Only if we could've had someone who's decent at CB( better than some of our natural CBs, that's for sure), can pass, can lead the back-line and would've been ours for free, with us just paying not so over-whelming salary for him. And only if this person could've also played 10-15 games at midfield when we need experience and grinta there. Nah, it's good that we've saved 1-2mil/year from De Rossi's salary. The pleasure of having Juan Jesus giving free goals is totally worth it.
I know it's early, but if we're serious about taking back a top 4 spot, this would be a great place to start.
This is what they were rated against Fiorentina https://www.tuttoatalanta.com/primo...a-e-cambia-la-partita-disastro-palomino-41548
Pau Spinazzola - Smalling - Fazio - Kolarov Cristante - Veretout Zaniolo - Pellegrini - Mkhitaryan Dzeko
#Roma, #Fonseca:”Too soon to be euphoric, Smalling will play against #Atalanta” https://t.co/ZPA5nJYuRr— David Amoyal (@DavidAmoyal) September 24, 2019
I get Kolarov is our best FB and arguably our best player but wth get Spinny if you are going to just run Kolarov into the ground again this year.
Kolarov is a beast. Playing again is not a problem for him, especially at this stage of the season. Very good chance, in fact very likely, that Spinny will start and it will be ahead of Florenzi I would think. It's potentially a very tough game for Smalling to debut but at this moment in time I feel like ABJJ. (Anyone but JJ)
A couple of thoughts on Bologna match and maybe something to look for against Atalanta: Defense for Fonseca, at least against teams were we have some talent advantage, subscribes quite heavily to the theory that you defend by attacking. The fullbacks are pushed quickly into very advanced wide spaces and the 2 midfield pivots are clearly told to turn forward with the ball as quickly as possible and use the long diagonal to a fullback if pressured. (I love the midfielders turning goal bound with the ball immediately as my pet peeve is the recycled ball back to CBs when there was a chance to turn and find a forward ball). The danger here is that the midfielders have to be strong on the ball and avoid turnovers and the overall effectiveness is in direct proportion to the accuracy of the long diagonal passes from the 2 deep pivot midfielders, the 2 CBs and the fullback that hasn't pushed up yet on occasion. It worked very well against Bologna until around the hour mark. The only very good chances I recall conceding came from a couple of lazy midfield passes and Florenzi getting completely removed on a dribble by Sansone once. In the second half -- and here is a concern and something to watch against Atalanta -- Bologna took a lot more risks in sending an extra player up to press around the center line. Of course, that meant tons of open space if we managed to break that pressure. We did it a few times but didn't make them pay but also had far too many inaccurate diagonals that were cut out by a Bologna defender running forward to start a counter. The Bologna goal was a good example in that Pellegrini had come back to the center line to help break pressure and tried a diagonal pass to Cristante running toward goal that would have set us up with a clear advantage (especially given Kolarov's extremely advanced positioning). However -- and maybe "blame" here is equally Pellegrini's pass as well as Cristante not getting there to receive it quickly enough -- the pass was cut out and that led to the jailbreak counter that resulted in the (bad) penalty. I also think Fonseca likely reacted by applauding Pellegrini/Cristante in that it was exactly the decision/pass he wanted but it didn't come off. Anyway, you also have to be sure that Gasperini (and other managers) are studying the effect the gang pressing Bologna employed in the second half had. I could be wrong but don't think Fonseca adjusts by keeping the wingbacks back any deeper but simply by saying that those passes have to be more consistently accurate and players more ready to get on the end of them.