I left the end of my last post on a bit of a depressive note. Having already written off a title challenge, bombed out of the Coppa Italia and assumed the position for our impending two-legged entanglement with Manchester City in Europe. Having had time to reflect, I’m still content that we see ourselves battling within that top four. I think this is about our level and I’m okay with that.
It’s worth noting at this point that at the point of January 2021 in my game, I exported my Atalanta side to take part in La Copa LQ as organised by Latte Quarterly. Much like Spurs and the PL Asia Trophy, I am claiming my victory in this competition as a genuine success! Please have a read, it was an absolute joy to be a part of and I am thoroughly looking forward to the next edition.
ARRIVEDERCI PEDRO
I won’t waste too much time on the last few days of the January Transfer window. We expected Pedro Porro to leave, I had already signed his immediate replacement, Pedro Porro took his leave.
Porro initially sign on loan from Manchester City in July 2022, his signing was made permanent six months later in January 2023 for £14m as our replacement for the Barcelona-bound Dodo.
With 58 appearances, 2 goals and not a single assist, Pedro Porro has completed his move to Chelsea for a fee of £17m with 20% of any future profit due to Atalanta.
RESULTS
There’s no point wasting any time here so let’s dive straight into that Champions League First Knockout Round against Manchester City. The Cityzens made short work of Atalanta with a 6-1 aggregate win. We just couldn’t cope with Raheem Sterling, Lautaro Martinez and Kevin de Bruyne. There’s no point in even trying to come up with excuses, they were just that good.
We started the Ritorno in the worst possible way by losing despite scoring three goals away to Lazio. Our four fixtures in February made amends though as we collected a maximum 12 points scoring nine goals along the way and keeping three clean sheets. Particularly enjoyable was the Lombardo Derby win over Milan - we have now both won 4 times against each other during this save, though this was my first win at the San Siro.
Our good form carried through into March as we collected 10 points from a possible 12 with another two clean sheets added to the bank. French youngster Aaron Ntella Samba grabbed his first goal for the club in the demolition of Fiorentina while Yankuba Janneh continued his impressive introduction to the first team with his third and fourth goals for Atalanta. Disappointingly we couldn’t get the better of Napoli but showed great strength to come back from a goal down twice in this game!
April was the month that finally confirmed that a first Serie A title for Atalanta would not be forthcoming, this season at least. It began in fine fashion with a 3-0 home victory over Sampdoria before Roma’s solitary goal brought an end to our nine game unbeaten streak in the league. We responded well by getting the job done away to Chievo Verona, a game which had a first goal of the season for young Alessio Rosa and a first Atalanta goal for Alessandro Florenzi since his January move. We looked set to lose to Juve in the league for the first time since September 2021 when fortune shone favourably upon us in the dying moments of the game when we were awarded a 94th minute penalty - Edmond Tapsoba stepping up to convert. Away to Inter is always a difficult game and they made short work of us this time. We finished off the month with an impressive rebound to beat Udinese 3-1.
We had four games now to finish the season. The first required a 92nd minute equaliser from Brenner to spare our blushes - I don’t understand our struggles against Cagliari, we have just one win against them in the league during this save. We drew a blank against Parma, having one of those games where nothing seemed to stick for us. A 4-1 win over Bologna left us to a final day shootout or top four: ourselves, Milan and Juve battling it out for 3rd and 4th place.
We occupied 3rd with 74 points, Juventus in 4th with 72 points and Milan in 5th with 71 points. All three games were a draw at half time: Juventus twice coming back from a goal down against Chievo to draw 2-2, Milan with an added time penalty to level their score against Lazio at 1-1 and it was goalless in our own fixture at home to Spezia. As things stood we would retain 3rd place, Juventus 4th and Milan out in 5th. Milan were the first to jump in the second half, eventually moving to a 3-1 lead before a nervy finish as Lazio pulled a goal back - Milan settled their nerves with another stoppage time goal to finish the match 4-2. Spezia took the lead at the Gewiss against the run of play but it was the golden boy Brenner who found an equaliser 15 minutes from time to keep us a point above Milan in 3rd. We waited anxiously for the three games to finish… Juve couldn’t find a way to break the tie and their sole point kept them out of the Champions League reckoning. 3rd place again for the mighty Atalanta!
THE STORY OF THE SEASON
Once again it was Brenner who had the most appearances this season with 46(2) but Dominik Livakovic who led the way on minutes played with an incredible 4,080.
Livakovic kept 18 clean sheets in his 45 appearances, conceding 46 goals in the remaining 27 games.
Our top scorer probably needs no introduction at this point - Brazillian Brenner leading the way on 28 goals. Following on was Adam Hlozek with 14 and Thiago Almada closely behind on 12. Interestingly it was centre back Edmond Tapsoba in fourth place with 8 goals - largely due to his status as penalty taker but also the fact he is an absolute beast from set pieces. I said my aim this season would be to encourage more goals from our midfielders - the return has been disappointing: Marcus Edwards (3), Daniel Nachev (3), Søren Knudsen (2), Hakan Çalhanoğlu (1) and Eduardo Camavinga (1) all failing to get that memo.
There was some joy for Çalhanoğlu and his midfield comrades though as the Turkish maestro notched 14 assists - thanks in part to his role as set piece taker - Thiago Almada got 13 and Eduardo Camavinga had 11.
ONE MORE YEAR?
Yes, I may as well make it known now that my fifth season with Atalanta will be my final in-depth season of this save. I haven’t yet decided what I will do next…
What do I expect from this final season? I’ll continue my current recruitment method, not abandoning my morals for one last shot at glory. I hope we can challenge for the title one last time and please, please, please have a run in Coppa Italia!
I’m really excited about what’s to come from a few of my younger players. Mads Jensen has really excelled this season and become a mainstay within the first XI, Yankuba Janneh is the same and I think he could well go on to be one of the best players I have ever signed on FM. Søren Knudsen has so much potential but will have to try and move out from under the shadow of Thiago Almada. Aaron Ntella Samba at just 18 has shown he has the ability to step into the first team already, he’ll be given every opportunity to do so next season.
Just as the season came to a close I was presented with a very interesting piece of news…