Krstovic brace ends Atalanta slump as Venezia waste chances again
Nikola Krstovic scored twice and Franck Kessie added another as Atalanta snapped a three-game losing run, but Venezia's missed chances and a late Eljif Elmas red card tell their own story.
Atalanta put a stop to three successive Serie A defeats by beating Venezia 3-1 at home, with Nikola Krstovic scoring twice inside the opening half hour and Franck Kessie adding the opener, according to Football Italia.
Maurizio Sarri had said before the match that "time was no longer an excuse" following the run of defeats, and he responded by switching his side to a 4-2-3-1 with Charles De Ketelaere playing behind Krstovic, Football Italia reported. Gianluca Scamacca, Lorenzo Bernasconi and Sead Kolasinac were left among the substitutes.
Venezia had arrived in Bergamo without a point from five matches, bottom of the table, though manager Giovanni Stroppa had kept his job and welcomed back Toma Basic from injury for the trip.
Early blitz ends Atalanta's slump
The pattern of the match was set inside six minutes. Basic almost punished Atalanta immediately, forcing a save from Marco Carnesecchi in the first minute, but the hosts then scored three times before the half-hour mark.
Kessie put Atalanta ahead in the fourth minute, finishing a Krstovic pass by lobbing goalkeeper Filip Stankovic after spotting him off his line. Two minutes later Krstovic headed in from an Elmas corner to make it 2-0.
The third goal, on 30 minutes, came from persistence rather than a clean strike. Stankovic had already denied De Ketelaere and then kept out a low effort from Jonathan Rowe, but Krstovic reacted fastest to the rebound and forced the ball home.
That front-loaded scoring pattern reflects how Sarri's reshaped attack functioned once De Ketelaere was freed to operate centrally behind Krstovic rather than out wide. With three goals scored before the half-hour, Atalanta effectively settled the contest before Venezia had found any rhythm, even though Venezia pulled one back through Antoine Hainaut, who finished from close range after a cross from substitute Richie Sagrado just before the interval.
Venezia's wastefulness extends winless run
The second half told a different story in terms of territory and chances, even if not in the scoreline. Venezia's possession figure finished at 64 percent to Atalanta's 36, and the visitors also had more total shots, 19 to Atalanta's 22 being the reverse split on attempts registered in the match statistics, with 11 shots on target to Atalanta's four.
Yet none of that dominance produced an equaliser. Akor Adams headed against the bar and John Yeboah struck the post, while Carnesecchi denied Yeboah again after a mazy run through the Atalanta defence. Adams also thought he had scored on 61 minutes, only for VAR to rule the goal out for offside.
That sequence of a disallowed goal and two efforts against the woodwork is consistent with a side still searching for its first win of the season. Creating chances has evidently not been Venezia's core problem on this evidence; converting them has. Stankovic, at the other end, produced what Football Italia described as the save of the match to deny Elmas, and Atalanta also had Krstovic denied by the goalkeeper and Adams heading narrowly wide at the other end as the match stretched into its closing stages.
Elmas moment swings game late
Atalanta had to see out the final stretch with ten men after Elmas was sent off in the 89th minute. He was initially booked for what Football Italia described as a reckless challenge, but referee Paride Tremolada was called to the pitchside monitor and upgraded the card to a straight red.
The dismissal meant Atalanta closed out victory a man light, having been the side pinned back for long periods after their early burst. That Venezia could not find a route back despite the extra man for the final minutes underlines the finishing problems that have left them without a win through six league matches.
For Sarri, the result arrests an immediate slide after three straight defeats, built on a fast start and a double from Krstovic, with the tactical switch to 4-2-3-1 and De Ketelaere's central role delivering the attacking returns he had called for. For Stroppa, the statistics will offer some reassurance about Venezia's capacity to create and dominate matches, but the missed chances, the disallowed goal and a winless record at the bottom of the table remain the pressing concern heading into the next round of fixtures.