Serie A Prospectus: Atalanta
Atalanta
Possession: 55%
Offensive Vital Signs
Deep Completions: Extremely Good (2nd)
Pass Difficulty: Average
Completions Above Average: Good (5th best)
Field Position: Good (6th best)
Shot Generation: Good (4th highest)
Good Shot%: AboveAverage (8th highest)
Possession Length: Average
Zones They Progress Well From: 2,3
Zones They Progress Poorly From: none
Defensive Vital Signs
Deep Completions Allowed: Very Good (4th)
Pass Difficulty Allowed: Extremely Difficult (Most Difficult)
Completions Above Average Allowed: Very Good (2nd most incompletions forced)
Field Position Allowed: Very Good (3rd toughest)
Shot Generation Allowed: Elite (2nd lowest)
Good Shot% Allowed: Extremely Poor (2nd highest allowed)
High Press: Strong (2nd toughest)
Zones That Are Easy To Progress Through: none
Zones That Are Tough To Progress Through: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
50 Pass Types Were Determined By a Clustering Algorithm, These Are The Types Atalanta Plays at +/- 1 Standard Deviation from Average
Key Passing Combos: Pink is Freuler-A Gomez, Yellow on the right side is de Roon-Hateboer
Quick Summary
Atalanta are playing at an extremely high, Champions League level. Their defense is a complete shutdown defense and is the strength of the team, it’s a got a bit of older school Liverpool in it with the weakness at the back. You can get some good shots, but they will be very rare and you will lose the ball a lot. A solid attack, that is far from a one-touch smooth passing outfit, isn’t anything elite but it’s enough when coupled with the powerhouse defense, this is an under-the-radar great team.
Player Profiles
Alejandro Gomez, 30, forward
We can call him a wide left forward, almost half of his passes come from near the touchline as you could partially see his position on the key passing combo chart above. That’s compared to 30% for his strike duo partner Zapata and 14% from previous teams Higuain. Gomez leads Serie A in deep completions and is behind only Manuel Lazzari from SPAL in yards gained carrying the ball, he’s a crucial player and has been for Atalanta since 2015.He’s gone 7/7, 14/10, 4/10 and now 4/2 in goals/assists for Atalanta since he became a full-time player in the 2015/2016 season. A strong G+A/90 of .54 that roughly tracks with the numbers Roberto Firmino has put up both G and xG. A bit too much of a hit and hoper, his long shot tendency probably has held him back from becoming a dominant attacker, but he’s great right now and in a great position for an Atalanta side that is clicking along at a strong pace.
Remo Freuler, 26, midfielder.
In a piece for StatsBomb I once mentioned Freuler as a possibility for Dortmund because he was a rangy type similar to Kroos/Koke who will give you production in the box. Nothing he’s done since has done anything to lessen my love of him, and his price has probably gone up a lot since then.When I wrote that article, he was “valued” at 3.6 million euros on Transfermarkt and he’s now up to 12.6 million. He’s a midfielder who can fit most places outside of maybe the very very top: he handles the ball the most for Atalanta, and has a pretty heavy defensive role on a team allowing under 11 shots per game.
Ali Adnan, 24, left-back.
The legendary Adnan, who for years would pop up in the Asian Cup or some youth World Cup with profiles written about Iraq’s best hope, has popped up here. I assumed he’d never make the move, and didn’t even realize he’s played a boatload of minutes for Udinese over the past 3 years. He has been terrible in his two games so far this year, too bad. I once tried to buy him, Brown Ideye, and Oliver Torres for my UAE-based Al Jazira squad inFootball Manager for reasons I can’t quite remember. Oliver dominated, the other two, not so much. First time I’d ever watched full match was a 5-5 losson PKs in the Round of 16 against Esteghlal. Unforgettable. Ali Adnan is probably forgettable.
Josip Ilicic, 30, Attacking Midfielder
Ilicic has been all action so far this season, the left-footed attackers passes come closer to shots on average than any other player in the league bar Ciro Immobile. Just looking at his xG numbers tells quite the story: .67 xG/90 and .41 xA/90 this year. That’s above Mohamed Salah, Raheem Sterling, and Gareth Bale among others. He had one of the performances of the season against Inter, making my “All-Passer” team and contributing a ridiculous 2.21 xG from his shots and key passes. He contributed 1.13 vs Parma and 1.24 vs Chievo in an hour. He’s had a couple previous year near 0.7 xG+Aper 90 but this year he’s exploded as Atalanta have. Interestingly, he’s a big-time one-touch passer (83rd percentile) on a team where almost no one is (22nd percentile). To sum it all up, there are only 2players in Serie A in the top 20 percentiles in all 3 of shooting, deep completions and ball-carrying. Those two guys are both in the top 11percentiles of both. Those two guys? Cristiano Ronaldo and…you guessed it,Josip Ilicic.
Standouts (Top 25 or bottom 25% In League)
Deep Completions
100th percentile: Josip Ilicic
98th percentile: Alejandro Gomez
88th percentile: Remo Freuler
84th percentile: Musa Barrow
83rd percentile: Robin Gosens
Great Ball Progressors
Remo Freuler, Zones 2-4
Marten de Room, Zones 3-6
Poor Ball Progressors
Mario Pasalic, Zones 3-4
Defensively Active
98th percentile: Marten de Roon
95th percentile: Jose Luis Palomino
83rd percentile: Rafael Tolou
80th percentile: Robin Gosens
Shooters
95th percentile: Duvan Zapata
89th percentile: Josip Ilicic
84th percentile: Gianluca Mancini
76th percentile: Musa Barrow
Ball-Carriers
98th percentile: Alejandro Gomez
92nd percentile: Josip Ilicic
91st percentile: Robin Gosens
87th percentile: Hans Hateboer
78th percentile: Remo Freuler
One Touch Passers
83rd Percentile: Josip Ilicic