Atalanta 1 Sporting CP 1

Atalanta v Sporting CP 
November 30^th, 2023
Gewiss Stadium
Europa League Matchday 5

The Warm Up

Thursday night in Bergamo, home to, for me anyway, one of Italy’s best ultra groups ‘the Curva Nord 1907,’ a collective that stretches far beyond the boundaries of simply supporting your club but also the wider community as a whole and an example of how things should be done right. Fan groups are too often overlooked for the good contributions they make to society and are tarnished by the reputation of those hell-bent on causing trouble on a matchday. For those Sportinguista’s in attendance tonight at the Gewiss Stadium I think you’re in for a treat. It’s what us old people would define as a proper football stadium and anyone wishing to experience Italian football culture should add it to their list of grounds to try and take in a game.

 

Sunday’s 8-0 victory against Dumiense saw Sebastián Coates become Sporting’s overseas player with the most appearances for the club and I guess it’s fitting that I use tonight’s opponents as an example of what he brings to this Sporting team on the pitch. Yes he looks like he’s running through a ploughed field in Wellington boots sometimes or like he’s pulling an invisible caravan but what he does bring is leadership and a calmne’s that radiates through the defensive line on a match by match basis. That he didn’t start the first game against Atalanta was so evident as they tore through our defence in the opening 45 at will. His introduction at half time totally changed the balance of the game in the second half. The old Monty Python joke springs to mind – what have the Romans ever done for us. Substitute the name Coates for Romans and you could ask the same question. Like any player he has his detractors but if his contract isn’t extended beyond this season I for one will be acutely aware of what that could mean for us come the next. True if St Juste stays fit he could slot into that mantle of which I have no doubt but that’s if he stays fit. I think much of the hype around Inácio can actually be put down to playing alongside the Uruguayan and allowing him the chance to shine. He’s not shown for me he’s capable of playing a similar central role and if we sell him he’d need to have that similar style player alongside him if he’s to succeed in a league bigger than the Portuguese top flight. I’m not suggesting Coates is Virgil van Dijk (I’m am idiot but I’m not delusional) but there iseasonn the likes of him, Pepe and J’se Fonte are sti’l playing their trade at some of Portugal’s biggest clubs despite their ages or obvious limitations on some fronts. The Premier League will be a’massive jump up ’n class for Inácio and at present I don’t think he’s capable. But I’ve been wrong before and I’m sure I’ll be proven wrong again.

 

Sunday’s game in the offensive third was the best showing all season and I don’t mean because they scored eight times. The accuracy of the shooting is the best I can remember so far. It’s notable that Gonçalves wasn’t playing as he’s been guilty of taking shots off target more than any other Sporting player this season. Even Bragança upped his game even if he didn’t score. OK it was against the bottom side in the fourth division but that’s the minimum standards you should expect in front of goal, well for me anyway. Tonight will be a huge test given how poorly we played in the 2-1 loss. Amorim needs to prove he can learn and adapt when it really counts and tonight he’ll either go up in my estimations or cement my position on him even further. Time will tell. I did allow myself a wry smile when Gasperini claimed everyone made Sporting favourites to top the group in qualification. As someone who only watches Portuguese and Italian football I can say hand on heart my expectations were that Atalanta would top the group with Sporting finishing runners up. I don’t see anything to make me deviate from that position prior to kick off. That being said Atalanta have faltered since the two sides last met. In 8 games in all competitions they’ve won 3, drawn 2 and lost 3. The two wins in the league came against lowly Genoa and Empoli and the third a 1-0 home win to Sturm Graz having drawn the reverse game 2-2. Goalkeeper Carnesecchi had a nightmare last time out against Napoli in a 2-1 defeat but Juan Musso has tended to be used in European competition. 

The money markets

Atalanta start favourites in the market at 11/10 with Sporting 12/5, 5/2 the draw.

1 – 47.62% probability of a home win
2 – 29.41%  probability of an away win
X – 28.57% probability of a draw 

Team News

Of course having gone big on Coates in my opening statement and his impact in turning around the game against Atalanta at half time in the home game, Amorim names him amongst the substitutes. St Juste comes in for the Uruguayan at the centre of the back three. Inácio and Diomande both return having been rested Sunday. A more defensive shape with Reis and Esgaio on the flanks and Morita comes back into his central partnership with Hjulmand. Gyökeres returns from his European suspension, Trincão retains his place and Gonçalves comes back into the lineup having also been rested Sunday. For Atalanta Scamacca starts up front and will I’m sure prove a test for the Sporting defence. Lookman who caused troubles down the left last time out plays alongside. As expected Musso starts in goal over Carnesecchi. Thankfully Adán retains his place in goal for Sporting.

