vs. Udinese
Colantuono kept his usual starting XI of: Consigli, Masiello, Manfredini, Lucchini, Peluso, Schelotto, Padoin, Cigarini, Bonaventura, Moralez, and Denis. A solid choice, and one that’s worked well so far. Unfortunately Manfredini limped off with an injury (yet again) 30 minutes into the match and had to be replaced by Capelli. Otherwise, the team played well. The defense didn’t look too panicky and the midfield worked well together. Schelotto was impressive, his size and strength made him tough for Udinese to handle. He still has some growing up to do, in terms of footballing knowledge, but he has tremendous potential. ‘Jack’ grew into the game as it went on. Largely anonymous in the first half, he became more influential later. Padoin and Cigarini worked well together, picking up where they left off a few years ago. It’s definitely nice to have a true passer of the ball back in the team.

The offense though, was lacking quite a bit. It became apparent early, that Moralez wasn’t up to the physicality of the match. His size, or lack thereof, certainly may become an issue as time goes on. He got muscled off the ball quite easily by the Udinese defenders, and probably spent as much time on the ground as he did on the ball. Credit to Colantuono for pulling him off in favor of the bigger, stronger Tiribocchi. Denis was largely missing against his old club. I’m having trouble remembering what exactly he did during the match. When he came on, il Tir was certainly the danger man. Coming close to opening the scoring twice.

Admittedly, I’m not a follower of Udinese, so I can’t really comment on how their performance matched up with previous ones. I will say that it’s not difficult to see why they’ve achieved the results they have though. Defensively they were very well organized and are quick to get 7-8 men behind the ball when defending (indeed statistics show they have only conceded one goal thus far). They certainly don’t look like the free flowing, attacking team they were last term, but they still can put together a quality result and performance. I suppose this is true of many teams, but I’d say Udinese is certainly in danger of being overly reliant on Di Natale’s goals to win them games.

Preview vs Parma
On Sunday, we’ll head just down the road to Parma. Parma has had a bit of a mixed bag of results so far this season. Three wins (over Chievo, Genoa, and Napoli) and three loses (to Juventus, Roma, and Fiorentina). They’ve conceded plenty of goals, 11 to be exact, but are also capable of scoring (8 scored).

The danger for Parma is certainly up top, a rather deadly combination of former Atalanta player Sergio Floccari (who we were rumored to be interested in bringing back during the summer) and Sebastian Giovinco. Giovinco has certainly been Parma’s biggest threat, having scored 5 goals thus far (currently top of the scoring chart along with Genoa’s Rodrigo Palacio). The Atomic Ant, is starting to show the potential that made him be tipped to be the next ‘Del Piero’ at Juve. Pace, skill on the ball, and good vision, Giovinco will certainly be one that the defense needs to keep an eye on. The rest of the Parma squad is solid. While they lack some of the big name players that are on other team sheets, they certainly have plenty of talent. La Gazzetta is predicting the following line up for Parma:

Floccari

Giovinco

Modesto / Morrone / Jadid / Biabiany

Gobbi / Lucarelli / Paletta / Zaccardo

Mirante

I imagine that Colanutono will largely stick with his usual XI of :

Denis

Moralez

Bonaventura / Cigarini / Padoin / Schelotto

Peluso / Lucchini / Capelli / Masiello

Consigli

I expect a fairly even match up. My prediction? A 1-1 draw, but optimistically, I’ll say a 2-1 win for us!

FORZA ATALANTA!

I won’t rehash all the details of calcioscommesse as it’s already been talked about by those more in the know of things, but in the end Atalanta managed to stay in Serie A (however, with a 6 point deduction). Blows were further dealt to the club as club captain Cristiano Doni as well as veteran defender Thomas Manfredini were handed three and a half and three year bans respectively. However, Manfredini was later cleared of the charges, and thus, escaped the ban.

