Gian Piero Gasperinicoach ofAtalantaspoke to the microphones of Sky Sports after the 1-1 draw against Bologna: “Undoubtedly we played a good match, even in the first half. We were always alive, we led the match. Clearly with 10 men we almost always had the initiative, we were not very clear, we had many attackers and we needed more quality. There was also bad luck, but with a little more confidence we could have scored earlier and tried to win.”
What is Zaniolo missing to have more chances from the start?
“In the meantime, it’s important that he starts playing with a certain continuity and begins to feel good athletically. Physically he’s getting into better condition, he’s played very little in recent months, he’s almost always been out of action, but by playing he’ll be able to improve his clarity and quality and give that contribution that we all hope he will be able to give.”
Does Samardzic have the charisma to be a leader like Gomez and Koopmeiners were?
“We all hope so. He is a positive boy, he came with the desire to do. He needs to mature from a physical point of view, but he has a good technical personality, good confidence. He must raise his pace, continuity and physical strength. Those who were there before him were more mature, he is very young. I believe he can do that role with great quality and be decisive as he was this evening.”
What did you write down in your notebook?
“I usually never take notes, but I did it because there were 10 left and so I was preparing to insert 5 attackers all together, trying to have balance and not get the number wrong (laughs, ed.). I decided to play with Cuadrado and De Roon in the back three, I was putting things together. In the end it went well.”
When he gets angry his attackers start scoring goals again.
“In any case, after Como it is clear that we were disappointed with the result. We were coming off a good match against Fiorentina and an equally good one against Arsenal. We were on the upswing, but we changed 11, everything needs to be rebuilt, while still making use of a consolidated core. We lost important players… In 9 minutes we threw the match against Como, it was a push to put ourselves in top positions, but in the first leg it will often be like this this year, we can’t always play with the usual ones, neither we have many… It’s not easy to experiment when the championship has started with the cup to play. I was disappointed because it was an opportunity and an opportunity. It will be difficult to have great continuity, every now and then you get some good ones. this year we thought we had a ready-made team, it seemed very easy to improve without giving in, but instead the market brought 11 new ones and many in the last few days, we weren’t able to do what we thought and we have to do it again.”
Did you talk to Italiano about Liverpool? What did he tell him?
“What about playing in such a full stadium… That anthem they sing before the match alone is worth everything.”