First Half

5 Scrappy opening five. Diomande has started centrally with St Juste right of the three 

6 Scamacca charges through and slots the ball home from a one on one situation with Adán. Originally flagged as offside. Correct decision made after VAR check. He was the only Atalanta player against a line of five defender’s. You could maybe argue the defence did their job there but that was a huge warning for Sporting.

10 Inácio receives a yellow card for a foul two yards outside of the 18 yard box.

11 Koopmeiners fires in a low shot at Adán who saves easily enough. Sporting need to get some sort of a grip on this game. It’s a repeat of the home game as if we’ve learned nothing at all. At the moment it’s a case of when they score the opener rather than if.

13 Adán saves from Scamacca. Flagged offside again so wouldn’t have counted but this is a painful watch 

15 Strong powerful run from Gyökeres on the left. Best action from a Sporting player a third of the half in. Eventually leads to a corner. Ball comes to Esgaio on the edge of the box and he slices his shot over the bar like he’s got the yips with a golf club for a foot 

19 Gyökeres lets the ball run through his legs, loses his marker, bursts forward and curls a shot just wide of the right hand post from 18 yards. That would have been truly special had it gone in. If Sporting are to get anything out of this game it’s going to come from the Swede on this showing 

22 GOAL Scamacca with one of the goals of the season. He hits it from fully 25 yards and despite Adán getting a hand to it there was no stopping that as it flew into the top right corner. That’s Nuno Santos levels of striking a ball. Atalanta 1 Sporting CP 0. This could be 3 or 4-0 on the evidence of what we’ve seen so far.

28 Was it Einstein who said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results? This is the third time we’ve lined up in this type of formation and third time we’ve been totally outplayed.

29 Trincão caught with a flailing arm in the box. There was contact but wishful thinking if he thinks he’s going to get a penalty there.

30 Second corner for Sporting. Easily claimed by the keeper. That was frankly dog shit from Gonçalves

32 I can count 7 Atalanta players in and around the centre circle as Sporting play the ball across the back line eager for that next misplaced pass. Like wasps lining up for a free lunch in a pub garden on a hot summers day.

34 Gyökeres sets Gonçalves free who can only put the ball into the arms of Musso. That needed to be the other way around with the Swede on the end and that’s 1-1 all day long. We won’t get many chances in this game and he really needed to be more composed there. Replay in slow motion makes it look 100 times worse. There was no defender near him. He goes for the lob and kicks it to the keeper like you'd throw a ball to a toddler to catch.

37 Inácio shoots over from 25 yards. Fucking pointless. Prick

38 Lookman goes into the book for a late challenge on St Juste. The green side of Lisboa holds its breath. He’s up. Please let him stay fit for the season

41 Yellow shown to Scalvini for the follow through on Inácio. That’s the third time in three minutes an Atalanta player has left one on one of our players.

42 Yellow to Kolasinac for a foul on Trincão.

Two minutes shown for additional time.

Half time

Atalanta 1 Sporting CP 0

If I was Amorim at halftime I think I’d tell Adán and Gyökeres to wait outside and tear a strip off the other nine players. Then go to the mirror and have even more of a word with myself for not learning from the first game. I guess the only positive is that somehow it’s only 1-0. Gonçalves has been a waste of space. That miss one on one is … was… well utter fucking shit. Yank him off for Edwards. Take Esgaio off from the right and put Geny on and try to take the game to them because at the moment Gyökeres is having to do it all and he needs to be in that final end position to shoot, not dropping deep or playing the Nuno Santos role on the left wing.

Second half

Edwards and Geny getting instructions from Amorim as the rest of the players line up in the tunnel. Perhaps someone read him my blog post at half time. Let’s see who he’s taking off… Edwards for Trincão. Geny for Esgaio. Well I nearly called it. Gonçalves had offered nothing that first half. I’m guessing he survived only by virtue of playing on the left. 

46 Geny finds Edwards who can only fire his shot straight at the keeper from five yards. Instant threat from the two substitutes which again begs the question of why we didn’t start the game on the front foot.

48 My jaw actually just fell open. Scamacca set clean through one on one puts his shot wide of the right post. How has he missed that one? You genuinely would have banked your life savings on that being 2-0 and goodnight Lisboa.

