Palladino says 3-2 defeat ‘best performance’ for his Fiorentina

Raffaele Palladino was not disheartened by Fiorentina twice fumbling the lead to lose 3-2 against Atalanta, insisting it was ‘the best performance since I’ve been here.’

The Viola had twice taken the lead at the newly-revamped Gewiss Stadium in Bergamo through Lucas Martinez Quarta and Moise Kean, but conceded two goals in 60 seconds from Charles De Ketelaere and Ademola Lookman to go into the break 3-2 down.

That is how it remained until the final whistle, as David De Gea kept the scoreline down with a series of saves.

“For 44 minutes it was a fantastic performance, creating huge problems for Atalanta and creating the opportunities to go 3-1 up,” Palladino told DAZN.

“Then we made two naïve errors in a minute and a half, but that first half was our best performance since I’ve been here and I learned a lot from it. There are regrets for those two minutes, but this game will help us to grow.”

Fiorentina struggling to adapt to Palladino

It has been a complicated start to the season for Palladino’s side, who had drawn all four games between Serie A and the Europa Conference League play-offs, only qualifying for the tournament proper thanks to a penalty shoot-out.

They are still without a victory and have shown a tendency to concede far too many goals.

“On the Mateo Retegui goal, there was an obvious individual error in reading the move, while on the second Atalanta have a lot of physicality on set plays. We defended and attacked as a team today.

“It’s true that we lost, but the team is improving and it will take a little time, as this will be the first week I’ve had to really work with the whole squad together. Clearly, we must improve, that is the job for me and my staff.”

Palladino has brought a different tactical approach to predecessor Vincenzo Italiano, so it is taking some time for the Viola to adapt.

“When a new player arrives, it takes a while to assimilate the new mechanisms, even if it means zonal or man-marking changes. I see improvement from the individuals and the team, playing very well against a strong Atalanta side.

“I liked the performance and we will work during the week to do even better.”