Gian Piero Gasperini outlines his football philosophy at Atalanta, which was praised by Pep Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel. ‘It was said 10-12 years ago you couldn’t win with a three-man defence.’
The 66-year-old had never won a single piece of silverware in his long career, but that ended on Wednesday night in Dublin when lifting the Europa League into the sky.
He not only defeated a Bayer Leverkusen side who were unbeaten in 51 games, but positively demolished them 3-0 with an Ademola Lookman hat-trick.
“We watched their games, we studied all their approaches and the two matches in the semi-final against Roma really helped too,” Gasperini told Sky Sport Italia.
“We had also played against them two years ago in the Europa League Round of 16, we did well and there are still six or seven players from that squad. Xabi Alonso arrived and did an extraordinary job, but we knew that there were ways of causing problems for them.
“Our gameplan worked from start to finish and these lads were extraordinary. Lookman scored three wonderful goals, when he arrived he was not quite a striker, more of a winger, but his best qualities are near the goal. He has this immediacy in taking the shot, scored a lot of goals last season, was missing for a long time due to the Africa Cup of Nations, but was decisive recently too.”
It was not just about using a trio of strikers, but also dropping Teun Koopmeiners deeper with Ederson and keeping him there, even when Mario Pasalic replaced Charles De Ketelaere in the second half.
“Not having Marten De Roon, I was worried. Koopmeiners had been playing in a more attacking role recently, so I was afraid he had forgotten a little bit how to win the ball back, but I needn’t have been concerned. The central midfielders, Koopmeiners and Ederson, were absolutely crucial both in defending and starting the attacking moves.”
Gasperini influenced Guardiola and Tuchel
Pep Guardiola famously described facing Atalanta as ‘like going to the dentist,’ but Gasperini has been quietly influencing not just Italian, but also European football with his philosophy of the sport. It has been compared to Dutch Total Football, but he sees different parallels.
“In the 1990s, when I went to watch Dutch football, they were one of the few who played with three at the back. I also had an Italian inspiration in the 1982 World Cup, the principle was that when an important player had his back to the goal, he would struggle. That was true of Maradona and Zico.
“My adaptation was that instead of running laterally, I preferred to run forward. People described my style as one-on-one all over the field, but I already did that at Crotone, at the Juventus youth team, certainly at Genoa with important results,” continued Gasperini.
“By going into Europe, I had more visibility with Atalanta and received a lot of compliments from my colleagues. I started to see high-profile teams playing with three at the back, for example Paris Saint-Germain after facing us, as Thomas Tuchel gave me so much praise after that.
“It was always said 10-12 years ago that you couldn’t win with a three-man defence, but tonight Bayer Leverkusen played with three, Real Madrid have played with three,” smiled Gasperini.
“It’s not just the three-man defence, but also the high press, the ability to score goals with lots of players from all angles. I got criticised too because sometimes we are too open and leave gaps, but we conceded very few goals in that situation and it’s worth the risk.
“There are many things we’ve had over the years and it is a bit odd to see teams imitate us. It’s a great honour.”
Lookman latest to flourish under Gasperini
Gasperini is admirable also for his man-management, as Charles De Ketelaere, Gianluca Scamacca and Lookman are only the latest who have arrived and been transformed by his influence.
“I know that some say I rule with an iron fist, but I always thought you get the best results when convincing a player. When you manage to convince him, the player will follow you. Otherwise, he might play without the same attitude and determination,” assured Gasperini.
“I have players here who will become coaches in the future. There are others I worked with who are already doing well in Serie A. If you can convince them and get them to play football they enjoy, it becomes easier.
“I also got criticised because I don’t want squads that are too big. We played 54 games this season, there are another two to go, but having players who are interchangeable makes everyone give their all. My only regret is that there are some players I barely used despite how hard they worked in training and that hurt me, imagine if I had even more to leave out!
“I continue to maintain you do not need 28 players in a squad, it’s counter-productive.”
This Europa League triumph came precisely one week after losing the Coppa Italia Final 1-0 to Juventus.
“It was not a weight on us being treated like favourites, as we had just beaten Roma and Marseille. Juve deserve credit for that win, but our main regret was that we wished we had played better.”