Ivan Juric is very familiar with Serie A football so even though this is a difficult job for Ivan Juric because he has to continue the work that Gesperini has built for a long time, we cannot underestimate Ivan Juric, I think he has the potential to make Atalanta better.
And regarding the current Atalanta squad, it is also not too bad, I even think they have quite even strength in all lines which allows for a good performance if Ivan Juric succeeds in implementing tactics that suit the players.
Atalanta has become a team to be reckoned with in the last few seasons but last season they were a little down so with the arrival of Ivan Juric, everything is possible, there is also a possibility that Atalanta can compete again at the top for the Scudetto.
It is better to focus on chasing the Serie-A trophy first rather than setting a bigger target in the Champions League because we know that the Champions League is not an easy league to conquer because it requires a qualified squad depth along with a strong mentality like that built by PSG last season. Atalanta's squad is not too bad but the number of players they have is not enough to compete in the Champions League because we can see how they performed last season.
In Serie-A Atalanta have indeed made progress in the last two seasons and I think that is what needs to be improved first so that they can achieve success next season. Ivan Juric comes with a much more realistic target and maybe for the first stage he can make progress in terms of competing for the Serie-A trophy first before going further.
I agree with you that Atalanta should focus on winning Scudetto before thinking to win UCL because nobody knows when will be possible. Any club that wins UCL is already used to winning their domestic league. I don' think that a club will come from nowhere without dominating their domestic league and win UCL. It can only happen in Europa League. I hope that Juric will be able to keep the team on top four even if they don't win Scudetto next season.