There were some bright points to the summer though, in the mercato. After a very quiet start, the club managed to make some quality signings to help bolster our chances of achieving la salvezza. The highly rated young winger Matias Ezequiel Schelotto returned after loan spells at Cesena and Catania. The club signed Serie A veteran German Gustavo Denis on loan from Udinese, and also secured the services (on loan) of Luca Cigarini from Napoli. A third loan meant the arrival of Matteo Brighi from Roma. The defense was strengthened by the signings of Andrea Masiello from Bari and Stefano Lucchini from Sampdoria. A final signing of Argentinian midfielder Maxi Moralez ended the club’s summer buying. In addition to the player signings, Atalanta decided to stick with Stefano Colantuono as manager, and brought in Pierpaolo Marino as head of the technical area.

The season started off with a trip to Genoa. The game started poorly for Atalanta, as Genoa took an early 1-0 lead through Miguel Veloso. Tiny signing Maxi Moralez managed to level things almost instantly for Atalanta, and then put the team ahead later in the first half. However, Genoa managed to level the score shortly after the interval through Giandomenico Mesto. For this match Colantuono opted for his usual 4-4-2 formation, consisting of:

G. Denis / M. Moralez

M. Schelotto / L. Cigarini / S. Padoin / G. Bonaventura

F. Peluso / S. Lucchini / D. Capelli / A. Masiello

A. Consigli

Next up for Atalanta is a tough home opener in the form of Palermo. Palermo made a high flying start to their campaign with a thrilling 4-3 victory over Inter, despite losing their number 1 keeper, Salvatore Sirigu, and hugely talented playmaker, Javier Pastore, to PSG in France. Palermo also signed former Atalanta midfielder Edgar Barreto during the summer. There is a nice preview over on the Palermo offside to read for a view from the other side.

For us, I expect Colantuono to largely keep the same starting XI that he fielded against Genoa. If Manfredini is ready, we might see him come in in place of Capelli. Other possible changes would be Bellini in at left back for Peluso and Carmona in center midfield for Cigarini. I don’t think either of those will happen though. So, it’ll probably look like this:

G. Denis / M. Moralez

M. Schelotto / L. Cigarini / S. Padoin / G. Bonaventura

F. Peluso / T. Manfredini / S. Lucchini / A. Masiello

A. Consigli

Certainly a win would be a huge boost to the club, as it would inch us closer to positive points, but a draw would honestly be acceptable. Even though Palermo lost some key players from last season they are still a team that absolutely must be respected. They still have plenty of quality and are more than capable of running us off the pitch if we let them. Confidence will be the name of the game for us. That we can hang with a high quality opponent and that we have the stuff to beat them. On paper our team is good. The midfield has plenty of talent in it and the defense has plenty of experience. The attack in decent as well. Three points are possible, but it will be difficult. Here’s to a great home opener and three points!

FORZA ATALANTA!

Automatic promotion figured to be assured a couple of weeks ago as we had built a significant point gap over our rivals. But, it wasn’t until yesterday that it was mathematically confirmed. We defeated Portogruaro 4-1 to create a 10 point gap between us and 3rd place Novara with three matches remaining. So the boys can let out a small sigh of relief as the main goal for the season has been accomplished.

The match itself didn’t get off to a good start. Colantuono started Consigli, Ferri, Capelli, Manfredini, Peluso, Bonaventura, Barreto, Padoin, Doni, Marilungo, and Tiribochi. Some sloppy defending saw Portogruaro take the early lead through Memushaj in the 16th minute. Portogruaro continued to take the game to us and for awhile it looked like the scoreline was more likely to become 2-0, rather than 1-1. Things continued to go bad for us as Manfredini limped off the pitch with an injury at the 30 minute mark, Raimondi replaced him and Colantuono was forced to shuffle his back line as Raimondi went to the right, Ferri switched to the left, and Peluso went central with Capelli. The move actually seemed to help solidify the back, which prior to that was looking a little shaky. A minute later things got better as Ferri sent a good cross in, which was headed back across goal by Barreto, and then finished by Tiribocchi who nodded the ball between Rossi’s legs to tie things up. Things got even better four minutes before the break as a neat move between Barreto, Doni, and Bonaventura saw Atalanta take the lead. From that point on Atalanta never looked back and Portogruaro never really looked like getting back into it. A late goal from Delvecchio and another by Tiribocchi sealed the deal.

