How Gasperini Dominated Europe's Biggest Teams

Atlanta made it to their first ever European Final in spectacular fashion with some seriously impressive performances along the way and a lot of it is down to gasparini Tactical system Atlanta are a team that play forward both in and out of possession with an aggressive man-to-man marking system that means that the team has no fullback structure to rely on and when Atalanta regained the ball there are few teams that can match their Relentless energy and willingness to get the ball into the box from any position available and while this may sound similar to other great teams the reality is that there are some tactical elements that are unique to gasparini who has slowly gained a reputation for being one of the brightest managers in modern football with a tactical system that can catch even the biggest teams in Europe off guard let's take a look gasparini is the longest serving manager in the Sera and has taken Atlanta from relegation battles to European football but the reality of a club like Atlanta means that the majority of their talented players are swiftly sold to bigger clubs and the team can look completely different every season but one reason why gasparini is able to get the most out of his new signings is because his principles are clear so if you want to play for Atlanta the first thing to get to grips with is their unique defensive approach when defending there are generally speaking two schools of thought either zonal marking or man marking zonal marking managers believe that the ball is the most dangerous threat to your team while man marking managers believe that the player is the most dangerous threat the vast majority of teams will use a mixture of both depending on the situation some teams press man Forman during buildup but transition into a zonal system from more active build positions for example Pep Guardiola usually presses man Forman from opposition goal kicks but will transition into a zonal marking system from more active positions covering passing lanes and trying to force the opposition to move the ball into designated areas but while it's common to see teams use a hybrid system it is uncommon to see manm marking in the way Atalanta do it gasparini men will follow their direct opponent relentlessly throughout the 90 minutes and even as the opposition pushes up they're not afraid to step off their line to close a player down often resulting in completely different patterns and structures depending on the opposition with no clear Midfield or defensive lines in gasparini words Atlanta don't wait for the opposition to make a mistake but actively chase the ball down and want to win it back in a proactive way there are obviously some rules the players follow for example the wing backs will usually wait to close their player down first shutting down the risk of a direct ball in behind before very quickly closing the player down if the opposition moves down their flank we can get a good idea of this by looking at how Atalanta pressed against Liverpool with the options in the center being given little space while there was slightly more space on the flank to receive the ball once Liverpool had made the decision to go down the Left Flank zapa Costa would instantly close down the fullback and put pressure on the ball the beauty of this is that it doesn't matter where they are on the pitch Atlanta are always looking to push up to win the ball they don't play the offside trap and there's no clear defensive line but if a player receives the ball with their back to goal there is absolutely no way he'll be allowed to turn around this aggressive defensive principle becomes even more interesting when entering the box and defending crosses generally speaking teams will look to get as many players as possible between the ball and the goal and even man marking teams will shift to a certain level of zonal marking in the Box usually resembling either a diagonal line or a triangle across the sixy box and covering the most dangerous areas of the goal but guess berini still insists that the most dangerous element is the player not the ball and rarely do Atlanta have a fullback shape to rely on for example in their win against Monza we can see how there are no players left unmarked in the Box while naturally Atalanta will end up with extra players in defense these will usually pick up a position that they believe will give the team the best chance of stopping a goal but there is rarely a specific structure these players adopt this defensive principle may sound simple on paper but it reflects the huge amount of trust that gasparini places into every player to do the right thing but naturally this approach does have some weaknesses that the opposition will exploit given that there is no specific structure for Atlanta to fall back on the opposition can and will drag the players around to exploit certain spaces while each player will need to be disciplined in 1 V1 situations all it takes is one player to lose track of their man and suddenly Atalanta can find themselves scrambling to pick up the extra player and the space in behind the defense is usually usually the target to aim for against Liverpool before Atlanta really got going in the match they found themselves exposed to the back on multiple occasions usually with direct balls in behind for the strikers to chase coordinated moves forward and backwards can leave the Defenders isolated at the back for example a move that Atlanta will often face can be seen with javey Elliot in this clip dropping off the defensive line before quickly turning and attacking the space left vacon an exact scenario that can be seen in a lot of their matches in a key area the opposition know they can take advantage of a simple mistake can lead to Atalanta being exposed at the back but it's a defensive system that is also an excellent starting point for any attack and Atalanta are one of the most dangerous teams from