Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini praised Josep Ilicic after their 4-1 rout of Roma.
Edin Dzeko had put Roma in front in the opening minutes, but Ilicic came off the bench at half-time to provide two assists for Robin Gosens and Duvan Zapata, then scored one himself late on after Luis Muriel.
“Ilicic is the player who if we get him back to his best, he gives us a big step up in quality. Everyone knows that," Gasperini told Sky Sport Italia.
“He's a bit inconsistent, both in training and during the game, and tended to lose his confidence when things went wrong. However, he's been training so well this week, hitting the ball so hard and with precision, I knew he'd put in this kind of performance."
Gasperini was asked about the decision to drop captain Papu Gomez for the game.
He replied, “When a coach gets angry, it's bad. When a President gets angry, it's more complicated. I will no longer answer questions on this. It is something the club will sort out.
“We drew at Juventus, we beat Ajax, beat Roma, and yet you only talk about this. Enough. We've had several games since then.
“Atalanta deserve to talk about their performances and for respect to be shown to the players who are going out there and getting the results."
