Raffaele Palladino was recently appointed as the new head coach of Atalanta, following the sacking of Ivan Jurić, with La Dea occupying the 13th spot in Serie A, having won only two games, drawn seven, and lost two out of 11 games.
Despite achieving results in the UEFA Champions League, it appears that Atalanta’s management was not satisfied with the quality of football that Jurić offered, in addition to his results in Serie A.
That’s why the appointment of Palladino comes quite early in the season in order to save the campaign and help the team perform in a more convincing and rewarding way.
In this tactical analysis, the focus will be on identifying Palladino’s footballing ideas and principles based on his spells at Fiorentina and at Monza.
The analysis will also reserve a section that focuses on his possible changes to the current Atalanta playing style, as well as his possible lineup and formation.
More importantly, the analysis will attempt to explore how Raffaele Palladino will adjust Atalanta players’ roles to suit his ideas and philosophy.
Raffaele Palladino Style Of Play
Raffaele Palladino is a head coach who knows how to keep his team balanced and often avoids going for risky attacking plans or excessively defensive solutions.
He is rather someone who combines both phases with calculated risks and an ability to control his team, conceding few goalscoring opportunities per game while remaining capable of creating dangerous chances against any opponent.
We have already seen this with Fiorentina and Monza previously, as Palladino was capable of finishing sixth in Serie A and qualifying for the next UEFA Conference League with Fiorentina.
Additionally, he was able to avoid relegation during two successive seasons with Monza.
These long-term results confirm that Palladino is a reliable head coach who can guarantee stability and positive performances for any team he takes charge of.
However, the challenge for him will be that this time he will have to start fixing things and applying his ideas while the season is underway.
This will be the first time he takes charge of a Serie A team during the season.
Palladino is also a head coach who believes strongly in maintaining possession.
In fact, his possession ideas are not based on just possessing the ball passively and waiting for opportunities.
Palladino pushes his teams to have possession and use triangular passing until the opposing midfielders advance further and free spaces inside the final third.
And that’s when his teams go for vertical passing or penetrations to exploit those spaces and create the threat needed.
Palladino’s sides are characterised by patience in playmaking and by providing a lot of key passes per game to exploit the free spaces and always use those spaces either on the wings or centrally in order to use those spaces to punish the opponent.
Raffaele Palladino Possession-Based Football & Intelligent Use Of Spaces
The following goal action highlights Fiorentina’s gradual advancement with the ball until Nicolò Fagioli found a vertical passing possibility in space at the back of the defensive line from the left wing.
This helped Fiorentina create a dangerous opportunity from the wing, and the key to the moves success was the patience of all the players involved.
They received the shown pass, advanced with the ball, but did not simply pass it to the most obvious destination, which was Lucas Beltrán in the centre of the box.
Instead, he opted for Moise Kean, who came from behind, and the latter did well to dribble past his direct opponent before shooting, instead of opting for a first-time shot.
All these decisions highlight the fact that Raffaele Palladino is capable of guiding his players to make the most suitable choices upfront without haste and without resorting to the obvious solution.
This does not mean that Palladino avoids counterattacks or does not rely on vertical passing.
In fact, Palladino believes in creating spaces within the opponent’s half and utilising them intelligently to reach the goal.
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