The Working Hands of a Goddess

The Tactics, Culture and Community Behind Gian Piero Gasperini's Atalanta BC

Tom Underhill

• Publisher: Pitch Publishing
• eBook ISBN:
  9781801502955
• Year: 2022

The Working Hands of a Goddess is the story of how Atalanta BC rose from the lower reaches of Serie A to become Champions League quarter-finalists in just four years. The appointment of Gian Piero Gasperini as manager in 2016 changed the club's fortunes forever. Quickly making his mark, he developed a squad that play one of Europe's most scintillating brands of football, and upset the status quo by going toe-to-toe with the giants of the Italian game. The Working Hands of a Goddess analyses and details the tactics and systems that underpin this thrilling team, the stories and backgrounds of the unique players that define it, and the culture and history that not only produced a beautiful football team but a special club and city-wide community. When the pandemic rocked the community, Atalanta became far more than just a football team by uniting a city in strife.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: Beautiful Bergamo
• Building La Dea
• Silverware, and a long end to the century
• 2016/17: Atalanta’s man of football
• 2017/18: Building on a foundation
• 2018/19: The wolf pack
• 2019/20: Winning, or learning
• 2020/21: Five years
• The ultras
• Centre-backs: Building from the back
• Central midfield: More than just enablers
• Wing-backs: The Gasperini archetypes
• Forwards: Hidden geniuses
• Following the unprecedented
• Bibliography
• Photos