Atalanta put up a brillant performance against the home side, as the visitors grabbed all three points in Matchweek 26 of the Serie A 2016/17 season and have paved way for what promises to be a tough race for a Champions League spot.

Lineups

Maurizio Sarri went for his usual 4-3-3 formation which saw Amadou Diawara and Piotr Zielinski back in the starting XI midfield. Koulibaly was rested ahead of the Coppa Italia semifinal against Juventus in favour of Maksimovic and Dries Mertens was back in the front three after resting against Chievo Verona last Sunday.

On the other side of the pitch, Gianpiero Gasperini set up a 3-4-1-2 formation with the same lineup used against Crotone in their 1-0 home victory last week. In form wing-back Andrea Conti retained his place in midfield, while Alejandro Gomez partnered upfront with Andrea Petagna.

Napoli (4-3-3): Reina; Ghoulam, Maksimovic, Albiol, Hysaj; Hamsik, Diawara, Zielinski; Insigne, Mertens, Callejon.

Atalanta (3-4-1-2): Berisha; Masiello, Caldara, Toloi; Spinazzola, Freuler, Franck Kessié, Conti; Kurtic; Gomez, Petagna.

Atalanta’s defensive approach

The game was full of intensity right from the start, as the visitors mainly sat in their own half but not too deep, always with an aggressive minded style of play, as the Nerazzurri tried to intercept and recover the ball each time the hosts made a forward pass in their attacking third. Toloi in particular was very good at it as he man marked Insigne in the first half and always tried to prevent him from cutting inside. The Brazilan defender won 6 tackles (out of 6 attempted), made 6 interceptions and 6 clearances (out of 6 attempted).

Atalanta’s defensive approach was generally man-oriented (a common feature in Gasperini’s teams) as they played with high intensity although giving much ball possession to the Azzurri. Kurtic was a key figure in both phases: defensively, he man-marked Diawara during Napoli’s buildup; offensively, he was always on the move in connecting the flanks as Atalanta use strong passing chains on the wings to advance on the pitch and speed up play. His dynamism and versatility in the number 10 role have allowed him to thrive under Gasperini’s supervision.

Atalanta were also comfortable when pressing high up the pitch, as they tried to prevent Napoli from penetrating through central areas of the pitch, by rather forcing them to play long balls that they could have easily won thanks to their physical advantage against Napoli’s forwards.

Napoli’s combinations on the left wing

As usual, Napoli’s focal point in its second phase buildup was on the left wing. With Diawara being man-marked, it was Hamsik who had to act as the team’s regista, but the Slovakian suffered the physical battle set up by Franck Kessié, who was his direct marker. Ghoulam and Insigne tried to gain positional advantage but the visitors were very quick in closing down on their opponents and guaranteeing 2vs2 situations down the flanks, as Kurtic would drop a bit deeper and fill in any missing gaps in midfield. Mertens as usual tried to drop deep and turn quickly towards goal, but the Nerazzurri had him tracked down in many situations, as he completed only 3 take ons (out of 9 attempted). Napoli enjoyed a lot of ball possession (66% at the end of the game) but struggled to convert it into goals as Berisha also had a solid match in goal for the Northern Italian side.

Atalanta take the lead

Atalanta as said before were very direct in their approach: when in possession, the visitors often sought target man Andrea Petagna, but the Italian had some difficulty controlling the ball and often gave up possession. The best of their play came from the wings whenever they were able to advance up the pitch. They eventually scored from a corner thanks to a header in the penalty box by Mattia Caldara, who took advantage of Napoli’s problems in clearing the set piece (another key feature for Gasperini’s men this season) and gave the Bergamaschi a 0-1 lead in the 27th minute. They held onto the advantage at half time and were the most dangerous side during the first 10 minutes of the second half. Gasperini’s side often tried to switch play from one wing to another and take advantage of Hysaj and Callejon’s difficulties against Gomez and mainly Spinazzola. The Juventus loanee was one of the best performers of the match, recovering 12 balls, creating 3 chances (one assist) and attempting 5 take ons (completing only one though).

Napoli struggle to take advantage of Kessié’s red card

Napoli thought things were going their way when Franck Kessié was sent off in the 66th minute after two consecutive yellow cards. The Azzurri had previously brought on Arkadiusz Milik for Marek Hamsik to add more firepower upfront and seemed ready to make the most of their man advantage. They moved to a 4-2-3-1 formation with Mertens in the number 10 role and Zielinski alongside Diawara in centre midfield.

Gasperini soon sought protection by switching to a 5-3-1 formation: this way Kurtic and Gomez sat deeper with the Argentinian man-marking Diawara. As could be predicted, Napoli’s ball circulation in their own third became much more fluid: the problem though was still converting the elevated ball possession percentage into goal scoring chances as Atalanta defended in a very tight and compact way, demonstrating to everyone why they have only conceded 14 goals from open play this season.

It all got worse when the visitors surprisingly added a second goal to the scoresheet shortly after being left down to 10 men, courtesy of a quick attacking transition by Caldara and Spinazzola. The latter’s cross was inch-perfect for his teammate who acrobatically fired the volley past Reina.

Even though Sarri decided to go for an ultra-offensive 4-2-4 formation with striker Leonardo Pavoletti coming on for Insigne, Atalanta were able to survive the large number of crosses by the home side (30, of which only 5 were on target) thanks to a commanding display in defence by Mattia Caldara: the highest-scoring defender in Italy’s top flight this season won 3 tackles (out of 5), made 3 interceptions, completed 10 clearances (out of 10) and managed 6 ball recoveries.

Conclusion

The smash-and-grab win by the Nerazzurri (their 7th away from home this season) not only strengthens their European ambitions, but sets them just three points behind Napoli, who lost a good chance to move into second place in Serie A ahead of Roma’s clash vs Inter on Sunday night. Sarri’s men can count themselves unlucky having hit the woodwork twice and dominated the encounter, but in depth we can see how they were punished by two big mistakes which proved fatal in the end. Two mistakes that they will surely not want to repeat against Juventus in midweek.