Spalletti confession: ‘Juventus suffered in first half with Atalanta’

Luciano Spalletti admits Juventus ‘suffered a lot’ in the first half with Atalanta, but after the break was ‘a totally different match’ as they won to keep top four ambitions alive.

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It was a difficult night in Bergamo, as La Dea pinned Juve back into their own half for long periods in the first half, but were unable to make all that pressure count.

Instead, the Bianconeri were clinical when pouncing on a series of errors to score with Jeremie Boga straight after the restart, aided by a deflection off Marco Carnesecchi.

Spalletti admits Juventus not at their best

“The first half-hour we suffered a lot, because Atalanta are a good team, and we were unable to string passes together in any situation, as they were constantly pressing us,” Spalletti told Sky Sport Italia.

“We were forced to only defend. In the second half, it was a totally different match, we played on level terms. Usually, we were the ones who didn’t make the dominance count and were penalised by failing to score when we were on top, but this time we did it the other way round.”

That includes the last time Juve were in Bergamo back in February, when they had a strong start in the Coppa Italia quarter-final only to emerge 3-0 losers.

This result means that Juventus move to within three points of third-placed Milan and temporarily leapfrog Como into fourth, awaiting the match between Cesc Fabregas’ men and Inter on Sunday.

“These are games that are worth more than three points. Unfortunately, we weren’t in the best shape coming into the match, because Kenan Yildiz and Francisco Conceicao both had fitness problems, I chose to start them and see how they’d do. They were both a little below par, Thuram had an issue too,” revealed Spalletti.

“We were also making mistakes in the first half, not giving Conceicao the opportunity to take men on down the flank, which is his strength. Once we adjusted a few things and got the hang of it, the second half was a completely different match.

“We paid too heavy a price in the Coppa Italia game for our performance. Tonight, they moved it from side to side, stretching us out and forcing us back, with us failing to keep our shape.

“It is a weakness that we have, our defence can sometimes sit a bit too deep and gets pinned back, especially by a team with Atalanta’s characteristics.”

Many opponents have found it difficult to play against Atalanta, as Raffaele Palladino picked up the mantle of predecessor Gian Piero Gasperini, so preventative marking becomes crucial.

“In modern football, you do tend to go man for man, but when you make that choice, if one marking goes wrong, it all falls apart,” added Spalletti.

“Possession used to be the statistic everyone cared about, now nobody is interested in that, it’s about how you break out of these little individual cages that your players are put into.

“Atalanta were far more tuned into the tempo of the game early on, more precise in their movements from right to left, and we didn’t find passing channels. In the second half, we won the ball back a few times and could’ve done more damage on the counter-attack, but misplaced the vertical pass.

“Considering the players who were struggling tonight, I am pleased they put the effort in and tried to work for the team,” concluded Spalletti.