Thoughts on Atlanta United vs Columbus Crew can wait. The important story here is the quality of Sherlock Holmes-esque supporters in Ohio compared to last season. I clearly missed my calling.
It’s still unclear if Brad’s baldness may have played a part in his phenomenal penalty save against one of MLS’ best goal scorers, but regardless, Atlanta United couldn’t quite pull back an equalizer to steal a point from the reigning MLS Cup champions on Saturday. Here are some initial impressions of the Five Stripes in 2024.
Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities Halves
If A Tale of Two Cities isn’t the comparison here, then Jekyll and Hyde most certainly is. Atlanta’s first half was sloppy, frantic, and muddled as the team attempted to play through the Crew’s disciplined press. Every pass seemed rushed, and every 50/50 ball or second ball was lost to Columbus. While Cucho Hernandez ultimately scored the game winner about halfway through the first 45 minutes, Brad Guzan made an outstanding open-play save and another Crew shot hit the woodwork. Atlanta simply allowed Columbus far too much time within the defensive third, which is a sure recipe for giving up shots on goal.
But even the first half wasn’t all doom and gloom. The defense actually looked stout, and the center back pairing of Stian Gregersen and Derrick Williams truly seemed cohesive – if not under an immense amount of pressure. The inevitable goal came after Brad Guzan rightfully parried a shot back out wide to Columbus’ right flank, where Cucho was waiting completely (somehow) unmarked.
But it was the second half that provided some hope for Atlanta United fans. If the first half was all Columbus, the second belonged to the Five Stripes. Giakoumakis had a couple of solid chances, as did Thiago Almada, and the midfield grew into the game.
Stian Gregersen was given a yellow after a lengthy stoppage and VAR check for a penalty and injury to Mo Farsi. While the penalty was soft (in my opinion), it’s understandable how the decision was a coin toss depending on the ref. But Brad Guzan’s subsequent PK-save spurred Atlanta on and provided some momentum. The dueling was more aggressive, the team pushed higher up the pitch, the passing was more crisp and the chances created were better. Ultimately, it’s just unfortunate that the equalizing goal wasn’t netted.
The newcomers are for real
Fans have been waiting patiently to witness Atlanta United’s new signings in a true competitive environment, and they didn’t disappoint. Gregersen was as fast and aggressive (and vocal) as advertised. Derrick Williams was incredibly busy, with seven defensive actions and four recoveries. Bartosz Slisz perhaps started off a bit slow but grew into the game and was a vital part of Atlanta’s second half dominance.
Were they perfect? Not even kind of, but they were an improvement over that same collective triangle of players over the past few years. If they continue to grow as a unit alongside Brooks Lennon and Caleb Wiley on the wings, the goals allowed will be significantly less than last year. In their first competitive match together, they only allowed one goal (which admittedly wasn’t even their fault, anyway) against last season’s best attack…in a hostile environment…vs the team who happened to be the champs…and against a team that barely had any roster turnover.
It’ll be okay. One of the toughest matches of the season is now out of the way.
The big, bald wall said y’all be quiet
Brad Guzan was outstanding on Saturday. It’s that simple. He had a penalty save, one extremely tough save, and a variety of other blocks. He seemed springy and spry and truly up for the challenge.
We’ll probably never know if 2023 was a year that Brad should’ve taken extra rehab time after the knee injury against NYCFC, but the small sample size from Columbus could indicate that the offseason was the best possible thing for him. Regardless, Josh Cohen will be battling every day for that starting spot, which is only going to help the ultra-competitive Brad Guzan.
Ultimately, this result in Columbus wasn’t the worst case scenario. It would be unacceptable for losses to start piling up, yes, but this one is a far cry from the 6-1 thrashing last season. Improvements can be made, and Atlanta United has a couple of weeks to fine-tune their play before the home opener against New England Revolution on March 9th. Get there early and come hang out with us for a live pre-match show starting at 5:30 at the brand new Nest on Four bar on the fourth floor of the Signia by Hilton hotel!
That’s weird…did you just type it out in the normal comment field on the website?
Total agreement. I don’t buy the “well it’s only a 1-0 loss against a good team” or “it’s only the first game”. There are several good teams in MLS. Several played away games and they took it to the host, maybe they didn’t win but they didn’t lose either. Several also had new players and new coaches and it showed well. On away games, we always seem to lack intensity and leave the initiative to the home team. I don’t think our coaching is helping, I don’t know what else it could be since this is a repeating pattern. I really hope I’m wrong, I want to be wrong
Here’s my thought, with us having 3 quality CBs in Greg, Williams, and Abram, I’d like to see us try the 3-5-2. We’ve consistently proven that we’re more dangerous in that formation and I’d argue we may have the talent to actually pull it off now. Particularly if Muyumba and Slisz can be so defensively focused.
Not opposed (especially because I think it can unlock Muyumba and Slisz more often), but last year I think 3 at the back worked for a couple games before it killed all of our attacking cohesion. The other issue I have with it is that it inherently means we’re pulling one or more of our wingers off the lineup in exchange for another CB. I’d rather have Silva than Abram (for example).
