to sprint into. Gasperini soon made a switch, Lookman and De Ketelaere took up their usual positions, Brescianini was now in the center and Éderson was positioned in midfield, Scalvini was now the right wing-back. The problem for Atalanta is that the same spaces still opened in the Inter left halfspace by Martínez positioned on the same line as Barella and Mkhitaryan, with Taremi keeping Hien deep and Scalvini not jumping into midfield.

58^th minute: How Inter created space in the left halfspace. As Çalhanoğlu dropped towards the defensive line, De Roon followed his man, whilst Martínez dropped towards the ball to drag Kossounou away from the channel. As De Ketelaere occupied Bastoni, Taremi pinned Hien and Scalvini remained in the defensive line, Mkhitaryan was free to receive between the lines.

Bringing on the heavy hitters meant that Atalanta held the ball high up the field more consistently, but the rest defense started to crack as they tried to apply more pressure. Just before the hour mark, Inter’s midfield combined to create the counter and Barella knocked the ball towards the left with both wing-backs flying down each channel. As the ball spilt past the center-backs, Dumfries unleashed his inner Maicon to fire an incredible shot towards goal, from the edge of the box, smashing in from the underside of the crossbar.

Gasperini replaced Scalvini for Berat Djimsiti, soon placing academy graduate Marco Palestra on as the new right wing-back, but despite Atalanta holding the ball higher up the field, Inter provided much more of the threat on the transition forward. Dimarco teed Martínez up for an excellent opportunity on the counter, but his shot from close range was saved once again. Atalanta soon responded by Éderson flicking the ball over Inter’s attempts to press and Lookman ran into the box but an excellent intervention from Bastoni denied De Ketelaere. From the rebounded shot, De Ketelaere was judged offside and Éderson’s goal was ruled out.

There were still chances from Djimsiti and Lookman from an Atalanta corner, which saw two excellent saves from Sommer, as well as a bad attempt from the center-back which replicated more of a clearance than a shot. However, a bizarre game had failed to fall at Atalanta’s feet.

Takeaways

A game in which there were so many big opportunities that it could have fallen either way, but one in which Inter provided a lot more of a consistent threat. This season, Inter has relied a lot more on their direct play and set-piece routines to bypass the opponent, but despite that, Inzaghi’s team remains the most loaded attack in Italy: even if Lautaro is in poor finishing form.

Atalanta’s rotten record against the Scudetto holders remains: no win against them since Mauro Icardi was Inter captain and Gasperini had his iconic trio in the attack. Regardless of the legitimacy of the Super Cup, Gasperini’s team have been picked apart like this before against Inter and there are areas in which this team can be attacked. Can Atalanta keep the pace on top of the table?

Match plots will be added as soon as possible.