Gasperini: ‘Atalanta emergency with Inter, season starts in 2 weeks’ | OneFootball

Gian Piero Gasperini tried not to push the panic button after a 4-0 defeat to Inter. ‘Our season starts after the break for international duty, we were in an emergency situation.’

It was the second consecutive Serie A loss for La Dea following the trip to Torino, but while they created numerous chances in that fixture, they were swept aside at San Siro and could’ve conceded even more.

Berat Djimsiti was unlucky to deflect an early Marcus Thuram effort into the net, then Nicolò Barella scored a sensational volley before two Thuram tap-ins on poor clearances.

“We stepped onto the pitch today with obvious difficulties, especially in defence, where it was an emergency situation,” Gasperini told DAZN.

He was not kidding, as of the back three, only one was a real defender, putting Marten de Roon and Matteo Ruggeri into makeshift roles.

“Those first 10 minutes really hit the morale of the team, but I am convinced that our real season will only begin after the break for international duty.

“Despite the very negative result, I saw some positive aspects today, especially from the new arrivals. We tried to create something, especially in the first half, but it was not sufficient.

“Now we have to build on these small positives and try to create a more complete squad.”

Gasperini waiting to have Atalanta certainty

The most important thing for Gasperini will be the closure of the transfer window, which has torn Atalanta apart and caused problems even when they were able to hold on to players like Ademola Lookman.

“It was a strange summer, with many changes. We started well with the club doing a lot of sales, it allowed us to invest, but most of the new signings only arrived in the last two weeks, so the team is very much a work in progress.

“I cannot say if the Atalanta we see in Week 4 will be better than the team that ended last season. We lost important players to injury, like Scamacca and Scalvini,” concluded Gasperini.

“We still need to study how to integrate the new players and experiment new solutions that we haven’t had a chance to try in the summer because so many deals were only finalised recently.”

Despite the situation, Atalanta are still in the new format of the Champions League and gained new respect from the football world after winning the Europa League.