I’d line it up as:
Greg, Abram, Williams
Lennon, Muyumba, Wiley
Saba, Silva
Almada, GG
Or even see if Barto can play the middle of the 3 back. That’s about as aggressive of a line-up as you can have…
Ah, ok, I hadn’t considered that lineup. it’s almost a 3-4-3 or a 3-1-3-3, I guess? I absolutely would not put Slisz in the back 3, so far he’s shown himself to be more of an CM/CDM type rather than a CDM/CB type. If you put him in instead of a true CB, you might as well keep him in his natural position and stick with the 4-2-3-1.
My initial thought with that lineup is that we’d lose all semblance of control in the midfield, because we only have 1 true CM type. I think as a result we’d have to completely shift our philosophy to either like a RB high press and direct attack, or a low block bunker and counter. Not opposed to either, but it’s asking a lot of muyumba to have hold down the entire midfield by himself.
Not too worried about the result. Columbus is the champ with an unchanged roster coming in.
Hey, just want to add my thanks to you all for the unpaid labor you’ve put in developing this site. Love the headlines banner. Thanks for finding a solution for the weird log in issues. It looks prettier than the old site with no jacked up adds messing you up. It would have been sad to lose the community. All in all, seems like y’all made lemonade out of lemons. Thanks!
Thank you so much! We’re constantly tweaking and updating, but super glad we were able to get the new design out before matchday. And the comments section isn’t giving me as many nightmares as it was a few days ago 😅
Dear Atlantistas, ahoy!
I watched some, not all, but I was surprised at how easy it was for Columbus to get behind Atlanta´s defensive line. If they weren´t such sloppy finishers, it would have been a very bad first half.
First games, and this being away, do not say all that much. But, still, from my perspective, (and I don´t even how your new roster), I see the same shortage of a coach who can coach.
So glad you made it over Marcelo!
Hi!
Not such a happy Monday, as my Gremio lost to our nemesis Inter 3×2 after a penalty on minute 98!! At least this is for a very unrespectable tournament.
But, nice to meet you guys in new territory.
Hope we both find reasons to be cheerful with our respective teams in 24.
And I was surprised negatively with Tata last night, His Miami defends very poorly!
Well, at least he has Messi.
I think LA has a very good team this year, they just need better finishing, which is a problem in MLS generally. I like the Brazilian kid… Gabriel Pec? I think he’ll do well. Have not followed the Brazilian league yet, since I switched streaming providers and just figuring out what channels broadcast SA soccer
Gabriel Pec is just a little Jesus freakish for my taste, but he can cause harm on the right. I still felt that all LA players were great doing some samba in front of defense, but rather harmless beyond the cute movements. They are too much into looking like, and not much into actually doing things.
I thought their goal was offside. And I thought Miami played a lousy match, and I am actually disappointed in Tata. He seems unable to choose, and lets too many players occupy the same space. And, what a waste of a Gressel. And that guy on their right side who used to play for your National Team, I think he is not helping. Still, there is Messi, always a pleasure.
glad to hear from you marcelo! sorry about your gremio, and yes…a better roster on paper for us here, but 1st half especially was disappointing to see. better 2nd half and hopefully that is what we build on this week.
Hey! Yeah, I thought about allowing you guys to move on to a better life without my Brazilian pestering, but, well, maybe not.
I have to see your team playing properly, and I have no clue on the new roster. I will give Pineda the benefit of doubt: I doubt it.
I think MLS is changing a lot. The usual suckers still suck, but there are many teams that look competitive out there.
And, I guess when Adidas really want to design a proper kit they can be quite good at it. The only problem is that they are reserving all their goodness for Inter Miami.
What do you expect from your next game?
I plan on watching. I really have no image of Atlanta, with all the new changes. I see that you will play New England. Are these the Bimbo guys who play very ugly football?
Nah, that’s Philly. I don’t know how to describe NE though.
Maybe just guys who play really ugly football.
considering how the first half went, i think a 1-0 loss is a pretty good result. i do like the aggressiveness from the CBs, but it did seem like Wiley was regularly getting caught just watching the ball and not marking anyone. it did kind of look like Wiley should have marked Cucho on that goal.
The problem was he had to mark Williams’ man, because Williams got pulled inside to cover Gregersen’s man, because either Gregersen or one of the midfielders covered the wrong man; I forget which. Then Cucho found the free space on the rebound
Saba seemed to always be behind in marking his man. Columbus picked the weaker defensive side, overloaded it it, kept Lennon pinned back so he was not a threat to get in behind, then got the ball to an open man on the backside. Classic.
Didn’t look too different from last year; same mistakes; same “system”. I’m not giving Pineda any slack this year.
I’ll go ahead and say for the record: if we’re not top 5 in the east at the halfway point, with this roster, I hope Pineda is replaced. He isn’t a bad coach, but that is the minimum we should achieve with this squad. We can’t have overall neutral opinions of our coach while wanting to win a trophy of any kind.
With this being a contract year for Pineda, I personally am assuming that he will get the full year, and that we wont be returning if we finish outside the top 5.