The season, of course, isn’t over yet, and what’s left is a three match “playoff” with Siena for who will win the championship. Currently we are both on 74 points. Siena does have the upper hand through the head-to-head record (one win, one draw). So we will need to better them by a point if we want to win. Our last three matches are the derby match against Albinoleffe, Grosseto, and Cittadella. Siena’s are against Ascoli, Varese, and Albinoleffe. Schedule-wise I’d give us a slight edge. We both play Albinoleffe in Bergamo, and table-wise Ascoli and Cittadella are similar. The difference may come with Grosseto, who has an outside shot at a playoff spot, and Varese, who has locked up a playoff spot. Hopefully Varese can at least pull off a draw and take some points off Siena, because I think Siena will take max points against Ascoli and Albinoleffe. I think we can also take max points from Albinoleffe and Cittadella, but the away match to Grosetto will be difficult. However, the championship would simply be the icing on the cake, we’re back in A next season and really that’s all that matters.

With promotion assured, there are certainly questions to be answered. Who will be the coach next season? Will it be Colantuono or someone else (Del Neri? Rossi?). How many of the current group will stay and should stay? Does the team need an overhaul to successfully stay up? A lot of the players on the team were also there when we went down last season. These will need to be answered. I’ll take a look in the next post. For now though, let’s just celebrate a successful season!

FORZA ATALANTA!

Against Crotone, il Tir put us up early after some sloppy play from Crotone. Doni picked up a loose ball and then made a good pass to Tiribocchi who fired beneath Bindi. However, a late first half brace from Cutolo put Crotone back in front. For his first goal, Cutolo managed to hold off Bellini and then beat Consigli. His second was a quality effort that Consigli managed to push onto the post, but it went in nonetheless. Shortly after the interval Doni leveled matters for us with his 12th goal of the campaign as he bent in a free kick from just outside the box. Crotone had a few chances to take all three points, but Consigli was up to the task, making a couple great saves to preserve the draw and take a point.

The draw takes our point total to 71 for the season. One behind Siena, who surprisingly lost to relegation threatened Portogruaro, and 11 ahead of Novara, who lost to Reggina. With only five matches (and 15 points up for grabs) left in the campaign automatic promotion seems, virtually, wrapped up. It would take a colossal collapse from the team, as well as a remarkable surge by Novara or Varese, for us to fall into the promotion playoffs. The five remaining matches are against, Livorno (A), Portoguaro (H), Albinoleffe (A), Cittadella (H), and Grosseto (A). Certainly none of them are “gimmes”. Livorno is still fighting for a playoff spot (currently five points out). Portogruaro is currently 19th and would be relegated if the season ended today and are only a point from safety. Albinoleffe and Cittadella are “safe”, but only three points clear of the drop zone. Grosseto, theoretically, is still in the hunt for both a playoff spot and a relegation spot (seven points from promotion, five from relegation). So, all of them have something to play for and certainly none will roll over.

With promotion practically locked up, I’ll dare to talk about winning the title. Siena is currently first, but only by a point and they have a much tougher schedule to end the season. Next week they’ll take on Novara (A) and then they’ll also have matches against Torino (H) and Varese (H). Their other two matches are against Albinoleffe and Ascoli (both away). So both of us have two home matches and three away. The difference is that all five of our opponents are in the bottom half of the table whereas Siena will have to play three promotion contenders and two bottom teams. It’s possible, but I’m sure that it will be close.

FORZA ATALANTA!

