Sarri: ‘Atalanta mental strength important now, Kairat Almaty hidden danger’

Maurizio Sarri warns of the ‘hidden dangers’ Atalanta face in the Conference League against Kairat Almaty, adding that ‘mental strength’ is more important than tactics right now.

It kicks off at the New Balance Arena in Bergamo at 17.45 GMT (18.45 CET).

You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens from this game, Milan-Ferencvaros and AZ Alkmaar-Juventus on the Liveblog.

It was always going to be difficult adapting to a new coach with a very different playing style from the previous decade, but it has still been tougher than expected for the team to find a fit with Sarri.

To make matters worse, the injury crisis has ruled out Thomas Kristensen, Gianluca Gaetano, Raoul Bellanova, Franck Kessie, Sead Kolasinac, Isak Hien, Giacomo Raspadori and Odilon Kossounou.

“Kairat changed coach just before the end of their domestic season, so it is a bit of a tactical mystery how they will play,” Sarri told Sky Sport Italia.

“We studied what we could, they only played one game under the new coach, and it was irrelevant to their table. They promoted the Under-19 coach, so we watched a few of the Youth League matches, but we don’t know a lot, other than the characteristics of the individual players.”

Zhora Arutyunyan was indeed promoted as interim coach for the 1-1 draw with Altay Oskemen on October 31, replacing Rafael Urazbakhtin.

“Kairat had some good results, they lost narrowly in the Champions League last season to Inter and in London, so there is nothing easy about this. There are hidden dangers.”

Youth team defender Javison Idele is given his first start for the senior Atalanta team.

“There wasn’t much choice for the line-up, especially considering there is another game coming up on Sunday. The injured players are out, some others looked fatigued and there was no point running risks. We’ll see if we manage to get at least one back for this weekend.”

Atalanta managed just two draws from their last six competitive matches, and on Monday hit a new low with a 3-0 home defeat to relegation strugglers Parma, prompting the squad to be placed into a three-day training retreat.

In the Conference League, they had started with a 3-1 success against Pafos, but then lost 2-0 away to Dutch giants Ajax.

“The first half with Parma was solid, but after the break it became more about character and mental strength than football. We talked about this too,” concluded Sarri.

“These days together helped us to have that discussion, at times we talked about other things too, but I think it was helpful.”