Following a 4-2 win over Torino in their first game of the 2020/21 Serie A campaign, Atalanta traveled to Rome to take on Lazio in what promised to be an entertaining affair.
Lineups and Formations
Playing at home, Simone Inzaghi went for an attacking 3-5-2 formation with Thomas Strakosha getting more backup from a three-man defense. Francesco Acerbi occupied the central defender role with Stefan Radu and Patricio Gabarron on either side of the Italian.
Adam Marusic and Manuel Lazzari played as left and right central midfielders respectively with Lucas Leiva and Luis Alberto settling in at the base of a double pivot. Lucas Leiva was positioned in a more conservative role to keep in check the creative influence of the likes of Alejandro Gomez and Ruslan Malinovskyi.
In attack, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic was placed closer to the likes of Ciro Immobile and Felipe Caicedo.
For Atalanta, Gian Piero Gasperini went for his usual 3-4-3 formation with Rafael Toloi, José Palomino, and Berat Djimsiti providing cover to Marco Sportiello in defense and Roben Gosens and Hans Hateboer playing as attacking wing-backs.
Mario Pasalic and Remo Freuler settled at the base of the pivot, with Alejandro Gomez and Malinovskyi providing the creative edge to striker Duvan Zapata.
The Lazio Approach
In the early stages of the game, Lazio were struggling to play out from the back due to the relentless nature of Atalanta’s pressing.
As you can see from this clip, Lazio are in possession of the ball but due to the visiting side’s high press, are unable to progress the ball to the other side of the field. Duvan Zapata was clearly instructed to stick close to the Lazio center backs throughout the game and the Colombian continued doing that throughout the entire game.
In the home defeat, Lazio managed to create seven chances, out of which one was converted. However, none of those chances appeared to be more based on individual skills or Atalanta’s mini-lapses than to scenarios that are practiced during training sessions.
This counter attack for instance, was a classic example of getting out of the blocks quickly and reach the final third of the opposition’s half.
Now, in this case, Lazio have a great opportunity to test Atalanta. However, as you can see, there are only three Lazio players trying to find pockets of space.
The highlighted player provided the pass down the left side and simply stopped after that, which left the left back with only two options to go for inside the penalty area. As we will further showcase, Lazio did not attack in numbers which left the likes of Ciro Immobile and Caiceido isolated.
The Atalanta Approach
In order to explain Atalanta’s high pressing, man-to-man marking system better, we’ll use the following image from their 4-2 win over Torino.
Just like Torino, Lazio tried to play out from the back but never really had enough time to pick out the right passes due to La Dea’s high press.
Following a Lazio free-kick that was parried by the Atalanta goalkeeper, the away side quickly push forward and ensure that the hosts don’t get time to launch another attack.
The Lazio player is forced into passing the ball to his defenders who again have no other option since there are two Atalanta players who have effectively sealed all passing lanes.
To ensure that the capital giants would play long, Gasperini’s men were tightly covering all the best passing options. Mostly, the defenders and the pivot occupying midfielders were forced into passing sideways.
Atalanta Exploiting Width
Under Gasperini, Atalanta create overloads in the wider areas which allows them to break through the midfield. There would always be a center forward, a wing-back, a midfielder, and a center back which makes it even more difficult for the opposition to close down spaces or even zonally mark their areas.
The above screenshot is the buildup to Atalanta’s second goal of the game. Watch how the full back is given multiple options up ahead down the wider area the moment he receives the pass from midfield. Knowing that there aren’t any progressive options available, he goes long for Duvan Zapata.
The Colombian uses his physique to control the ball and carry it out wide in order to give his teammates enough time to get in position. Eventually the ball is passed to his nearest teammate who quickly changes sides and sends it towards Gosens who whips in a delightful cross.
As you can see, Zapata is already getting in position, aware that Gosens will be aiming for him.
However, the Lazio defenders are more focused on Zapata’s movement as the striker drags three players out of position, thus leaving Hatoeber free to shatter the ball across the top of the net.
All this happened within 25 seconds. This insanely quick transition from defense to attack while changing sides and going back to the original attacking side is what makes Atalanta deadly. While they are really great at pressing and leaving fewer options on the table for their opponents, Gasperini’s team’s intelligent movement makes them a tough prospect.
Conclusions
Lazio
It is a damning indictment on Simeone’s men that Patricio Gabarron made the most passes for his team. In fact, the Spaniard topped the passing charts for the whole game. However, this was also down to Atalanta’s high pressing which left little options but to pass the ball back to defense.
Nonetheless, Lazio’s inability to attack in numbers made it difficult for Immobile to play his usual game. The Italy international did have a few chances but things could have been different if he was given more support.
Atalanta
Gasperini’s outfit are clearly going to make full use of their excellent attacking options. Alejandro Gomez scored twice in the game but, more than that, the Argentine showed great willingness to drop in deep to receive the ball and allow the likes of Pasalic and Hatoeber to venture further ahead of him.
At the age of 32, Gomez might not have many years left in top level football but on the evidence of his most recent display, he is still playing at a very high level.
Duvan Zapata did not have a great game if you simply focus on his stats but the Colombian is an important part of the starting XI due to his ability to not only provide a real aerial threat but also to hold off defenders with his back to the goal and bring his teammates into the game.