Gasperini upset with “unlucky equalizer” in 3-2 defeat to Inter

Ademola Lookman opened up the scoresheet for La Dea in the 25th minute from the penalty spot 11 minutes before Edin Dzeko scored the equalizer for

. Another goal from the Bosnian and an own goal from Palomino sealed Inter a comfortable away victory as Palomino's 77th-minute goal was just a consolation for

, who now is sixth in the Serie A table.

Speaking about Inter's come-back on Sunday,

told

:

“I think we had a good first half, but unfortunately we conceded a goal in their only real chance, which also had a deflection to cut out Palomino on a fairly innocuous cross.

The Italian coach was forced to replace defender Giorgio Scalvini with forward

Ruslan Malinovskyi

in the half-time. Gasperini admits it didn't go as he planned as La Dea dropped 12 points behind

.

“I took off Scalvini because I wanted to bring Koopmeiners back into the middle of the pitch. We lost Toloi in the warm-up and had to make a last-minute change, we moved to four and Scalvini adapted well as a midfielder, but I needed Koop in that role.”

“Undoubtedly, it is something we need to work on, because we barely had time to control taking the lead when we were pegged back.

“The equalizer was unlucky this time, but then we suffered on set plays in the second half and emerged again late on, so it wasn’t a bad Atalanta performance. Unfortunately, we are up against some technically gifted sides and right now we aren’t as lucky as we were at the start of the campaign.”

Whether

his place as Atalanta manager is safe

, Gasperini responded in his pre-match conference on Friday:

“I don’t see doubts, maybe in the media, I know that I don’t have a good rapport with a section of the local media, but the rapport with the club and fans is fine.

“The sad thing is that we played very well against Napoli and Inter, so deserved more. We are also in a transitional phase at the moment, losing some historic players and trying to bring younger elements through.

“The job of Atalanta is to develop young players like Scalvini and Caleb Okoli. These are the questions Atalanta need to ask themselves, for what they want from the present and the future.

“There were two paths open to us, either we would increase the potential of the squad with new signings, or bring more youth through. We did what the club was in a position to do right now.

“Merih Demiral got angry coming off, but I need to work for Atalanta, I can’t compete with them every time I make a substitution. Perhaps, at the moment I am trying to cover too many bases and that is not an ideal situation for me.

“If the expectations are purely Champions League places, then I say it is very difficult. This was the only path we could not take, doing both.

“Even with that, we were in the top two for a couple of months, now people are throwing everything up in the air. The trouble is that the plan has to be shared, because if I’m the only one with this plan, then it’s a mess.”

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