Gasperini: ‘Atalanta will not hold back’ after best ever Serie A start | OneFootball

Gian Piero Gasperini concedes Atalanta are not declaring their Scudetto challenge, but ‘aren’t going to hold back either’ after a seventh consecutive victory and their best ever start to a season.

They picked up where they left off before the break for international duty by beating Parma 3-1 at the Stadio Tardini thanks to goals from Mateo Retegui, Ederson and Ademola Lookman.

Matteo Cancellieri had managed to get Parma back into it at the dawn of the second half, but La Dea are temporarily top of the table.

“It is undoubtedly a positive run and the performance in the first half was excellent too, we could perhaps have scored more goals. The second half started with their goal, that gave Parma a push, but it didn’t last long and we took control again before scoring the third goal,” Gasperini told Sky Sport Italia.

“You cannot convert every chance, but a team that creates this much will have better odds of winning.”

It wasn’t entirely a joyful evening for Gasperini, because he was sent off from the touchline for two yellow cards in quick succession and had to watch the last half-hour from the stands.

“Parma had just got back into a game that was absolutely closed and had a boost of energy, I saw a foul and was booked for my protest, that’s fine. Then the fourth official spent five minutes staring at me, I told him to pay attention to the match and not to me, he wanted to be the protagonist and the referee gave him that.”

Gasperini cannot hide from Atalanta momentum

PARMA, ITALY – NOVEMBER 23: Ademola Lookman of Atalanta BC celebrates after scoring his team third goal during the Serie A match between Parma and Atalanta at Stadio Ennio Tardini on November 23, 2024 in Parma, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)

This is now officially the best start to a season in Atalanta’s history with 28 points and 34 goals scored in the first 13 rounds.

Having been at the club for almost a decade, inevitably there will be comparisons between his various iterations of Atalanta.

“I don’t feel ready to make these comparisons right now, maybe towards the end of my career. If we’re talking about Gomez, Ilicic, Zapata and Muriel, a side that was close to the Champions League semi-final, another that won the Europa League.

“It’s the same as you asking me about the Scudetto, we have to focus on winning every game we can and the rest is not really in our minds. That was the case in the Europa League too, we didn’t start out thinking we’d win it, but as time wore on and we found ourselves in that position, we weren’t going to hold back either.”

They also have Retegui as Capocannoniere and are yet to concede a single goal in the Champions League after four games, where they visit Swiss side Young Boys on Tuesday.

“Now we will try to turn our focus towards the Champions League. It can be decisive, as a victory could get us into the top 16. However, playing on a synthetic pitch, the only one in Europe, is certainly different. They caused Inter a lot of problems, so we’ll have to be wary of that.”

Ederson was on target today and has attracted a great deal of attention from top clubs in recent weeks, including Juventus, Liverpool and Manchester City, but he is not the usual Gasperini midfielder.

“He has different characteristics, certainly. Remo Freuler was fantastic for Atalanta. I’ve had a lot of midfielders over the years, but he arrived as a more attacking player and then became a complete player to close spaces in an extraordinary way. If I had to create a mixture of all my previous midfielders, it’d be him.

“I will always be grateful to all my players, they gave me so much over the years and I honestly struggle to put them in any kind of hierarchy. Since I arrived the first day with Atalanta, the only player still here is Rafael Toloi.”

In his nine years at the helm, Atalanta have had been top scorers of Serie A for three seasons and are on track for a fourth, keeping that Gasperini style.

“This has always been my way of approaching football, I was the same at Genoa and Crotone. Sometimes I watch games and think maybe I too should settle for performances that aren’t great, trying to slow things down and just defend, but really I cannot conceive of football without trying to score goals,” concluded the coach.

“I know I’ll never win the award for best defensive record, but I might win the best attack.”