Atalanta's defensive collapse against Frosinone exposes a squad in crisis
A 4-4 draw at Bergamo saw four different leads change hands as Atalanta's injury-ravaged side failed to see out any of them against newly-promoted Frosinone.
Atalanta drew 4-4 with Frosinone at the Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia, with Romano Schmid and Nikola Krstovic both scoring twice in a game that swung through four separate lead changes, according to Football Italia.
The result extended a miserable run for Maurizio Sarri's side, who have now lost four of their last five Serie A matches and were missing Sead Kolasinac, Giorgio Scalvini, Isak Hien, Odilon Kossounou, Franck Kessie, Giacomo Raspadori and Kamaldeen Sulemana, Football Italia reported. The draw came three days after a 2-0 Conference League defeat to Ajax.
Frosinone arrived in good form, having taken 13 points from their opening six rounds since promotion from Serie B, with their only defeat coming against Napoli.
Atalanta's defending unravelled from the first whistle
The pattern was set inside 30 seconds, when a wayward Ederson back-pass handed Frosinone the opening goal through Schmid. It was the kind of unforced turnover that punished a back line already thinned by injury before kick-off.
Atalanta responded almost immediately through a quick transition of their own, Charles De Ketelaere slicing the Frosinone defence open with a pass that let Krstovic control and finish from six yards. Schmid then put Frosinone back ahead after 17 minutes, a goal delayed by a VAR check for a possible Giorgi Kvernadze offside before it was allowed to stand.
That opening quarter of an hour showed how little either side was willing to sit in and defend a lead. Every goal arrived from a sharp transition rather than a sustained siege, and neither back line reorganised quickly enough to stop the next one.
Set pieces and crosses kept the game stretched
Atalanta's route back into the game came through width and dead-ball situations as much as open play. Ederson converted a penalty awarded for a handling offence by Giorgio Cittadini, after De Ketelaere's header struck the defender's raised arm.
Krstovic then headed against the crossbar from a corner before scoring his second from a low Davide Zappacosta cross, putting Atalanta ahead for the first time. The goal followed an earlier passage in which Raoul Bellanova had set up a De Ketelaere back-heel, only for Anthony Oyono to clear off the line.
Bellanova did not finish the move he helped create. He limped off with what Football Italia described as another muscular injury, clutching his right thigh, adding a further name to Atalanta's growing list of absentees during the match itself.
Three leads, three times undone
What followed summed up Atalanta's season. Frosinone equalised within three minutes of the restart through Giacomo Calò's first-time finish into the top corner, cancelling out the interval lead almost before the second half had settled.
Atalanta hit back straight away, De Ketelaere driving into the box and laying the ball off for Krstovic, who in turn teed up Eljif Elmas to make it 4-3. That lead also proved temporary.
Chances kept arriving at both ends, Marco Carnesecchi and Lorenzo Palmisani each forced into saves, before Frosinone levelled for a fourth time through Aleksa Terzic in the 82nd minute, the finish taking a deflection off Thomas Kristensen on its way in. Fares Ghedjemis and Antonio Raimondo both had late efforts saved as the game stayed open until the final whistle.
None of Atalanta's three separate leads survived more than a few minutes, which points to a team struggling to reset its defensive shape immediately after scoring rather than simply conceding soft goals in isolation. For a squad missing seven first-team players before the match even started, that lack of control after winning the ball back was the recurring theme.
Atalanta's stutter continues with a fourth defeat in five league games now accompanied by a draw in which they led three times and could not hold any of it, while Frosinone's share of the points keeps their promotion-season form largely intact.