Topic: UEFA Europa League 2023/24 Season - page 5. (Read 49767 times)

Yes, Leverkusen won the ball possession. If we learn their formation and the players chosen as starting lineup, it was clear they planned to dominate the ball possession since the early of the match. But Xabi Alonso forget that with no pure striker in the attacking line, it will be harder to score goals. Moreover, they were playing against Atalanta which has a strong defense. As the result, they scored 0 goal in the match. For me, it was a wrong tactic applied by Xabi Alonso. He was too focused on dominating the ball possession.

Here is one of the YT channels that also reviews of the lose of Leverkusen, they also stated that Xabi did a wrong lineup dan choose not proper tactics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sO8woR1NTA

It is strange if someone says it was a lucky. Atalanta players did their hard efforts to win the match. Scoring 3 goals is also a proof that they won the match with brilliant strategy. For me, it is about the strategy, Atalanta can apply a more effective strategy. Atalanta used a more offensive strategy and they play more aggressively. These are the reasons why Atalanta can win the match. All of them are reasonable efforts, there is no term of 'luck' on the result.  

Am I the only one who feels that but I'm sure before the match started, the Leverkusen squad was already on par with Atalanta, Atalanta is not the strongest team in the Italian league but they have a lot of secrets and indeed the team from the Italian league is not an easy team to beat, this Atalanta won should be a valuable lesson for Leverkusen, especially since they currently have strong competitiveness in every international league competition, next season Leverkusen will not play in the European League, they have already moved up to the Champions League but Atalanta still has the opportunity to play in the European League.

Gasperini decision to stay with Atalanta is very correct, because next season they will play in a more elite competition, namely the Champions League. We know that Napoli will miss out on various European competitions next season after finishing 10th in the standings, if Gasperini joins them, then he will have to fight back from the start. Napoli situation is certainly not ideal for offering a job to Gasperini who has just won the Europa League, and has great potential to bring Atalanta to finish in 3rd place in the Serie A standings this season. So Gasperini reason for staying with Atalanta makes perfect sense, and Napoli have now chosen Conte as their next manager.

Apart from that, of course Gasperini must add depth to his squad next season, because the intensity of competition in the Champions League is much heavier than the European League, at least Atalanta must have adequate rotation options. The bonus they get after winning the Europa League can be used to recruit one or two new players, of course while maintaining the existing squad. Apart from all that, Atalanta success this season will be remembered forever, because they managed to break Leverkusen unbeatable trend. Next we will see Atalanta in action in the UEFA Super Cup match, which pits the Europa League champions versus the Champions League winners.

Leverkusen dominated possession of the ball throughout the Europa League final, they also continued to try to build attacks even though they ultimately failed to score a single goal. Leverkusen's defense was really bad in that match, of course this was what Atalanta took advantage of to find a goal.

I wouldn't say that Atalanta's win in the final was lucky. Atalanta is really trying hard to create history in the Europa League and this title is their first title in elite competition. Atalanta have improved in recent seasons, but this season they managed to prove themselves and win the title. Of course it is worth giving high appreciation to Atalanta, but not to say Leverkusen was bad for their defeat.

Atalanta should never be underestimated. They won against Liverpool with the same score. It is not easy to beat them 3-0 in England. They eliminated them and then shattered Leverkusen, who had been unbeaten for more than 50 matches, in the final. Atalanta had a great tournament. We need to praise them and hope that they form a better squad next year. They will also face the Champions League champion in the Super Cup. It will be a great surprise if they win that too.

Alonso's tenure at Leverkusen has indeed been commendable, despite their disappointment in the Europa League final against Atalanta. His influence has put Leverkusen back on the right track, showcasing his skills at managing a team with promise and potential. By grooming a competitive spirit in the squad, Alonso has demonstrated his ability to guide a team towards success, even in the face of formidable opponents. His coaching style has also opened minds to alternative approaches, proving that young coaches can thrive in high-pressure environments.

 Looking ahead to the Champions League next season, Alonso faces the challenge of maintaining Leverkusen's performance and squad quality. With the increased level of competition in Europe's premier club tournament, Leverkusen must step up their game to compete against the continent's top teams. Alonso's tactical nature will be tested as he pulls through the toughness of the Champions League, where each match will be a definite challenge. Leverkusen's success in the tournament will depend on their ability to adapt and excel under Alonso's guidance.