50 I’m still shaking my head in disbelief at that miss a full two minutes later. The marking has been non fucking existent from Sporting, they seem hell-bent on relying on playing the offside trap as the only form of defence. This isn’t Dumiense at home!

55 GOAL Edwards is put through by Gyökeres. One touch to take it wide of his marker, one touch to move into the box and rifles home from 17 yards into the bottom right hand corner. Those two linked up so well against the pigeons when down to ten men. I still don’t get why Edwards was brought off at that point. Yes I am still bitter close on three weeks later. Anyway Atalanta 1 Sporting CP 1

56 Éderson fires wide inside the box. That lead nearly didn’t last long although in fairness it was always going wide

58 Finally it’s the Sporting fans you can hear from the stands. The drums which have been incessant all game from the home fans have finally been silenced for now at least

61 Yellow shown to De Roon for a foul on Gyökeres. That looked harsh.

62 Edwards crosses from the right finds Diomande but that was too high for the Ivorian to make decent contact and he heads wide from six yards

64 This game really is an almost carbon copy of the previous bar the glaring miss from Scamacca. He’s going to be waking up in a cold sweat for weeks over that one if Sporting get anything from this game

65 Fuck me. Fuck, fuck, fuck me! Gonçalves shoots from ten yards. Hits the left post, comes all the way out to the right and out to safety. How the fucking hell has that not gone in. Ronnie O’Sullivan couldn’t have done that as a trick shot on a snooker table

68 Gonçalves turns on the edge of the area and fires over. How many times are we going to see that from him this season?

69 Koopmeiners withdrawn accidentally. How does that happen. One of those you had one job moments. Gasperini looks perplexed as the fourth official holds a sheet of paper in his hand as if to say that’s what’s written down

70 Gonçalves one on one with the keeper and knocks it wide of the right hand post. I’m going to strain my vocal chords shouting at the screen. I’m glad there’s no small kids around because they’ll have learned a new short word beginning with c and ended in t prefixed by you useless fucking … Trincão scores that, Edwards, Gyökeres, Paulinho…I think even Esgaio would have scored that.

75 Miranchuk tries to bend the ball in from 18 yards but thankfully there wasn’t enough bend and it goes harmlessly behind

76 Hjulmand off for Nuno Santos who looks like he’s fresh from Stalag Luft with his hair cropped to the bone. What’s the song in the kids film Frozen. Is it – let it go, let it go? My baby is 20 today so it bypassed our house totally.

80 Ten to play and this is anyone’s game still. Coates on for St Juste. A draw right now may be the fairer result but it’s Sporting who need to claim all three points with Atalanta already qualified if it remains the same.

82 Save from Adán from another Miranchuk effort. He’s fortunate that no one was following up as he gets up and collects the ball.

84 Regular readers (thank you one and all) will know I often remark that Sporting deliver one good half and one bad and you never know which half will fall into which category. Well this has been identikit to the game in Lisboa. Fucking woeful first half, much the better side the second half. Finger of blame has to be pointed at Amorim for getting his tactics wrong again first 45

Four minutes shown

90 Morita shown a yellow for a challenge on the touchline in front of Amorim

+1 Corner Atalanta. My bum is twitching and my heart rate is up. Football will be the death of me. Comes to nothing.

+3 Yellow shown for time wasting to Reis. Why are we trying to waste time?

Full time

Atalanta 1 Sporting CP 1

The Final Word

Qualification for Atalanta. They must wish they could play us every week having started so dismally again. Gyökeres my man of the match despite offering little in the second half. He was so head and shoulders above everyone else in the first half that someone would have needed a second half hat-trick to take it from him in my mind. Sporting were incredibly fortuitous to come away with a point after that miss from Scamacca. But then you can equally say the same for Atalanta with Gonçalves hitting both posts in succession. Actually you could say that about his first half miss and then the miss when one on one again in the second half. He gave an interview prior to the game saying it’s not about individual glories it’s about the team as a collective or some fucking dribble like that. Well put one of those three away and the team gets collective glory rather than going into the last game needing a win to ensure any chance of qualification. I don’t know what the connotations are now. What I do know is the pigeons were 3-0 up last night and the commentators were bigging up their chances of winning the Europa League. I’m still laughing now. Couldn’t happen to a nicer club as they blew that 3-0 lead.

I said prior to kick off this game was my litmus test for Amorim and he’s not passed it for me. Thank you for delivering the league title but come the summer if someone pays your release clause I will happily give you a piggy back wherever your next destination is. When I’m done carrying you I’ll come back for Gonçalves and make a third trip for Inácio but I want 5% of any transfer fees received for those two.