Last Saturday the team played Ascoli, who currently sit third from bottom, and came away with a 1-1 draw. Doni rolled back the years once again (although the blog doesn’t expect him to do this too much more, and yes the blog has decided to start referring to itself in third person) to level matters after Ascoli had taken the lead. It was a match that I had hoped that we would win, but admittedly had doubts that we actually would. Our tendency this season has been to win at home (unless against other top teams, then we draw) and draw on the road. I also didn’t expect Ascoli to roll over for us consider they are, as mentioned earlier, currently in the relegation zone and would obviously prefer not to drop down. Fortunately for us Empoli held Siena and Sassuolo did the same with Novara.

Despite not being anywhere near certain of promotion to Serie A next term, reports on tuttoatalanta.com have stated that club owner Percassi is already thinking ahead to next season back in A. Percassi is reportedly keen on bringing in Rino Foschi to be the new DS (Foschi is currently DS at Padova) and possibly replacing Colantuono. Colantuono does have an automatic renewal in his contract should the team achieve promotion. However, there have been reports that the club has contacted the recently sacked Delio Rossi about the job as well as current Juve, and former Atalanta boss, Gigi Del Neri. Both names are interesting, but the blog will wait until we’ve actually been promoted before beginning to speculate about the future.

Next week we take on Piacenza and then it’s off to Padova the week after. Both will be tricky (although what match in Serie B isn’t tricky) and I will be happy if we can walk away with four points from the two matches (three from Piacenza and one from Padova). If we can do that, I feel comfortable with our chances of remaining top and in the automatic promotion spots.

FORZA ATALANTA!

The breakdown of the points looks something (or rather, exactly) like this:

vs Siena 0 – 0 draw, 1 point
at Reggina 0 – 0 draw, 1 point
vs Sassuolo 1 – 0 win, 3 points
at Torino 1 – 2 win, 3 points
vs Novara 1 – 1 draw, 1 point

Certainly it would have been nice to take max points against Siena and Novara since they are our closest title and auto promotion rivals and we were playing in Bergamo, but draws aren’t the worst result. The draw with Novara was slightly disappointing as we conceded late (88th minute) and a win would have almost pushed Novara out of mind as they would have been eight points back. The draw away to Reggina isn’t too bad either. The win against Sassuolo was a must and the win against the granata in Torino was a great result.

From here the schedule is a little friendlier. There are still plenty of tricky matches against the likes of Padova, Livorno, and Empoli. However, most of the teams are in the bottom half of the table and the trickier ones are in Bergamo. We’re certainly in a good position, but we can’t get complacent by any means. If slip up any and Siena and Novara make a run we could easily find ourselves in the play offs and I think I’ve said it a few times already, but I desperately want to avoid the playoffs. As long as we keep ours heads and keep playing like we’ve been playing we’ll be fine. Next week is a trip to second from bottom Ascoli. A match we should win comfortably, but in B you can never underestimate anyone. Ascoli is only a win away from safety and will be desperate for three points.

FORZA ATALANTA!

Meanwhile, we were able to secure a 1-0 victory over Pescara, through young striker and new signing Guido Marilungo. Marilungo signed a four year deal with Atalanta in mid-January, coming from Sampdoria. With our win, we moved to the top of the table with 50 points total. The current top 8 in Serie B are now:

1. ATALANTA – 50 points
2. Novara – 48 points
—————–
3. Siena – 48 points
4. Varese – 43 points
5. Livorno – 35 points *has a game in hand
6. Padova – 35 points
——————
7. Reggina – 35 points
8. Torino – 35 points

So even though there are still a whopping 17 matches left in the calendar we’re in a good spot. We’re 15 points clear of the last promotion challengers, but only a couple clear for automatic promotion. I know I’ve said it a couple times already, but the promotion playoffs scare the bejeezus out of me. I dread the thought of two legged ties against Varese, Livorno, Padova, etc.

Next Saturday features a massive match for us as Siena comes to town. We lost 1-0 to them in Tuscany in the andata and will be hoping to return the favor in Bergamo. As mentioned earlier, Siena is coming off a bit of a disappointing 0-0 draw with Cittadella, but we certainly can’t take them lightly. Outside of a 1-0 loss to fellow promotion challengers Varese right before the winter break, Siena hasn’t lost a match since early November. A win over the other, other bianconeri could be big in solidifying an automatic promotion spot as it would put a five point gap between us and them.

