UCL QF 2019/20 | Atalanta Vs PSG

S wrote:

danyjr wrote:

Arquitecto wrote:Typical provinciale tactic.

One Zero? Sit back and ignore all the pressure that is sure to break you especially when you have Neymar and Mbappe at your heels.

They needed to switch to Diego Simeone tactics at about 60th mark. Simply suicidal to play like that against the PSG attackers.

They dont have the energy to do so.

The league schedule kinda fucked Italian teams tbh

Atalanta looked gassed after 60 mins.

For me it's weird to think that Juve and Atalanta had less energies than French teams even though they don't have played for months
and yep , I hope to not suffer this in EL now

We had condensed calendar that's why

French teams were not match ready for CL but the stamina was 100%

Warrior wrote:We had condensed calendar that's why

French teams were not match ready for CL but the stamina was 100%

They've been playing friendlies for the last month (with fans even).

Atalanta is not used to this level, they're the typical ""hipster"" team who play beautiful and offensive football, they get the brillaint placement , applauses without obligation to win it ... but no trophies. they don't have players used to win cups . And when you arrive in those moment... you bottle it

The 2nd half was all on Gasperini.

What in the fuck are you thinking sitting deep with the scrubs you have in the back against Icardi, Neymar, Mbappe.

Unless you're Mourinho of 2010 Inter or Juve's BBC in the back then you will end up losing in favour to the attack, by winding down the clock.


Exhausted? Not having the ball will exhaust you more. How in the world did they not at least lob it to Zapata to hold the ball and the few times Muriel made the effort to carry it forward it completely reset PSG.


Paris who by the way, were not even great tonight by any means as Gasperini just did not give his time a fighting chance.


This happens time and time again. Minnows defend their lead against a dangerous attacking side. Lose to the clock unless some luck favours them and I can assure you this happens very very infrequently.


Clown move.

Verratti is badly needed for PSG. Neymar had to drop deep and start attacks by himself. Their midfield was woeful in build up play.

Warrior wrote:We had condensed calendar that's why

French teams were not match ready for CL but the stamina was 100%

more than condensed, Juve Atalanta Inter had to play serious matches till to the end . The only Italian team who hadn't targets in the league were Napoli but if you face Barcelona...

Robes and Rinc etc are right there. Atalanta's only excuse really is their fatigue.

Otherwise they well were in the position to win this before and during the match.

I've seen the same match as you guys but the appreciation is different. Knowing their form and lacking Ilicic it was predictable at some point they would pull the catenaccio card

Gasperini did not panic it was planned as the best they could offer after a certain time

It nearly worked, PSG did not have many clear scoring chances in second half, and most of them were poor execution anyways

Play like that as Juventus i would say it's bs, but Atalanta lacking their best player, i can hardly blame

Glad Mbappe is back and Not missing this latter stages of CL after that injury he suffered in cup final

Atalanta looked out of their depth in group stage after matchday  4 of looked dead and buried it was miracle they got this far

That is up front though Warrior as the Catennacio approach with or without Ilicic was suicide given they simply do not have the personnel and then of course the coach to do the same.

Same as you mentioned in Prandelli v Uruguay. Prandelli being similar to Gasperini in dazzling when they want their teams to attack but have little idea how to set up a well drilled defensive team.


All the chasing the ball in the back is what further exhausted them.

Gasperini blames Inter and rightfully so but a lot of it was his losing his balls the moment he reached a top club. I am sure that sounds familiar given how Sarri did the exact same thing at Juve.

I thought tactically Atalanta were great, just not up to scratch physically and maybe too inexperienced as well.

They gave it a great shot though, no doubt. Especially taking into consideration the financial disparity between the two sides.

@Warrior you must have been watching a different game...half-decent finishing would have put PSG three goals up before stoppage time. Atalanta were lucky that it remained 1-0 for so long.

Tactically they were indeed spot on but the decisions post 1-0 (surprise) is what had them lose their fighting chances. If they did not sit back a lot of those open runs made by Nerman likely would not have happened.

The decision to sit back on a 1-0 lead needs to be finished in Football unless you specifically are a Simeone/Mourinho type team.


Gasperini's Atalanta are the absolute opposite of it.

Sarri tried implement his system at Juve but nobody was buying it so we ended up playing clueless with the ball

In this particular Gasperini's system is well accepted, my point is they could not use it anymore, they were tired, system players then become less effective. So your last resort is catenaccio or in this case it was more try your best to survive.