That’s generally my read. That said, if we are fighting for a playoff spot by May, I think he’s gone before the Leagues Cup. That way, the team either rides the new-manager bump to a trophy, or at least close, or they get a full month to adjust to said new manager.
I’m still neutral on Pineda: the team likes him and have bought in to the play style he wants, but that’s weighed against inconsistent results and a seeming inability or distaste for making minor adjustments during a half to address any deficiencies in the tactics; it’s almost like he wants the full half of data before adjusting, which means that once the opposition finds a tactic that’s working they can exploit it continually (e.g. ball in behind Lennon vs CLB). The adjustments in the second half helped (I disagree with the above that CLB just managed the second half, they were definitely trying for a second goal and were put on their heels), but there is “trust the system” and then there’s “we’ve been almost beaten this exact way three times in 5 minutes, we should probably do something about it”.
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Might turn into a war zone around here 😂
a true team player, testing out this feature!
Disagree with your assessment. It was a VERY disappointing performance. Similar to past years…hmm… let’s see what the only constant? The center backs were too slow to cover the flanks. Columbus exploited that weakness very well. Isn’t like our coach didn’t know how they were going to play us… Slisz seem VERY slow, had a couple (maybe 3) of good balls forward but his mistakes outnumbered the good plays. This seemed like a great opportunity to show what we have and showcase Pineda’s fully implemented system, which it now seems more apparent, is a “lack of a system”. This was really an embarrassing performance; we could have been down by 3 or 4 at the half and maybe should’ve. I don’t think we took control in the second half, but more that Columbus let us have the ball, so they could counter us, which they did well. For all the possession we had on the second half, we only really created a couple of chances. Guys, this was not good at all… I saw a few other games that featured teams with new coaches and they seemed a lot better prepared for their opener than AU
Yeah, but also, those other teams didn’t play the team who just won the cup, and who had virtually no turnover.
I agree it could’ve been better, absolutely, but to me it’s not the worst case scenario at all
Guzan made a few good saves, but we do need to note how poor his distribution was. Countless times he kicked the ball out of bounds or played it long to nobody. That directly contributed to the pressure we were under. Granted, we reverted back into playing backwards for long stretches, which gave Guz the ball way more than he should get.
Great point I meant to mention in the article, that’s my only negative bit about Brad. Passing could’ve been better (but then so could the duels of those he was passing to)
Tbf distribution isn’t an age thing, he’s just always been bad at that
Guz made a couple of saves; the penalty and a shot he pushed to the side and recovered. Also, on the goal…I don’t know guys….he should’ve had the cross. His foot play has always been terrible, so no surprise there. I agree that a goalkeeper with poor foot skills is not a good idea against Columbus’s press, so who made the decision to start him? I know it’s only one game, but why is the same pattern repeating? I really expected A LOT MORE; maybe I’ve become too demanding, but good teams don’t come out and play like we did. Pineda needs to show me NOW why he should remain as our coach.
The saves were very good but a couple of times Guz was caught way too far forward and out of the box. He was very lucky not to get torched by that. Also, as mentioned by JBTC and others, his distribution was poor. I was really hoping for an upgrade at his position. Nothing personal, he’s been loyal, worked his asterisk off and been a worthy captain, but I don’t think he’s the right guy for us as starting goalie anymore. Pineda also has until halfway for me. He’s not bad, we could do much worse but we are looking to return to our previous dominance and so far he’s not that guy. I like him and I hope he makes me admit I’m wrong.
That sounds like an excuse. Not a reason for our poor play.
No definitely not an excuse, the team can absolutely do better, but it’s not a reason for people to freak out yet either.
I only say that because I’ve seen some folks calling for heads already 😂
I think March will be telling.
New England (H), Orlando (H), Toronto (A), Chicago (H).
I feel like 8 points from those 4 is kind of my breakeven point for how to feel about the season.
More than 8 should feel pretty good. Less than 8 and I’ll share robpar’s concerns.
The way the first week went, the weakest team of those is NE. Orlando looked pretty solid, Toronto looked very much improved as did Chicago. The good news? We play 3 of those at home…
I think it’s fair to say Pineda made poor tactical choices, knowing who he was going up against. We switched to a midblock, but that didn’t work out because it gave Columbus all the time they needed to make the plays they wanted. We didn’t really disrupt their midfield until the second half.
But I don’t think Columbus really plays to counter. They’re like us, in that they want to control the ball at all times. Yes, they knew how to switch to countering, but I don’t think that’s how they wanted to play the second half.
By the same measure of they had 3 or 4 really good chances in the first half, I can think of at least 3 really good chances that we had, where one of their CBs had to come to their rescue, just as much as our CBs had to come to the rescue in the first half.
I’m not saying it’s all fine. It’s just not a dumpster fire.
Slisz does not just SEEM slow. But he does show a desire to get involved in the offense.
I didn’t see him make any recoveries or counterpress effectively but he did have some nice long balls. I’m gonna watch the game again and analyze his play better. I was too frustrated watching it live.