Gian Piero Gasperini admits Lazio ‘absolutely dominated for long periods’ and Atalanta must learn from the 2-0 defeat. ‘We had not yet faced a team of this level.’
The coach looked positively furious at half-time when trailing 1-0 to a Mattia Zaccagni goal and risking another, making changes at the break, but was unable to prevent another goal from Felipe Anderson.
This is the first defeat of the season for La Dea, who are caught on 24 points by Maurizio Sarri’s Lazio and saw their attack effectively neutralised.
“It’s a fair defeat. It’s true that Lazio had an extraordinary first half and we were unable to limit their passing, while the early goal put them in the best possible situation. Only after the second goal did we see something positive,” Gasperini told DAZN.
“It’s a loss we deserved and we will learn from this experience. We hoped that Lazio would drop their tempo and we got close after the second goal, but it was too late.”
Atalanta switched both their wing-backs early on, but also struggled to deal with Felipe Anderson as a False 9 in the absence of Ciro Immobile.
“We were struggling on that flank, so I moved Soppy to counter Lazzari, but the biggest problem we had was winning back the ball and keeping it. For long periods, Lazio absolutely dominated.”
Was there a tactical reason that Maurizio Sarri was able to so effectively neutralise Atalanta after going all season unbeaten?
“We had not yet met a team that was so good on a technical level and with a high press, they always got to the ball first, and perhaps we had not yet faced a team of this level.”
The result after the 90th minute is what matters bro.
Not “the domination for longer periods”.