Atalanta’s Serie A Title Credentials Gets Double Nomination

Written By Onyeka Daniel

The Serie A title race is looking to be a much more competitive race than we saw last season, but we still have the defending champions, Inter Milan as the team with the best possible chance of winning the title at the end of the season, but they’ve other contenders to deal with, most especially the current leaders, Napoli, who seem to have little or no weakness after 14 games played.

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But there could be a dark horse in the race, and so far, this team has been receiving rare reviews lately for their performance. Recently, Napoli coach Antonio Conte insisted that Inter do not realise which team ‘will cause trouble for them’ in the Serie A title race. When asked what Napoli’s target is this season, and which result will please the Italian boss?

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“If I continue seeing improvements and realise that we are building a base to be ambitious,” he replied. “We must go beyond our position in the table and think that we are building something for the future; otherwise, victory will be temporary.” Inter President Marotta has said Napoli are title favourites, but Conte didn’t seem to agree. He won four Serie A titles with Marotta, three at Juventus and one at Inter.

For this reason, he continued to call him ‘director’ rather than President, a role he took when Oaktree took over at Inter last summer. “I repeat that the director can say all he wants,” said Conte. “I know him, and I’ve worked with him, and I am sure that if Inter don’t win the title, he won’t be too happy at the end of the season. I can say so because I know him well.

“Everyone plays his role. Perhaps somebody internally pushes him to say certain things. We are talking about a team [Inter] that doesn’t even have two squads but two and three-quarters. What are we talking about? “I am convinced that he [Marotta] won’t be happy and many will have questions to ask themselves if he doesn’t win [the title],” insisted Conte.

“They are really focused on us and maybe they don’t see those who will cause trouble for them.” At this point, Conte was asked if he referred to Atalanta, who have won eight consecutive matches and are just one point below Napoli. “Every club starts the season with objectives,” argued Conte. “We can say all we want publicly, but internally, we know whether the targets have been reached. We know our target.” He continued.

For former Italy coach, Cesare Prandelli, he also insisted that Atalanta will fight for the Serie A title this season and is not upset by Nicolò Zaniolo’s celebration against Roma: ‘He showed personality.’ La Dea are just one point below table leaders Napoli and won eight consecutive matches in Serie A. They defeated the odds last season by winning the Europa League.

And now, they are among the most in-form teams in Italy and Europe, being unbeaten in the Champions League. For the ex-Atalanta and Italy coach Prandelli, he feels that something has changed for the Nerazzurri this term.“This season, they know how to suffer,” he told Gazzetta. “Atalanta have always been pretty to watch in the Gasperini cycle. However, they hardly got the three points when they could not play at their best.

“In these months, they’ve been able to win dirty games, even when the performance wasn’t great. The last time was in Rome the other day, but also against Monza and Udinese. Atalanta were not pretty, but efficient. “I think it all starts with the cup victory in May. Winning the Europa League and dominating in the Final against a top team, unbeaten for the whole season, has given great awareness to the group,” continued Prandelli.

“The players know they are strong now and have everything to win, including the Scudetto.” Their latest win against Roma was inspired by players coming off the bench as substitutes, including Nicolò Zaniolo. “It was a nice signal because they won despite CDK, Lookman, and Retegui not being at their best,” argued Prandelli. “Gasp has a deep team.

“And if we consider his ability to take the best out of every player, we can understand how strong this Atlanta team is. “I liked Zaniolo in Rome. I was not disturbed by his celebration. On the contrary, it proved his personality. Don’t forget what he’s gone through, injuries and unhappy moments. Now, he is in the right place to bounce back. If there’s a coach who can make him return to the highest levels, it’s Gasperini.

“He’s a coach who doesn’t oblige the footballers to play with one system, but he tries to enhance their talents. De Ketelaere makes four or five different movements, but when he was in Milan, he was reduced to just two or three.” Lastly, Prandelli named another top Atalanta player contributing to this season’s stunning results.“Ederson has physicality, intelligence and quality.

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“You see him regain possession in defence, and 40 seconds later, he’s 40 meters ahead for a shot on target. A real force of nature.” He further added. This weekend, Inter will be up against Parma at San Siro, Atalanta will face AC Milan at the Gewiss Stadium and Napoli will welcome Lazio to the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium on Sunday and these matches could change the course of the title race.

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