Why Ivan Juric is the right man for Atalanta despite failures at Southampton and Roma | OneFootball

Serie A side Atalanta have hired Ivan Juric as their new manager and while there is an element of surprise about the decision, it is probably the most sensible decision they could make.

A big reason for that is how Gasperini’s ideas of man-to-man pressing is very similar to that Gian Piero Gasperini. He is known to be a proponent of the Gasperini ideas in the game and also played under him at Genoa and Crotone.

They are not just similar in terms of how they view the game, they are also strangely similar personalities. Gasperini is an honest personality who has never backed away from expressing himself. He has often had strange relationships with players that he has been honest about the club has operated on the basis of that too.

Juric was quite the same at Torino. He also had an infamous spat with sporting director Davide Vagnati and throughout his stint, he was seen as a fearsome character that drew comparisons with Gasperini himself. He was constantly criticial of the club’s poor running and was never afraid to call out what was wrong.

Atalanta fans, in a way, are used to that. It would not be a massive change from what they had and it would ensure some stability at the club.

More than that, the other managers on the shortlist are also of a different kind. Thiago Motta has had problems in possession at Bologna and Juve and his teams have relied more on playing against the press. Stefano Pioli is more of a man-manager than a tactician who is the extreme opposite to what Gasperini is.

While question marks can be raised about Juric’s stints at Southampton and Roma, he made decisions that he shouldn’t have made. Southampton had a poor squad that was doomed for the drop and Roma had a difficult politician situation brewing out of control. Him joining Atalanta is the best decision he will make for the good of his career.

Kaustubh Pandey I GIFN