Gian Piero Gasperini admits that Torino punished Atalanta for some of the mistakes they made during Sunday’s Serie A clash, but insists that he is pleased with the overall performance of his players.
Gasperini still feels that La Dea are lacking a bit of continuity following on from their strong end to the 2023-24 season, and pointed to the fact that Charles De Ketelaere is the only attacker from last season who is still available for selection.
The coach believes that his players have improved since their 2-0 loss to Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup final just shy of two weeks ago, but feels that there is still some work to do.
Gasperini on Atalanta loss to Torino
Assessing Sunday’s loss away to Torino, Gasperini explained: “We conceded the equaliser right after our goal, but we didn’t lose our way. We paid for some of our mistakes.
“On the pitch, they were good again today, the result was just determined by certain incidents on the field. The team has been like this for a long time.
“Compared to June and Dublin, we have 13 fewer players. That’s a lot. But between Real Madrid and today, we’ve done really well.
“I’m sorry for all the shots off the posts, the penalty and the goal that we conceded from an easy one-two. Toro are a good team, I’m satisfied with our performance.”
Gasperini on Atalanta transfer business
Discussing Atalanta’s upcoming transfer business, and whether he expects to have Rui Patricio and Juan Cuadrado signed on Monday, Gasperini bluntly replied: “I’ll tell you on Friday.”
There is still some frustration at the current state of Atalanta’s options given how well the team had performed, particularly in the Europa League, at the end of last season.
Gasperini explained: “In attack, compared to two months ago, De Ketelaere is the only one left. We have valuable players, but it’s not like we can always expect the absolute best from everyone. We were missing a few players, but some have since arrived.
“I’m worried about having to play in the Champions League with all the games that have to be played. We’ll face them one at a time, with the spirit of today, Lecce and Madrid.”
Gasp believes that De Ketelaere had a fairly decent game against Torino, though.
“De Ketelaere had a good game, he just lacked the finishing touches. He had a few decent situations inside the area, the goalkeeper was very good, but we miss-fired with our shooting on some occasions.”
He also explained that the decision to not select new signing Raoul Bellanova is due to the timing of his transfer, and his connection with Torino.
“It didn’t seem right to fuel what was already quite a tense atmosphere. That was the choice.”