counterattacks in the Ser up but even from more structured attacks gasparini is proving to have some of the brightest offensive tactics in the modern game throughout his career gasparini has rarely shifted away from back three systems with the biggest difference being either a 3421 or 3412 with the latter being the most common formation from this season by keeping the formation consistent it means gasparini has been able to add slight changes throughout the years and has gradually adapted his play style season after season while buildup has remained core to their style of play they have gradually become a more direct team looking to get the ball forward into the attackers as quickly as possible this season their offensive set of players means they can often rely on their combinations to create chances and will often adopt different shapes depending depending on who is playing also resulting in a lot of different types of attack with lukman they will usually end up with more players between the lines allowing them to progress the ball centrally and exploit the space out wide with the wing backs before attacking forward himself while when playing with skaka his holdup play is much more effective and Atalanta will often look to play more centrally and directly into the forward who can knock it down between the lines for C miners who can then play the other forward in behind the different types of players are at Atlanta's disposal means that their attacks can be complet completely different every match and there's lots of different combinations that can emerge in their semi-final clash with Marseilles the choice of switching to a 3421 with lukman and deala between the lines proved to be extremely beneficial and Atalanta were comfortably able to dominate The Space Between the Lines in this clip we see how Atalanta could rely on skaka as the target man who could knock it down between the lines in this case for zapak Costa moving inside from this position the speed of lukman and thear meant they could instantly get numbers forward for their open goal ska's position meant he could push the defense back giving time and space to the ketalar to receive the ball and play it forward into lman from more structured attacks their formation means they create these triangles either side of the pitch that allows them to find easy passing combinations and move the ball forward either out wide or in the half spaces combine this with the rotation of C miners along with one of the two Strikers and it means Atalanta can quickly create big overloads on either side of the pitch C miners has been their standout player so far this season showing up all over the pitch and his ability not only to provide dangerous passes into the box but to also coordinate his runs and attack the Box himself makes him one of the most dangerous players in the league and the focal point for the vast majority of Atlanta's attacks the positioning of the wing back and the striker means K Miner's position is difficult to effectively cover and so he can often receive the ball in space either directly or indirectly once the ball is in this position atalanta's willingness to get forward is evident in all their players and it's very common to see the wide center backs laying the ball off before attacking forward to give an extra option in Attack the right center back scalini highlights this with his heat M consistently pushing forward on the right and underlapping into more advanced positions whilst also providing 3.03 Progressive passes per match the third most in the league but not only the wide center backs but the two holding midfielders are also not shy of pushing forward Edison consistently provides dangerous Central balls into the striker while in recent matches pasalich previously an attacking midfielder has been excelling from a deeper position and disrupting opposition's defenses when they least expect it in the final third thanks to these runs from different positions and players Atlanta are not relying on any one way of creating chances and their goals can come from a number of different scenarios such as crosses from the wing backs through balls for the strikers to Chase or cutbacks from time runs into the half spaces meaning it's impossible to predict how Atlanta are going to score their next goal this brand of aggressive and vertical football does certainly have ITS Tactical advantages and disadvantages but the most important factors are the psychological benefits that gasparini gives to his players by playing in a way that empowers every individual there's a reason why gasparini is able to breathe new life into struggling players whether it's deala off the back of a disappointing stint in Milan or lukman struggling to make a lasting impact with Lester or Fulham gasperini is able to give confidence to players when they need it most and there's a reason why Atlanta are consistently developing some of the best players in the modern game but I'm curious to know if you think casarini should manage a bigger Club in the near future would his tactics work at a club that is fighting to win the league or is his highrisk high reward style more suited to a team with a constant turnover in players leave your thoughts in the comments down below if you enjoyed this video why not check out this video on a struggling Chelsea team and why some tactical changes by pochettino have led to a growing list of problems for the blues for more content like this then please leave a like And subscribe for more thanks for watching

Channel: Football Meta

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Keywords: atalanta, atalanta highlights, europa league, atalanta tactics, gasperini tactics, atalanta style of play, how atalanta play, 3421 explained, 3412 formation, gasperini atalanta, atalanta marseille, atalanta bayer, atalanta coppa italia, atalanta gol, koopmeiners, scamacca goals

Id: aRw-W9-iqNs

Length: 10min 3sec (603 seconds)

Published: Fri May 10 2024