Gasperini criticizes Atalanta after 3-2 defeat to Como – Lefootenbref.com

Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini was bitterly disappointed by the performances of some of his players in the 3-2 home defeat to Como on Tuesday night, saying his side were “below par” and the opposition were “better than us”.

Davide Zappacosta opened the scoring in the 18th minute but three goals in 12 minutes, including the first 20 seconds after the restart, gave Cesc Fabregas’s side a 3-2 win. Ademola Lookman converted a consolation penalty from the final corner of the game.

Atalanta struggled after their opener, and it was Como who had the better share of chances thereafter.

When Como led 3-1, Atalanta enjoyed the majority of possession but failed to break down their opponents until the final seconds.

Gasperini: “Como was better than Atalanta”

“We started well, then little by little we ran out of steam,” Gasperini told DAZN after the match ended.

“I thought we looked depleted in terms of energy, while they looked more dynamic. We put a lot of their players in trouble in the first half, but we started to concede goals in the second.

“We came out of that match very badly: we made several changes to try other players, but we clearly didn’t play a good match, Como did better than us.”

Gasperini explained what went wrong for Atalanta in terms of defense.

“We have conceded goals from set pieces in other games, but today we struggled in midfield and they often entered our area freely. We were below average.”

Gasperini also handed a debut to 20-year-old forward Vanja Vlahovic (no relation to Juve’s Dusan, by the way). The coach was asked why the youngster had replaced Nicolo Zaniolo.

“Vlahovic is a centre-forward, he came on and also gave us a penalty. Zaniolo will play when he is ready and will give us his full contribution. We expect him to reach a good level.”

Serie A | Atalanta 2-3 Como – Fabregas’ first triumph of the season