Gian Piero Gasperini underlined his desire to see Atalanta have ‘maximum energy’ in their upcoming duel with Milan.
La Dea have looked wildly inconsistent this campaign, picking up six wins and six draws in their opening 14 games. In recent weeks the team have struggled, securing just a single point in their last four matches.
As usual, Atalanta are hungry to secure a European spot this season and so will be hungry to snatch all three points when Stefano Pioli’s Milan come to visit on Saturday evening.
Speaking in a press conference via TMW, Gasperini first discussed his expectations for Atalanta’s clash with Milan.
“Milan also had important absences, now they’re recovering a few players. I don’t know how many players they’ll recover, but there are these periods throughout the season where you can make up for that more or less well, at this moment we need to have even more attention and will.
“We are playing an important match at home, we must cling to the home factor to bring out maximum energy, as Milan did. This is football, we must provide the turning points.”
He was asked about the personal meaning of the match for Charles De Ketelaere, who joined Atalanta on loan from Milan in the summer.
“He played a decent game on Monday, he is a guy who is giving good answers. His growth is constant, being a former player he’ll be highly motivated.”
He gave his thoughts on his Rossoneri counterpart Pioli.
“The results speak for themselves, he has always left a particular mark. He won an extraordinary title, it was certainly the highest point there.”
Finally, Gasperini was asked about Atalanta’s struggles with goal difference this season, scoring 21 and conceding 16.
“We need to look at it more broadly, we’re a team that have always scored goals. We seem like a tired team to me, what’s penalizing us in the last few games is that we’re conceding clear but avoidable penalties, like against Torino which ended the match.
“There was a week of training, I expect a very ready team tomorrow. Tomorrow we would like to interrupt this series of negative results, it matters to me that the team plays as it always has, thinking match after match, instead of setting ourselves objectives we must think about every single match.
“We need to rediscover our concentration on the league, we need to try to get the most out of it. At this moment I don’t feel like making any proclamations or predictions.”