Atalanta, Gasperini: 'We learnt a lesson from a better team...'
- Apollo Heyes
Last season Gasperini guided la Dea to a third-place finish in the league table, qualifying them for their first ever Champions League, but last night’s game has shown that work still needs to be done if Atalanta are to keep up this momentum.
Gasperini was disappointed in his team’s performance but praised opponents Dinamo Zagreb.
“Dinamo Zagreb has surpassed us in everything. Tonight, they were aggressive and fast, always with quality and pressing. They were the first to get on the ball, they covered, raised, inserted themselves... Emotional attacks are too easy. Tonight, we learnt a lesson from a team better than us, in all respects.”
The coach also spoke about the importance of adapting.
“In games like these, the level is higher... you have to adapt. Speed, strength, even technique. So far in the championship we have faced three teams in a row with a 3-5-2. The fact is that they were faster than our defenders, they pierced us repeatedly in attack.”
Gasperini added that lessons learnt in the Champions League can improve the squad in the championship as well.
“From games like this, lessons must also be learned for the championship. Malinovskyi can give us something good, I also liked Pasalic. Nobody missed out on the commitment. We have to propose the good things seen by Dinamo with the players we have at our disposal. We can't be covered; our football is proactive: we need to understand if we can be as strong at European level as the others.”
Finally, the coach talked about his side’s defensive problems.
“Clearly, we have some defensive problems. We need to solve them. In the first half we were absent, however, even in attack, unlike what happened in the second half. The start of the game is a constant: if the pace is immediately very high, we suffer, we take goals and complicate our lives.”
Atalanta’s next Champions League commitment is against Ukrainian Champions Shakhtar Donetsk at the start of October and Gasperini will be hoping to iron out the club’s defensive problems and lack of confidence on the big stage in order to progress out of the group stages of the competition.
For more news, visit our homepage!