Gian Piero Gasperini prepares to face Inter and Robin Gosens in a top of the table battle, but warns Atalanta ‘need clarity on what the ultimate objective is’ for this season. ‘The club has to be clear with me.’
It kicks off on Sunday at 11.30 GMT.
This is the third head-to-head clash for La Dea after beating Lazio and falling to Napoli, but despite sitting in joint fifth place with Inter on 27 points, Gasperini continues to play down talk of their ambitions.
“This obsession over the table is nothing to do with me,” said the coach in his press conference.
“It’s not as if beating Inter tomorrow means we can win the Scudetto, or that losing means we’re going to get relegated. It’s still early days.
“Inter have been fairly inconsistent this season, but aside from Napoli, that is true of all the big teams. This is the closure for the first part of an anomalous campaign going into a very long break, even longer than the summer. We must try to end on a high in this high-level fixture.”
Precisely because there is such a long gap, with the 2022 World Cup in-between, Gasperini warns it is pointless trying to make predictions for what will happen when the domestic season resumed on January 4.
There is another issue at play in Bergamo, as Atalanta are under new co-ownership and caught between the times they were regularly in the Champions League and their status as a club that develops players to sell them on at a profit.
Luis Muriel is out injured, so it’s either Duvan Zapata or Rasmus Hojlund upfront against Inter.
“This is the decision to be made, thinking not about tomorrow, but the future. When you invest so much in young players, you must be convinced that they’ll play regularly, otherwise you risk stalling their development.
“If the objective is to climb the table, then you need to make different sort of signings on the transfer market. I think I have good material to work with here, but what is the ultimate objective for Atalanta? If we want to be high up the standings, we need to intervene on the transfer market, but if we want to get the best out of youth, then that’s a different matter.
“The club needs to be clear with me what the objectives are and what they want. If we are to challenge for the Scudetto, I’ll give it my all. If we have to get the best out of this squad, I will give my all for that. The problem is when there’s no clarity on what the vision we’re working towards is.”
That was evident in the midweek defeat to Lecce, when Gasp was accused of over-doing the squad rotation.
“It seemed the right moment to play some of Atalanta’s youth products, it’s not like we just met them in a bar and asked if they fancied playing. I would make the same decisions, it was not a moment of madness.”
Among the players who went from zero to hero with Atalanta, there is also Gosens, who was sold to Inter in January and has struggled to replicate that kind of form.
“He was much happier with the Atalanta jersey, even if the colours are still basically the same,” smiled Gasperini.
“He has started scoring for Inter now and that worries me. We will always cheer Gosens on and wish him the best, but only from January onwards.”