Gian Piero Gasperini was left to rue a missed opportunity to close in on the Serie A Champions League spots as Atalanta fell to a 2-0 at home to Thiago Motta’s Bologna on Saturday afternoon.
The 65-year-old warned that teams in the mid-table positions are catching up with the leading pack of teams at the top of the table, whilst most of those in the top four have dropped points in recent weeks.
Atalanta were without a handful of first teamers for the upper-mid-table clash in Bergamo on Saturday, which Gasperini believes disturbed the balance of his team on the day.
Despite conceding at both ends of the second half, Gasperini still remained encouraged by his side’s showing during the opening 45 minutes.
He explained: “Bologna’s goal changed our values on the pitch. They were very good while we were forced to try to make up for ourselves, but we didn’t succeed.
“In the first half we had the opportunity to unlock the game and put it on the right track, but we didn’t do it. We had some difficulties in the middle of the park with the absences of Kopmainers and Pasalic, which created problems for us in recovering the ball and building things up.
“Despite everything, we played a good game in the first part of the match, while in the second half we struggled and despite having put so many offensive players on the pitch we weren’t able to even it out.
“Points are lost because the teams behind have grown a lot and the ones ahead have dropped off a bit.”
Atalanta will look to get back to winning ways when they travel to Tuscany to play Fiorentina on Monday 17 April, which will kick off at 19.45 UK time.