Palladino should follow
©IMAGO
Coach Ivan Juric is about to be eliminated from Atalanta BC after 15 games. Several Italian media report this unanimously. The 50-year-old Croatian took over at the start of the season from his mentor Gian Piero Gasperini, who had moved to Roma after nine years in Bergamo. However, he was unable to build on the successes of the 67-year-old, who had established Atalanta in the top group of Serie A and won the Europa League, among other things.
After the 0-1 defeat at Udinese Calcio, coached by Kosta Runjaic, on November 1st, Juric was given a two-game suspension. In the Champions League, the second win of the season followed with a 1-0 at Olympique Marseille, but in the league the Lombards lost 3-0 to newly promoted US Sassuolo on Sunday. According to reports, the decision against Juric was then made.
As soon as the decision is announced, it will be the third dismissal within a year for the former national player. Exactly a year ago, on November 10, 2024, he had to leave after just twelve games with Roma, which is currently in second place with Gasperini on the sidelines – level on points with league leaders Inter Milan. In December 2024, Juric took over from the bottom of the Premier League, Southampton FC. The average of 0.44 points in 16 games up to his expulsion at the beginning of April was historically weak for Saints coaches with more than ten games.
Juric failed at Atalanta strikers – Palladino should follow
On average, Juric only scored 1.33 points with La Dea. The main downfall for him was that he won too few wins and drew too often – eight times. The traditionally strong attacking Atalanta, led by Ademola Lookman (28), who was reinstated after his strike attempt, and top signing Nikola Krstović (25), usually created more chances, but were only rarely able to capitalize on them.
According to Fabrizio Romano, the successor will be a coach who was already considered Gasperini’s successor candidate: Raffaele Palladino. The 41-year-old coached Fiorentina last season and is considered one of the most promising coaches in Italy. The separation from Viola, which had brought back Stefano Pioli, who had also since been released, was amicable. There are said to have been differences of opinion between the sports director Daniele Pradè, who had just resigned, and Palladino.
