The great time has come for Olympiacos. Pedro Martins’ team have managed to take a serious lead in the Greek championship and watch the European overtake unhindered. To be honest of course. In order to compete against Atalanta he has to appear significantly improved compared to the image he presents in the championship.

We know Olympiacos’ situation, but let’s see where they stand and what Martins’ side can expect from their opponents.

One win in the last seven games

Atalanta is not currently on autopilot. It’s not the team that has played the most modern football in Italy in the last three years. That doesn’t mean that Olympiacos have to face a passable opponent. Anyone who saw the rhythm of Gasperini’s players at Juventus on Sunday night knows what difficulties the Greek champions will face today.

But the fact is that Gasperini has to deal with serious problems that have made him desirable. He is absent and his side have just one win and a 1-4-2 record in their last seven Serie A games, with three games ending goalless. Just the fact that Atalanta have drawn three white games in the last consecutive games shows that they are in a strange situation. As if Gasperini were trying to solve the problems he is facing by playing more balanced games.

Without three attack weapons

Sapata’s injury also doesn’t apply to Ilisic, who has personal issues, and Mirantsuk, who is also injured. They understand that the specific absences combined with the poor results have made Gasperini desirable. Listening to Atalanta, you know straight away that you’re up against a team that uses 3-4-3 at its most aggressive, does everything fast and has weaknesses defensively. But that’s just not the case lately.

Gasperini is wanted

Gasperini looks for solutions to the problem. With Cagliari on February 6th for the first time in years and not having three key players for the attacking trio he decided to get in shape with 4 teams in defence. A 4-2-3-1 that never worked.

Atalanta lost 2-1 at home and of course any thought of maintaining that philosophy for a while longer was dismissed. Then came the exclusion from the cup with a home defeat against Fiorentina (2:3) through goals in the delay and then the game with Juventus. Which changes the conversation about Atalanta a bit.

Your best game in the last two months

Gasperini’s team is playing its best game since at least December. Against a Juventus who had grown tall with the addition of Vlachovic and seemed a favorite from the latest picture of the two teams, Atalanta drew the weapon that seemed to have lost: rhythm, speed, high intensity.

He has shown he can still run more than Juventus. He deserved the win that didn’t come in last defense. Danilo’s cover was lost on a corner kick and Juventus equalized to remain in 4th place. The final 1-1 unfair in a game with many finals 21-15 in favor of Atalanta and xg 2.46-1.04.

Atalanta is on the 5th place, on Sunday there is a very crucial game for Artemio Franki and nobody can predict the team Gasperini will field against Olympiakos. Every website I look at has a different approach, but I think it’s important to mention what happened to Juventus and Atalanta, who have presented their best players in the last two months.

Koupmainers raged in the role of staff midfielder

In the search, which Gasperini is forced to do as he has lost three players to the attacking trio, he opted for a 3-4-1-2 and did two things that flowed from that: He used the Dutch Cupmines for the first time higher than De Rooney – Freiler and put Boga in the starting eleven for the first time, who was loaned out from Sassuolo for 6 months at the end of last month to bridge the significant absences in the attacking trio.

3-4-1-2 is not his first system, but he has used it before in the past. The Dutch midfielder, who had an orgy in Alkmaar last year and scored 15 goals from the axis, impressed and became the game’s MVP. In Atlanta he played permanently in the Axis duo and in the Italian championship it is not easy to show his offensive but also creative talent from such a low level.

Playing with two players behind and above, he was constantly immersed in Juventus defence. He stepped onto an area and passed 6 key passes, he had two good chances, he was a constant source of danger and he “fed” the attacking duo.

Boga also made a promising debut in the starting XI, with a speed-football that seems to fit Atalanta’s style perfectly. He made defending Juventus very difficult, he recorded 3 three-pointers, 3 key passes and 4 executions.

Everyone gives a different eleven

I repeat, the away game against Fiorentina is coming up and the Italians are used to making changes in Thursday’s games for Europe. Atalanta certainly doesn’t have any trophies in their collection. A cup won everything, the 1962/63 season and the prospect of reaching the top of Europe will not give up. However, a small rotation is not out of the question and nobody knows the line-up that Gasperini will present.

However, Martins will definitely have seen Atalanta with Juventus and gradually took action for the Koupmainers’ new role and for the speed and skill in Bog.κά.

The Constants and Muriel

That’s not to say the constants of Muriel, Pasalic and Malinowski, who can be a trio, are easily manageable in a clean 3-4-3. Malinowski came off the bench and scored an impressive goal against Juventus, while Muriel Atalanta is this year’s most reliable goalscorer.

The Colombian didn’t go down well at Juventus and came out in the 60th minute. But he is a very dangerous footballer. It moves in places that cannot be managed solely by stoppers. This is a difficulty that Atalanta poses overall for its opponents. The way he plays and footballers moving and covering different spaces and tasks on the field, changing two to three passes in close quarters or running vertically messes you up.

I read on an Italian site that it’s not out of the question that he will give 22-year-old Romanian winger Mikhaila, acquired from Parma, time to offer the attacking trio another solution until the end of the season. This is a classic speed winger who, at least in Parma, played more openly than Gasperini’s extremists are used to fighting. It’s more likely that we’ll see him during the game to tire out an extreme back from Olympiakos or increase his team’s speed.

Martins needs the good Mandy

Olympiacos finds Atalanta in a season who isn’t at their best but has a really good game that was worth winning but didn’t succeed in the final stages. It is important to present a solid layout that does not allow Atalanta players to find rhythm, build partnerships and through them create empty spaces and measures that can be exploited.

Developing a defense plan is important but not easy. If he can do that, then he’ll be able to trick them into making mistakes, point out weaknesses and pull off a result that gives him serious rematch hopes.

Atalanta has no heart. You don’t know how it’s presented. This is not a team that has an average and moves around it. It can cause problems, appear unconnected, and highlight its defensive weaknesses, but it can also dissipate you at its own pace.

Because of this, the most important part of the game for Olympiakos is to get a defensive plan. I feel like Martins needs a gift for that. More than ever, the Portuguese coach feels the need to see the real Mandy Camara at Bergamo. To get information from the African that will bind his team and increase the intensity and pressure of Olympiacos.