Atalanta and Lazio exposed each other’s serious flaws in this game.

Atalanta made a few changes in the starting line-up: Luis Muriel started as a striker in place of the injured Duvan Zapata. Mario Pasalic and Ruslan Malinovskiy replaced Marten de Roon and Joseph Ilicic so that the latter pair can rest for the mid-week UCL game. Lazio had everyone available, but Manuel Lazzari was pulled out before the kick-off for Adam Marusic due to an injury. 

Against Atalanta’s potent offense (1.74 xG created per game, the third-highest in Serie A), Lazio didn’t risk pressing the visitor. Simone Inzaghi intended to contain them with his signature defensive trap:

The goal was to direct the ball to the flank so that Lazio could trap it when the available space became small enough:

The majority of actions was directed to Atalanta’s left side when they had the ball because of two reasons: 1, Alejandro Gomez often operated there. 2, Atalanta had more room on the left side than the other. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic joined the first line from the midfield to confront Atalanta’s three center-back, he was usually the last one to arrive and gave freedom for Andrea Masiello when he received the ball

Lazio’s defensive trap initiated when Ciro Immobile and Joaquin Correa blocked the passing lane toward the central area behind them. This was key to the success of Lazio’s high block; with Milinkovic-Savic’s angled run at Masiello from the center, Lazio could direct the ball to the flank. 

Once there, Marusic would engage the ball handler. The forward passing lane then becomes extremely limited, since Felipe also shifted to the flank to support Marusic. Lazio controlled the center, with Milinikovic-Savic and Marco Parolo closing in on the ball. The only viable option for the ball handler was to recycle the ball through their center back. 

Lazio controlled the game quite well for the first 10-15 minutes with this defensive set-up. This strategy of taking out the central midfielder in the build-up phase has often worked well against Atalanta. SPAL used a similar strategy and scored two goals in the first half against them. For Lazio though, their defense quickly deteriorated as the game went on and led to their first-half disaster. 

Lazio’s defensive breakdown originated from the collapse of their first line. Without it, Lazio couldn’t direct the ball to the area that they could trap. Sometimes they weren’t disciplined, but Atalanta also put Lazio under a lot of pressure;  their constant high man-marking forced Lazio to try to bypass the pressure with a lot of long balls. Lazio became quite stretched and the first line had a hard time to maintain integrity. 

As soon as Lazio’s first line began to melt away, Atalanta’s midfield could overpower the home team. Gian Piero Gasperini deserves a lot of credit: Pasalic and Malinovskiy positioned higher than Gomez and Remo Freuler did in the offensive phase to form a 2-2 midfield box. The flexible movements between them overwhelmed Lazio’s midfield:

Without the need to worry about Lazio’s first defensive line, Gomez and Freuler could deal damage to Lazio’s remaining lines of defense: when they received the ball behind Immobile and Correa, Lazio’s second and third line had to move out of the position to engage the ball handler. They were destined to miss, especially when Robin Gosens/Hans Hateboer dropping back to the initial third position. Lazio lost all the control of space. Their midfield was vulnerable because the three central midfielders had to cover the whole horizontal width. Parolo was put in a bad spot:

It might have taken a genius touch from Pasalic to create the first goal, but Parolo had been run over by Atalanta’s midfielders multiple times before that. He got no choice but to engage Gomez/Pasalic/Malinovyskiy/Freuler roaming around him. Felipe or Stefan Radu could have moved up to cover him, but Atalanta also paired Muriel with Pasalic/Malinovskiy and put Lazio’s back three under a lot of pressure. 

Lazio were completely destroyed in the first half, judging not only by the scoreline but also by their players’ attitude. They came out like a reborn team in the second half. There was constant pressure. They hit every lost ball. You expect this kind of bounce from any competent team trailing multiple goals. 

Atalanta thought that the game was over. They didn’t press much in the second half. They might have wanted to absorb the pressure and counter-attack. Instead, they exposed their glaring weakness and allowed Lazio to crawl back in. 

Their decision to sit deep was suicide; their defensive scheme has no shape. The marking duty is set up without considering the control of space. It works only when the pressure is on. Without it, Lazio could fully transition into the attacking shape. They were able to turn Atalanta’s man-marking into their advantage: Milinikovic-Savic constantly pulled Masiello out from the defensive line when the Serbian operated in the midfield:

Lazio tried to develop a lot of the offense through Milinkovic-Savic’s second ball. The passer had time to gauge the passing lane since Atalanta’s second line wouldn’t engage the ball handler until they pushed past the half-line. When Masiello engaged Milinkovic-Savic, he left a lot of room for Immobile and Correa to exploit. Lazio’s first penalty was a result of this exact play. 

Lazio’s attacking shape also put Atalanta a lot of pressure. The two wing-backs, Milinkovic-Savic, and the two forwards occupied Atalanta’s back five. Lazio’s setup was asymmetrical, with the two sided center backs – especially Radu – constantly bombed forward to support Senad Lulic:

This setup created a huge problem for Atalanta’s midfield: when Radu surged forward, Lulic would move centrally to bring Hateboer with him and empty out the flank for Radu. Atalanta had no other defender there, so one of their central midfielders – usually Freuler – had to shift to the flank. Doing that exposed the space in front of the center backs. The outcome of the situation is similar to when Atalanta overran Lazio’s midfield in the first half. 

This game isn’t a master tactical chess match: the game plan of each team worked only when the other team voluntarily conceded its advantage, either because of the loss of focus or aggressiveness. They are the pseudo-contender that would never reach the level of a champion.