Gasperini warns Atalanta ‘will blow hot and cold’ amid reformation | OneFootball

Gian Piero Gasperini warns Atalanta will ‘blow hot and cold’ as they try to completely rebuild the squad and has high hopes for Lazar Samardzic after the equaliser against Bologna.

The very difficult start to the campaign continues for La Dea, who have won two of their six Serie A matches, drawn one and lost three.

They had been on the verge of suffering a humiliating defeat this evening against a Bologna side that was down to 10 men for 40 minutes following Santiago Castro’s opener.

However, Lazar Samardzic curled in his first goal for the club, securing a point at the 90th minute and his men kept pushing for a potential winner to the last kick of the game.

The turning point was at the 51st minute, when first the referee had awarded a penalty for Jhon Lucumi’s foul on Charles De Ketelaere, but VAR confirmed the contact was outside the box, so it was changed to a red card instead.

“It was a good performance overall, we pinned them back and had a lot of chances to score,” Gasperini told Sky Sport Italia.

“When Bologna were down to 10, we weren’t sharp enough and didn’t bring enough quality with so many forwards on the field. With a little more confidence and clear heads, we could’ve scored earlier and then gone for the victory. There was also bad luck, hitting the woodwork twice.”

Nicolò Zaniolo came off the bench and combined well with Ademola Lookman, so how far along is he in the recovery process after so many injury issues?

“The important thing is that he gets some consistency on the pitch. He is getting better physical condition, but has barely played for months, so by playing he can improve his sharpness and give the contribution we all hope for.”

Gasperini still finding his new Atalanta side

Samardzic was brought in as one of the heirs to Teun Koopmeiners following the sale to Juventus, so can he follow in the footsteps of the Dutchman, Josip Ilicic and Papu Gomez?

“I hope he can take that role, as he arrived with a positive attitude. He too needs to mature, must improve physically and raise the tempo throughout matches. He has a lot of quality and we believe he can be decisive,” assured Gasperini.

In a bid to get the game back on track, Gasperini threw on every attacking player at his disposal and left only one defender on the pitch.

“Playing with Cuadrado and De Roon as defenders was a bit complicated, so I was trying to figure out how we could do that.”

Atalanta were still smarting after Tuesday’s shock 3-2 home defeat to Como, a game that had been delayed from Monday evening due to a thunderstorm, and Gasperini confessed he’s still trying to find the identity of this new squad.

“Clearly we were disappointed from the result against Como, as once the transfer window closed, we had beaten Fiorentina and drawn with Arsenal, so were on the right track. Unfortunately, we have changed so many players that it will take time to lay those foundations again,” continued Gasperini.

“We threw the game with Como away in the space of nine minutes and wasted the opportunity to get near the top of the table, so naturally it was sad. The good news is we have lots of players who are eager to do well, but it’s not easy to perform these experiments with the season already in full flow.

“I do get the feeling we’ll blow hot and cold for a few months, because this season we had thought that the squad was already built after winning the Europa League and we could build on those foundations. Instead, we brought in many new players, quite a few of them late in the summer, and it was not what we had planned.”

Atalanta are up next in the Champions League against Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday, a tie that will be played on neutral turf in Gelsenkirchen.

Marco Brescianini has to be a major doubt to feature in that game, because he limped off just before half-time with a left thigh issue.

Meanwhile, Bologna are going to visit Liverpool at Anfield Road and Gasperini gave Vincenzo Italiano some advice about facing that kind of fixture after winning there last season.

“To play in that stadium full of people, even just hearing the club anthem they sing before kick-off is worth everything.”