Can't count how many i've seen Juve play conservative approach because they are in control. Today what Atalanta needed the most was tackling and good positioning. Past 90th, they suffer individual brain cramps on both goals and started leaking even before through Caldara vs Mbappe. Individual mistakes is what cost them the match, not the "strategy"

M99 wrote:@Warrior you must have been watching a different game...half-decent finishing would have put PSG three goals up before stoppage time. Atalanta were lucky that it remained 1-0 for so long.

Sorry to insist but that's not how i see it

A first goal by PSG and they absolutely need to change their approach, until you don't concede it's hard to convince me heavy defense isn't appropriate.

The first goal by PSG was scored so late they just surrender or lose their mind

I more commend the team today rather the opposite. The tactics indeed were spot on but the strategy post goal I will not agree upon fra, for the reason being that is just something they never can do and in situations they've tried that against better teams, they failed.


Atalanta amaze neutrals for a reason and if you abandon all that and remove the fighting chance to protect a 1-0 lead that easily could have been 2-0 based on the way they attacked PSG's defence, then you will end up losing.




Robes post above makes sense. Most of these "hipster" teams as he put it have a coach content in the lesser pressure of their team but always lose it when they step up simply to protect their job.


Gasp needs to go back to the village from the north he came from.

Exactly this

Myesyats wrote:I thought tactically Atalanta were great, just not up to scratch physically and maybe too inexperienced as well.

They gave it a great shot though, no doubt. Especially taking into consideration the financial disparity between the two sides.

And this

Warrior wrote:Sarri tried implement his system at Juve but nobody was buying it so we ended up playing clueless with the ball

In this particular Gasperini's system is well accepted, my point is they could not use it anymore, they were tired, system players then become less effective. So your last resort is catenaccio or in this case it was more try your best to survive.

Can't count how many i've seen Juve play conservative approach because they are in control. Today what Atalanta needed the most was tackling and good positioning. Past 90th, they suffer individual brain cramps on both goals and started leaking even before through Caldara vs Mbappe. Individual mistakes is what cost them the match, not the "strategy"

Atalanta did not have the stamina to keep pushing up against PSG. Their press weakened whenever they tried it and Neymar and co. could easily escape it and exploit spaces. They were let down by their physical shape and their individual qualities in contrast with Neymar.

Atalanta's play relies 100% on their very intense press and attack. When this fails they would be completely exposed, unless they lowered their efforts forwards. Like Dany said, probably best to go Simeone and actually sit totally deep rather than keep attempting their half energy pressing game.

I completely empathise with the logic stated by Rincon and Warrior but Atalanta have displayed in their fatigue and in trial and error that going for it rather than sitting back with a very ill disciplined team in the back is if anything, the more risky choice and each time Atalanta did have possession in the 2nd half they looked rather dangerous, few as it was possessed and it winded the clock down far better than defending against a world class attack.

It's just now i discover Gasperini is actually disliked you guys are being harsh

Like 2 minutes away from seeing Gasperini's Atalanta in CL semi finals, come on

Juventus using this strategy would have been totally unacceptable, as lack of pragmatism, because obviously sitting back is not the best defensive strategy, we can afford better

Juventus using it would be unacceptable given their general expectations but BBC in the back for instance would easily nullify the runs made by their attacking forwards.

At least beautiful defence has been a part of Juve for the best part of the decade.

Atalanta at their best are a poor team defensively and defend by possessing the ball.

Gasperini? Robes and I made it clear we don't like the man.


I rate him highly as a coach but won't be foolish and say he deserves to go to a bigger club.


He is at his level and should build upon what he has. The club should afford him better players though.

Atalanta probably still loses even if they park the bus at the end.

This at least we agree, Gasperini should not aim for a bigger club... or at least, not mine since Sarri i fear anything provinciale

I totally respect his work tho, i also understand the logic behind your conclusions, but i don't share them

Our debate suffers from philosophical differences, more like.


After Milan's same mistake to Barça in 2012, that haunts me to this day. The defend the lead approach will never be liked by me.

But Juventini who are bound to name Gasperini as one they should have gone for in fear of Pirlo's appointment or if he is not successful I can assure you he would have gone the same route most old coaches who wow fans in their mid table sandbox, abandon what made them famous and go the safe route and rely on individual brilliance.


Great run for Atalanta either way. One to remember.

Im just glad PSG won, for some reason I just like to watch stars play and seeing Mbappe back linking up with NEymar is just a joy to watch as a football fan. Everytime I see Neymar shine though on the pitch I still feel a bit of sadness of what if he stayed, the best tri ultra attacking 3 of all time, it would have been a blessing for all football fans to watch for years at Barca

Both teams missed players but in the end Alatanta did so well and played above their level to take PSG right till the end there.