By James McMahon – @Optimistic96

Nestled in the shadows of the Alpi Orobie lies Bergamo, a small city 25 miles north-east of Milan, and a place I had never heard of until about a year ago. Surrounded by glorious Alpine scenery and possessing all the charm of your typically winding-roaded Italian town, there’s a lot to like about Bergamo before you even begin to register the existence of Atalanta – a football club who I always presumed plied their trade in the (non-existent) town of Atalanta, probably, like, near Rome or whatever. Although Sheffield can also be described as “hilly”, and the adjacent Peak District is indeed beautiful, I think this may be the first time both cities have ever been mentioned in the same sentence (and here comes the point where someone tells me that Atalanta “famously” beat Sheffield United in the final of some obscure fourth-tier continental trophy in 1971). The biggest and best teams in both cities are currently experiencing somewhat of a renaissance, though, and with an intriguingly similar tactical style.

Now, some may say that my tenuous attempt to link these two clubs is founded on my newfound obsession with all things Italian, and they may well be right, since I do indeed dream of retiring aged 30 to a villa (w/ balcony) in some untouched Tuscan mountain village, integrating seamlessly with the locals with my duolingo-Italian, blue linen shirts and insatiable appetite for cured meats. But as the saying goes, there’s no smoked ham without fire, so here goes: How flying centre-backs have defined the soaring success of these two underdogs.

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Atalanta have snuck onto the outer reaches of mainstream football’s radar over the past couple of seasons following consecutive Europa league qualifications, and, while not performing particularly spectacularly in either instance, their highest ever league finish in the 2018/19 season, and their first ever Champions League run that will come with it, will surely push them into the limelight across Europe in the coming year. Finishing above Inter, AC Milan, Roma and Lazio is an astonishing achievement for a club like Atalanta, and doing so while out-scoring every other team in the league (77, compared to Juve’s 70, for example) adds even more to the excitement.

Gian Piero Gasperini’s team tend to play a 3-4-3, 3-4-2-1 or 3-4-1-2, but, as ever, this only tells part of the story. In defensive phases, they employ a strict man-to-man marking system, which rather strikingly jumbles up their starting formation, as you’ll often find centre-backs wandering up the field, religiously chasing their target wherever they go – even if that means accompanying them all the way to the opposite penalty area. This is not without its problems, of course, as it can lead fairly quickly to unbridled positional chaos if everything doesn’t go strictly to plan (perhaps why they conceded 13 more than 4th-placed Inter). Luckily though, a gung-ho defence can easily be counteracted by a gung-ho attack!

Turning back the clock about 140 years, Atalanta often attack with what very pleasingly looks like a 2-3-5. Two centre-backs and, controversially, the goalkeeper stay back and hold the fort, while one CB (Mancini in my very professional diagram) often dribbles the ball into midfield and attacks the penalty box. During build up play, the ever-dangerous, silky Alejandro (Papu) Gómez likes to drop dangerously deep, which lures markers away to make space for the most eminent goal threats in Iličić and Zapata.

Iličić, meanwhile, is easily one of my favourite players to watch, and it’s a shame that a tad of inconsistency means he (rightly) hasn’t landed at the foot of more “best-of” listicles. On his day, he is genuinely up there with the best in the world – his first touch, ball control, creativity and vision can be jaw-dropping. In both legs of the Coppa Italia semi-final against Fiorentina, he was at his ridiculous best, producing the type of performance at which you can’t help but smile. (And if you’re in any doubt, just watch this short clip from his time at Palermo. I’ve watched it hundreds of times and still can’t quite figure out what’s going on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt7Pd1ChONI – should’ve been a penalty afterwards too, but if whoever-it-is scored there and then I’m sure the listicle appearances would be endless..)

What all this means, though, is that the two wing-backs pretty much have free-reign over the wings as the opposition panic about the madness that is six players attacking them in the centre. All it takes then is one nifty cut-back to the penalty spot, and, well, Roberto’s your uncle.

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Meanwhile, up here in Sheffield, United played the Championship’s most fun and exciting football for my money – even with the legendary Marcelo Bielsa up the road in Leeds. I have no idea how their style will translate into the Premier League this season, but most people have likely already written them off – and they’ll probably turn out to be right. I do believe, though, that the side – and especially the manager – are being vastly underestimated. Looking at a Sheffield United starting lineup (and I mean no harm by this), there’s no immediate sparkle that catches your eye. To start with, their squad last season was entirely British or Irish. Without making any value-judgments about that myself (I’m pretty indifferent anyway), I have to admit that if hadn’t seen a minute of their football last season and someone sprung that fact on me, I’d imagine they were coached in the finer details of kick-and-rush by a horrible bastard born in 1840 or something. Their coach isn’t a bastard though, he’s only 51, a lovable local Sheffield lad, and the way he has crafted this homegrown squad into something far, far greater than the sum of its parts is astounding.

Chris Wilder has his team set up in a 3-4-1-2 formation and, unlike Atalanta, that shape does retain some sense of solidity in each phase of play, as Sheffield United demonstrate a much more ‘structured’ sense of fluidity, if that makes sense. Just like Atalanta, though, their unpredictability and attacking prowess largely emanates from the tactical use of centre-backs. During attacking phases, United’s wing-backs tuck in towards the centre of the pitch as the two outer centre-backs bomb down the wing, hugging the touchline and creating overloads in wide areas, leading to confusion amongst the opposing defensive line, and in turn creating space for central attackers. 27% of United’s assists last season came from crosses, compared to 18% of Norwich’s, showing just how effective this was for them.

While this is an even more gung-ho take on the position of centre-back than Atalanta, United do always retain some solidity at least in defence, as the central midfielders are happy to drop back during attacking plays to keep up the numbers back there, and conceding only 41 goals last season (the joint-lowest in the Championship and 16 fewer than Norwich) whilst also out-scoring the notoriously attacking Leeds is mightily impressive. It’s also worth noting that they often attack with only one overlapping centre-back, but it really is not at all unusual for both to attack simultaneously.

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Wilder has promised to retain the core principles of his team’s style of play, while Atalanta’s reliance on academy products – their youth system is easily one of Italy’s best – will probably continue as the cost of major stadium renovations has likely restricted their transfer budget. That hopefully means the attacking centre-back will live to see another season, and, who knows, maybe it’ll catch on. In 2021, when they finally meet in the Champions League final, maybe Chris Wilder and Gian Piero Gasperini can come to recognise each other as blood brothers, swapping tactical insights, one genius to another, over a pint of red wine and a greasy chip butty, laughing at all those who have fallen before them.