FORZA ATALANTA!

Our first match was against Grosseto and we emerged 2-0 victors. Our win, combined with another loss by Novara saw us move joint top of the table on 42 points. Tiribocchi and Bonaventura scored the goals. Today against Vicenza we could only manage a 1-1 draw. Again Tiribocchi scored for us, but we conceded quite literally a minute later to Schiavi. However, Novara drew with Padova so we remain level on points with them. Siena beat Pescara 2-1 earlier in the day and they moved joint top as well. So at the top of the table it looks like this:

1. Novara – 43pts
2. Siena – 43pts
——–auto promotion———-
3. ATALANTA – 43pts
4. Varese – 38pts
5. Livorno – 34pts
6. Torino – 33pts
——promotion playoffs——–

We’re behind Novara and Siena as we lost to both of them in the andata, but we have a bit of breathing room against Varese. I’d certainly prefer to avoid the playoffs if at all possible so hopefully we can take advantage of Novara’s drop in form. Speaking of Varese they are our next opponents. In will be an important match as a loss would see them move within two points of us while a win could see the gap stretch to eight. It’s in Bergamo and we’ve been pretty solid in casa. Until then.

FORZA ATALANTA!

FORZA ATALANTA!

With the first half concluded we find ourselves in second, three points behind leaders Novara. With plenty of time left, we’re in a good spot for promotion and maybe, maybe the cadetto. We’re two points ahead of Siena, which is important as since we’re in second we are in the other automatic promotion spot. If we slip down to third we would need to win the four team playoff promotion, something I’d like to avoid. Looking down a little further we’re eight points clear of Livorno who currently occupy the fourth and final playoff spot. Livorno does have a game in hand so the gap could be reduced to seven points (as that would move Torino into sixth).

The first half has been pretty positive overall. There haven’t really been too many terribly disappointing results, the only two I’d say are 3-2 defeat to Piacenza and the 3-0 defeat to Empoli. The Piacenza loss was disappointing because Piacenza is at the bottom of the table and we were leading that match 2-0 at half time and we ended up conceding three goals in the second half. The Empoli defeat, well anytime you lose by three goals it’s disappointing. The other three losses, Novara, Siena, and Livorno were all against top of the table teams and Novara and Siena were on the road.

The squad has been solid as well, which you’d expect from a squad of this caliber. Tiribocchi has been solid up top and is our joint top scorer along with il capitano Cristiano Doni. Both have scored six goals so far, Francesco Ruopolo is third with five goals. Another plus is that we’ve missed a number of our “big name” players through injury. In defense our traditional first choice center back pairing of Manfredini and Talamonti have rarely played together as Manfredini has had a number of issues. In midfield Doni has missed a number of games, Barreto missed the beginning of the season after playing in the World Cup with Paraguay, and Ferreira Pinto is just coming back after a lengthy spell on the sideline. The forward line has been a revolving door with Tiribocchi, Ardemagni, and Ruopolo all playing and starting at various times. The good thing is that despite all the changes and that we’ve rarely had a spell where we could turn out the same starting XI week in, week out we’re still going well.

My main concern going forward, is actually a good one, but maybe one that I need to be careful vocalizing as it could jinx the team, is that that I’m not sure if this is really a Serie A squad. Yes, we have several players with Serie A experience and who could play on Serie A teams, but for some reason I have trouble seeing them doing well next season if we achieve promotion. This is possibly due to the fact that we got relegated with largely the same squad last season. But, in any event, this squad just really has a Serie B feel to it, lots of grinta, tough, determined, but not really possessing the ability to break down a quality Serie A defense. First though, promotion must be achieved. We’re in a good spot halfway through, but it’s a precarious position.

FORZA ATALANTA!