Atalanta

ivoralljack

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio (Atalanta B.C. - Wikipedia.), commonly referred to as Atalanta, is an Italian football club based in Bergamo, Lombardy. It currently plays in Serie A, having gained promotion from Serie B in 2010–11. They are nicknamed the Nerazzurri and the Orobici.

The club qualified for the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League, reaching the competition for the first time in their history, as they finished 3rd in the 2018–19 Serie A season. This represented the highest finish in the league in the club's history.

We're going to get hammered! Kidding ... this match will be at a completely different level to our other preseason trots. A true examination of our football, our stamina, and whether we've truly done all the good work during preseason or have just been kidding ourselves.

We start the season without:
  • Dan James, who blossomed into a player of significance last season. United took what they consider a gamble on him as reported by the BBC.
  • Cameron Carter Vickers - returned to Spurs
  • Jordan Ayew - sold to Palace
  • Fer - no club
  • Bony - no club
  • Olsson - no club
  • Narsingh - Feyenoord - free transfer
  • Adam King - Dundee United - free transfer
To offset that we've added Bidwell and yesterday Wilmot on loan.

Borja, Montero and Andre Ayew are still around (somewhere)... only Borja has featured in preseason matches.

Routledge has been offered and accepted a new contract.

Impressing during pres-season have been:
  • Fulton -- who has become a something of a goal machine
  • McKay -- who looked THE threat whenever he was on the field
McB never really found his shooting boots and CBR has been largely anonymous.

Surprise, surprise, Borja featured again against Rovers, sprinted half the length of the field, and very nicely finished a through pass from McB to score.

Wild guess, but I am expecting Cooper to start something close to what he thinks will be his first XI ... to me this looks something like:

A NEW Keeper (yet to be announced, but I heard Jimmy Rimmer has offered to play ... figuring if all he has to do is stand on his goal line he can do that and look champion)

Roberts VdH Roden Naughton (or perhaps the FBs the other way around)

Grimes Fulton

Dyer Celina McKay

McB

I am hoping the actual keeper will be Mulder.
 
CroJack

CroJack

Key Player
Interesting stats:

1. Only three Italian players had some significant game time for Atalanta last season. One of them is 23 years old centre-back Gianluca Mancini, sold to Roma this summer. The other two are 33 years old right-back Andrea Masiello who played 22 out of 38 games, and 24 years old goalkeeper Pierluigi Gollini who played 20 games.

2. Atalanta's top goalscorer last season was Columbian striker Duvan Zapata, 23 goals and 7 assists. Slovenian attacking midfielder/striker Josip Iličić was second with 12 goals and 7 assists. Argentinian central/attacking midfielder Alejandro Gomez was third with 7 goals and 11 assists.

3. Atalanta's preferred formation last season was 3-4-1-2:
IMG_20190725_232303.jpg
​
4. Here are Atalanta's strengths, weaknesses and style of play:

IMG_20190725_232520.jpg​
 
CroJack

CroJack

Key Player
@Yankee_Jack , we'll probably see the same starting XI that played on Tuesday. Mulder - Bidwell, Rodon, Van der Hoorn, Naughton - Grimes, Fulton - Celina - Routledge, McBurnie, Dyer

We'll play 4-2-1-3 with two defensive midfielders (Grimes and Fulton), one of them (Fulton) will have a licence to run forward when we attack. I like this formation a lot, especially against Atalanta's 3-4-1-2.

Apart from Bidwell who lacks pace, it's a good starting XI. I hope Cooper surprises me and play either Naughton or John as LB and Roberts as RB.

Subs in the second half: Roberts, John, Byers, McKay, Asoro, Borja

It seems to me Cooper prefers experienced players, which is not bad.

P.S. I am worried about Oli's state of mind. His finishing was awful in our last game, he missed 4,5 sitters.
 
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Yankee_Jack

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
Granted short video clips ... but McB wasn't exactly focused during the Liberty training session either.

Why would Roberts not start. Has he not shown as well in preseason as Naughton at RB or Bidwell etc at LB (although I don't think he has appeared on the left).
 
Yankee_Jack

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
Swansea City: Erwin Mulder; Connor Roberts, Mike van der Hoorn, Joe Rodon, Jake Bidwell; Jay Fulton, Matt Grimes (captain); Nathan Dyer, Bersant Celina, Barrie McKay; Oli McBurnie.

Subs: Kristoffer Nordfeldt, Joel Asoro, Ben Wilmot, Declan John, Borja Baston, Yan Dhanda, Kyle Naughton, Jack Evans.
 
Yankee_Jack

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
No Route (injures?). No CBR. No Byers. Mulder starts. Grimes is captain. Borja is on the bench. Jack Evans is on the bench (what’s his position).

I think the pressure is now on McB to focus and get it done. Otherwise Borja is hovering to take the job. If Borja is not willing to stick around I don’t think he’d be in the mix.
 
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