Atalanta has 7 men for 3 positions in attack, but the flexibility and quality of the Azzurri can also be invaluable
So much wealth of offensive solutions fromAtalanta it could be even more abundant. Daniel is still missing from the roll call Maldinihaving to exempt Gianluca Scamacca from responsibilities of this type: so far absent – and not even completely, given that he scored a goal against Pisa – only due to an injury from which he is recovering (possible call-up already for Atalanta-Lazio on Sunday). Let’s say that Maldini gave concrete information about himself, and his indisputable talent, only at times. Its trajectory, as in past seasons, continues to have an irregular trendof which this start of the season is paradigmatic: Juric, positively impressed by his summer signals, not only out of necessity he started him three times in the first four matches of the season, including the match against Paris Saint Germain, in which the boy was the first to stumble: after that evening he was no longer included in the first eleven, he played just 20′ in the league, broken up into three different matches, and he watched from the bench for the entire 90′ of the matches against Juventus and Bruges.
role and competition
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Yet in training the coach has glimpsed, and continues to see, important characteristics, starting from an uncommon quality in dealing with the ball, courage in seeking surprising solutions, ease and precision in shooting, even from outside. For certain things, they are also unique peculiarities: in attack Juric has two “natural” solutions for each of the three offensive roles and in Maldini he can find the flexibility necessary to play both as an attacking midfielder and as a striker. A theoretical plus, but so far this still hybrid position on the field has not given the impression of favoring him: even in the last match Juric preferred Lookman over him, as an alternative to Krstovic. Ditto the non-trivial competition – up front there are seven for three places, and we exclude Pasalic – which ultimately might not help those who perhaps need continuity first and foremost. Even if having to gain space can – let’s say it should – also be a stimulus.
Continuity and National
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The fact is that, at just turned 24, for Maldini it is no longer time for age-related alibis. Indeed, he must consider the legitimacy of a question that arises spontaneously: can it be said that his career has reached a crossroads? It is certainly time to accelerate in order to take a definitive direction, and it must have made him reflect on the fact that this time Gattuso received too few positive feelings to call him up for the national team, as he did in September. Maldini just has to start again from Atalanta, from the work he can do by taking advantage of this break and perhaps from the final 16′ played against Como, made of courage and dangerous initiatives, even if perhaps a bit frenetic like other times. Earning space won’t be easy, now that Juric will feel the weight of absences due to injuries less due to his choices, but Daniel has no other way than to find a bit of stability: also in what he “communicates” to those who then have to distribute playing minutes. As the coach has said more than once, he has everything to deserve it.
injured recovery
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Tomorrow afternoon, upon resumption after two and a half days of rest, the vast injury recovery operation will begin in view of the match against Lazio on Sunday. Excellent chance of being available for Zalewski, Scalvini And De Ketelaere (will he play in Wales today with Belgium?) and possible call-up also for Kossounou And Scamacca. At that point, in addition to Bakkerthey will only be missing Kolasinac And Bellanova.
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