 However, Alonso's task is made even tougher by the quest of bigger clubs for Leverkusen's key players. Retaining top talent will be crucial for Leverkusen's aspirations in the Champions League and maintaining their competitiveness domestically. The departure of key players could disrupt Leverkusen's progress and make it challenging for Alonso to replicate their successes from the previous season. As the Europa League has ended and attention turns towards the upcoming campaign, Leverkusen and Alonso must scale through the hurdles of squad management and competition to continue their upward stride in European football.

That's why it's not good to underestimate what has never happened. To be honest, I was very surprised by the Leverkusen last match with the way they pressured their opponents and how people were proud of them that Leverkusen is an unbeaten team this season, but a big disappointment from them. But Shal, they still have a record since they were able to keep the record this season since they started the season and nobody was able to defeat them until the season came to an end.

Morever, I have hope for them that next season they may do better and also break a record in the European League. Atlanta is looking like a team that will not move forward or perform well, but with the effort they put in, they make everything possible against any of their opponents and dominate the match.

Not a possibility because for next season Roma will still be in Serie A considering they currently finish in 6th place and with the list of Champions League titles that have new rules, Serie A is certain to send 5 candidates especially Atalanta has qualified automatically so for this case the club that is below 5th place then indeed they are the ones who qualify for the Europa League and Roma occupy that position.

For next season there are some clubs that are quite interesting where for the EPL we also have Manchester United although they are still a little difficult to predict but for the Europa League it looks like they can compete unlike in the Champions League which is at the bottom of the standings.
In addition, the dark horse La Liga brought in a new contestant where Bilbao, who has not participated in the highest competition for a long time, is currently a debutant club and it will be very interesting to see whether this season's outstanding performance will be the same as next season for Bilbao.

The stress will be too much for Atalanta, because they are going to face strong teams in UEFA champions league and UEFA Europa league team which it will going to reduce their strength not to be able to repeat what happened in this season.

Since it has be long they win the trophy, I don't think they will have such money to buy players because their coach will like to use those players to test his skills if they will still going to lift the UEFA Europa league trophy next season.

Even though they sell their players to buy new players against next season, it will be very hard for Atalanta to lift the trophy, because other teams will do what will make Atalanta not to take second position.

Actually, I saw that Gasperini already had a tactic to beat Leverkusen because I saw the same tactic used against Liverpool in the second leg. Gasperini knew that Leverkusen did not have very good individual quality, therefore he used high pressure man to man marking, making it very difficult for the Leverkusen players and unable to build the game. Despite having 67% possession of the ball, Leverkusen only had 3 additions to the target. Atalanta has a solid defense like other Italian teams. And the high-pressure man-to-man marking strategy is something that is often used against teams in Serie A.

However, this strategy has a clear weakness, namely if the opponent is a club with great individual quality then this strategy will only create lots of gaps in the space between the lines which will become empty because each player marks his opponent. I think if Madrid manages to win the UCL then the Real Madrid vs Atalanta match will be a very interesting match to watch.

I would also prefer to see Gasperini stay at Atalanta. But Atalanta's coach, Gasperini, seems to have been approached by the Napoli club. But the good news for Atalanta is that Gasperini seems to have chosen to remain loyal as Atalanta coach. With this, hopefully Atalanta can continue their good results into next season. Because next season Atalanta will fight in the Champions League. And it will be much more difficult than the European League. Gasperini has been with Atalanta for quite a long time. and in the end he won a trophy this season in the European League for the first time in his career with Atalanta. So Gasperini is expected by many people to bring more trophies to Atalanta in the next season.

But unfortunately, Napoli only finished in 10th place and thus, Napoli in the next season will only play in Serie A and not play in the Europa League. Also, if for example Conte manages to make Napoli have a good performance in the next season, but it seems that it is more promising for Napoli to finish in the top four or finish in the Champions League zone and not finish in the Europa League zone. I think it is clear that Conte is a great coach even though there is still no guarantee thatNapoli will have goodresults too, but at least considering about the abilities and skills that Conte has, then it seems like Napoli will be able to compete in the top four and it does not make Napoli play in the Europa League.

Atalanta experienced an extraordinary increase in performance under Gasperini leadership, he succeeded in formulating a strategy to beat Xabi Alonso tactics, who has been unbeatable throughout this season. Atalanta victory not only made Gasperini the only coach capable of beating Leverkusen, but he also managed to lift the first UEL trophy in his coaching career. Gasperini will face a bigger challenge next season after leading Atalanta to qualify for the Champions League, hopefully he will continue his career with Atalanta to continue the success story as achieved this season.

