Gian Piero Gasperini urges Atalanta to improve their precision after a 2-1 win over Sassuolo if they want to target the top four, but has good news about Luis Muriel’s injury.
La Dea have been stuttering so far this season and it was again far from a vintage performance, although the two goals from Robin Gosens and Davide Zappacosta were pure old-school Atalanta.
“It was a good game and Sassuolo also deserve credit for that, because they play with pace, good technique and some great forwards,” Gasperini told Sky Sport Italia.
Domenico Berardi pulled one back at the Gewiss Stadium and Gregoire Defrel missed a sitter when he really should’ve equalised.
“We struggled in the second half, while the first ended 2-1, but that did not reflect what we’d seen on the pitch until that point.
“At the end of the day, I think this is the right result. I think some of our problems have been ones of sharpness, because we keep making simple errors, like passes and lay-offs. There’s a lack of precision and that is damaging, but on the other hand I think it’s quite an easy problem to resolve.”
Gasperini had some positive news for Atalanta fans, as it seems Muriel’s injury is not as bad as first thought.
“We are now feeling more confident he can return before the next break for international duty, even though you always have to be careful with muscular lesions.”
Although Atalanta are in the Champions League for the third year running, Gasperini continues to aim low with his ambitions, at least in public.
“We never set out to target the Scudetto, nor Europe. We have always started out trying to work out what we can do and how competitive we can be. My sensation this season is that many teams have strengthened, so it will be a far more balanced league than it was before.
“We don’t have objectives, we are not at this moment a team capable of finishing in the top four, but we can get there if we improve the precision and technique of our game.”
Atalanta will face Champions of Italy Inter at the weekend and Gasperini was asked if this was a decisive week for his side.
“As things stand, I see Inter, Milan and also Napoli as the strongest teams in Italy and our spirit must be trying to figure out how we do against them. It’s a decisive week in that sense, not for the points.”
#AtalantASassuolo, #Gasperini: “Ora non siamo da Champions ma potremo esserlo”#SkySporthttps://t.co/9NiFzWqy70
— skysport (@SkySport) September 21, 2021