Atalanta Club Focus: Well, That Was Bad.. Big Recovery Needed.

Date: 21st February 2014 at 4:02am
Written by:

In the days building up to last Sunday’s home tie against Parma, it would have been understandable for the Atalanta faithful to have enjoyed and expressed a fair amount of optimism about the game.

La Dea boast one of the most impressive home records in Serie A and only Fiorentina and the almost inhuman Juventus had claimed all three points at the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d’Italia.

On top of their impeccable home form this season, they tend to fair pretty well when Parma visit Bergamo. Before Sunday, the Orobici were unbeaten in eight games at home to Parma.

They had not conceded more than one goal in a game at home to Sunday’s visitors since 1997. And just to throw one more statistic that would have given Atalanta confidence – Parma share the most amount of goalless draws in Serie A this season (5) so it’s fair to say that Atalanta’s fans will have been confident of taking a point at the very least from the game.

This was not to be. The Nerazzurri not only lost the game, but they slumped to their biggest defeat all season as Cassano & co ran riot and claimed an outrageous 4-0 win in Bergamo – even Juventus could only boast a 4-1 victory when they came to town.

This is very much a game where the scoreline doesn’t tell the whole story, however. If I were to show you every statistic other than the scoreline I guarantee you would not expect a 4 goal win for the away team. Possession was basically 50/50, slightly dominated by Atalanta. Shots (on target) was 14 (5) – 17 (7.) Territory, was, again basically 50/50. Atalanta came out on top with corners, crosses and take-ons.

That is all irrelevant, however, as the final score remains the same. An embarrassing defeat at home where La Dea had become so good that a win was almost expected when they turned up.

Clichéd as it sounds, the Nerazzurri need a big, big, BIG performance this coming weekend in order to prevent this result having a serious effect on the team. Given the abysmal away form to date this campaign, they perhaps luckily travel to Udinese who are by no means one of the leagues better teams in front of their own fans.

The Zebrette sit level on points with Stefano Colantuono’s men, on 27 in 13th place. Looking at specifically results at home, Udinese lie 16th in the home table, so this will give the wounded Atalanta some glimpse of hope of turning their away fortunes around when it’s needed more than ever.

Following the trip to Udine, it’s back to Bergamo to welcome Chievo Verona. This, quite simply, is a must win game now. The boss won’t be happy with me for saying this but Chievo are there to be beaten, they are not a good side but they certainly have a lot to fight for. In 19th place at the moment, they will be fighting for survival in every game they play from here on in so Atalanta will need to be alert but they should have enough in them to see off any real threat from that game.

So from the next two games, four points would be a great return. That’s the aim (from myself anyway) and I feel it can be achieved. That result needs to be buried in the past, so let’s start with an unexpected win on Sunday!

Until next week, FORZA ATALANTA!

Follow Conor Clancy on Twitter: @concalcio 

 

Comments are closed.