After winning the Europa League this season, of course, Atlanta will undergo a new chapter as one of the participants in the Champions League next season, after successfully recruiting his first trophy this season, of course Gasperini received many offers from European teams including Napoli, but reportedly Gasperini, who is fully trusted by Atlanta so far, prefers to stay in Atlanta to continue their journey in the Champions League next season,  Next season of course we will see the other two Italians teams compete for the Europa League trophy, Lazio and Roma are certainly two big teams ready to continue Atlanta positive trend next season in the Europa League.

Next season Champions League will use a new format with 36 teams, but so far I don't know if the Europa League will also change to their format next season or if it will still use the old format?
Currently the new format of the Champions League makes some leagues send more teams than the previous season, but whether that will also apply to the Europa League, of course, we do not know at this time.

Manchester United have had good results in some notable matches but in most matches they have failed to do well in the Premier League tournament. In the Premier League tournament we saw Manchester United qualify for the European League tournament due to their poor performance this season where they played in the Champions League this season. Qualifying for the Europa League tournament was a very difficult matter for them due to their poor performance from the start but they managed to qualify for the Europa League tournament at the end. Maybe the teams in the Europa League tournament are a bit weaker than the Champions League teams so we won't say that Manchester United can win the Europa League title next season. When the new season starts, I will first see what they have changed in the team and how much their performance has increased, then I will say how they can do in the Europa League.

UCL is the competition for men and not boys. The Europa League is for boys and whatever makes your club to qualify for this competition, you need to start acting like men because there are big clubs in UCL, and not just big clubs the four best in European leagues. Gasperini knows this and he will start preparing on how to face the challenge in the Champions League by next season, this is why I don't think that he will leave the club, because he also needs to show his skill as a good coach that can go far in the Champions League next season. Winning the Europa League this season shows some outstanding qualities in him which he has put into the club performance. This was why Atalanta was able to win the two favorite clubs in the league.

I hope that Gasperini stays at Atalanta because from what he has done so far he has been able to make the Atalanta team's performance quite developed and that is not an easy thing. There are quite a lot of processes that Gasperini has done to make the Atalanta team as strong as it is now and able to win the Europa League title this season. .
For Gasperini next season it won't be easy either because in the UCL the competition will be tighter and Gasperini seems to need a lot of additions to build a much stronger team.

And this tactic is the result of the current Atalanta coach, Gasperini, who led Atalanta to become Europe League champions this season because this smart tactic made Atalanta appear impressive in the Europe League even though they were not really favorites from the start and thanks to Gasperini's tactics they were also able to beat Bayer Leverkusen who have not tasted defeat in 1 season so it is an immeasurable pride that Atalanta has achieved, if this coach is still at the club it is likely that he will add to the squad that is needed to compete fiercely in the big Champions League competition with their results this season of course they will I will be more confident next season, but I heard news that Gasperini was offered a contract by Napoli management to coach Napoli next season and replace Francesco Calzona, but he has not given any certainty.

Alonso has put Leverkusen on the right track this season, as you said, even though they failed to win the Europa League trophy this season after being beaten by Atlanta, but still we should appreciate Alonso performance this season and even I think Alonso is a coach who has made all our minds open otherwise all young coaches will fail when coaching a big team.  Next season Alonso and Leverkusen will play a difficult match in the Champions League and of course they must be able to maintain the performance and also the quality of the team in order to be able to compete in the Champions League, Champions League and Europa League of course have different rivalries and I hope Leverkusen or Team Team Medioker can surprise us next season in the Champions League.

At the moment of course Alonso has a tougher job with maintaining their squad and player performance, especially reportedly there are currently several big teams that are starting to target Leverkusen main player and if the player leaves it will be difficult for Alonso to repeat their glory next season, this season Europa League is over and Atlanta officially become champions after their long journey ,  Seeing the number of big teams that failed to reach the Champions League zone this season in the top 5 league Europa , it is certain that next season we will see tighter competition will occur in the Europa League.

Overall, Xabi Alonso has done his best with Leverkusen. And losing in the European League Final was just Leverkusen's only bad result. And the rest is a very impressive result. The only concern now is about their players who will definitely be targeted by many other clubs in the player transfer market that will open. I hope Leverkusen can retain their mainstay players. And yes, next season everything is still difficult to predict. But with Xabi Alonso's tactics, maybe Leverkusen will still have good results next season.

It's still difficult to predict what Roma will be about next season. Will De Rossi make Roma stronger or will he experience a setback? We will see later.