Atalanta midfielder Gianluca Gaetano and his teammates left the capital empty-handed after Roma completed a 2-1 comeback in added time, a result that leaves Maurizio Sarri's side eighth in Serie A with six points from three matches — two wins, one defeat.
The defeat stings precisely because of how it arrived. Atalanta led, and Roma needed two goals in stoppage time to overturn that advantage. For a squad still calibrating to Sarri's methods, conceding a lead so late is less a tactical indictment than a warning about concentration and game management — the kind of lesson that tends to cost you once and teach you for longer.
Gaetano's own numbers through three Serie A matchdays reflect a player settling into a system rather than one already driving it. His average rating of 6.77 is functional without being decisive, and his single assist — registered on matchday one against Sassuolo — remains his only direct contribution to a goal. He has not scored. In the Europa Conference League, across two appearances, he has added nothing to the scoresheet either, though those figures were accumulated in a separate competition and should not be conflated with his Serie A work.
At 26, Gaetano carries an AI overall of 75 out of 100, with a potential of 79. The gap between those two numbers is not wide, which means the ceiling is real but not distant — this is a player who needs to consolidate rather than transform. An assist in the opening match suggested he could be a connector in Sarri's possession-oriented structure; the challenge now is to sustain that influence across a full campaign, not just in the moments when the system is running smoothly.
Sarri himself acknowledged publicly that adaptation takes time, and the Roma defeat illustrates exactly that friction. Atalanta's squad is integrating new arrivals — Kessié among them — and the coordination required by Sarri's pressing and positional play is not assembled in three matchdays. Gaetano's role in that process is neither peripheral nor central yet; he occupies the middle ground where consistent performances either build trust or cede minutes.
The next fixtures will tell more than the early standings do. Six points from three games is a reasonable platform. Surrendering a lead in the final seconds is not.