How Atalanta Coach Gasperini’s Decisions Could Lead to Lookman Ending Season Trophyless
- Atalanta headed into the 2024/25 season as one of the favourites to win the Italian Serie A crown
- The Bergamo club also came into the season off the back of an impressive UEFA Europa League triumph
- However, due to a few reasons, coach Gian Piero Gasperini could be the reason Atalanta ends the campaign trophyless despite initial promise
Atalanta have gradually witnessed their highly promising 2024/25 season hit a rough patch as they have remained winless in their last five matches.
What was shaping up to be a season of potential cup glory for the Bergamo outfit may now end as one of their most disappointing in recent years.
Heading into the new year, Atalanta sat atop the Serie A standings, but despite it still being only January 2025, the reigning UEFA Europa League champions find themselves seven points behind leaders Napoli.
Source: Getty Images
Closing that gap now seems an even more daunting task, with title favourites, Inter Milan, also creeping up, poised to challenge for top spot.
So, where did things go wrong for Atalanta? How did a team with the second-most potent attack in Serie A, according to FotMob, experience such a dramatic decline in form? Could it be a result of self-inflicted issues?
The answer, it seems, lies largely at the feet of one man—Gian Piero Gasperini. The coach of the Bergamo club appears to be the architect of their recent slump, but how did this highly respected tactician become the cause of Atalanta’s sudden fall from grace?
In this piece, we explore how Gasperini’s decision-making has cost Atalanta dearly in recent matches.
Why Gasperini could make Lookman end the season trophyless
In the five matches where Atalanta have failed to secure a win, one glaring issue has emerged: the consistent and seemingly unnecessary substitution of the team's most lethal attackers—Ademola Lookman and Mario Retegui—often in situations where the team desperately needs goals.
Even in matches where both players were available, Gasperini has opted to start them on the bench, as was the case in the Italian Super Cup semi-final against Inter.
This decision was again evident in the match against Napoli, where Gasperini took both of his star forwards off the field, despite the game clearly needing their qualities.
The result was telling: La Dea struggled to create attacking opportunities and could only muster three shots after their substitutions.
This recurring and now costly pattern has not gone unnoticed. Journalist, Michele Criscitiello, criticised Gasperini for benching key players during the Supercoppa Italiana in his editorial on Sport Italia.
“He is a great coach—someone who sees the game clearly and understands football like few others,” Criscitiello acknowledged.
“His past speaks for itself: Genoa, Crotone, and a failure at Inter in just a few weeks,” he remarked.
“The management of the Super Cup was a lack of respect towards the fans and the Percassi family. If you’re Atalanta and there’s a trophy at stake, you cannot afford the arrogance of challenging Inter with your reserves.”
Criscitiello didn’t hold back further, adding,
“Dear Gasp, did you want to go home to better prepare for the league or the Champions League? Don’t worry—you won’t win the league or the Champions League.”
These harsh wake-up calls are also echoed by former Juventus forward, Paolo Di Canio, who slammed Gasperini for the needless substitution of his in-form attackers.
Now, Atalanta find themselves in third place, vulnerable to the chasing pack, which includes Lazio and Thiago Motta’s Juventus. Whether Gasperini will reconsider his decisions, which have cost the club dearly, remains to be seen.
However, it must be stressed that if the Italian tactician continues to routinely substitute his key players in crucial moments, one thing is almost certain: Atalanta and Lookman will end the season trophyless.
Napoli interested in Lookman
Legit.ng, in another report, detailed that Napoli were interested in signing Lookman.
The Neapolitan outfit reportedly highlighted the Nigerian forward as a possible replacement for the departed Khvicha Kvaratskelia.
Whether Lookman would be willing to swap Bergamo for Naples remained a decision to keep a close eye on.
Proofread by Kola Muhammed, journalist and copyeditor at Legit.ng
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Source: Legit.ng
