Gian Piero Gasperini admits Atalanta “were below par” in a 2-0 defeat to Cagliari, but believes Josip Ilicic isn’t the only one who deserved to be sent off.
“We were below par and didn’t win any individual duels. It wasn’t a physical issue, because we kept pushing to the end, but unfortunately we lost this game in the first half and didn’t start on the right foot,” Gasp told DAZN.
Gian Piero Gasperini admits Atalanta “were below par” in a 2-0 defeat to Cagliari, but believes Josip Ilicic isn’t the only one who deserved to be sent off.
“We were below par and didn’t win any individual duels. It wasn’t a physical issue, because we kept pushing to the end, but unfortunately we lost this game in the first half and didn’t start on the right foot,” Gasp told DAZN.
The turning point was after 32 minutes, when Ilicic was sent off for a reaction foul on Charalampos Lykogiannis.
“They were tussling and Lykogiannis was already on a yellow card, so it wouldn’t have been entirely surprising if the referee had sent both off. That would’ve been a different game. Ilicic was stupid, there’s no arguing with that.
“We had a completely different performance in the second half and could’ve suffered more with Cagliari counter-attacks, but we defended well and never stopped attacking.
“Now we dive into the Champions League, it’s a tight turnaround yet again, but we’ll try to put in a good performance with Manchester City.”