We’re just a couple of days removed from a tough opening day loss up in Columbus, Ohio, but Atlanta United has a couple of weeks to prep and fine tune before the home opener at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on March 9th.
You’re likely familiar with these post-match quotes articles, but going forward we’d prefer for you to give your own thoughts here and not be skewed by opinions – at least in this article. Scarves and Spikes will definitely be providing our own content on the site throughout the match week, including our thoughts, analysis, news, and opinions after matches, but sometimes the raw quotes are very enlightening and we want to share those.
Take a look below at the post-match quotes from Gonzalo Pineda and Brad Guzan, and be sure to leave your thoughts in the comment section below!
Atlanta United Head Coach Gonzalo Pineda:
On what went wrong in first half and corrections the team made in second half:
“I think the pressing moments were very good. We were pressing Columbus pretty good I thought. But we were not connecting the passes. We were lacking that security in possession for a big longer. Often we disrupted their buildup very well. For example, the goalkeeper gives the ball to Bartek (Slisz) and he tries to shoot right away. If he has a bit more composure in that moment, maybe he still attempts the shot but if not we could start a possession sequence there. In the second half, once we started to secure the ball and have possession, we started to active our wingers and look more dangerous. Then we started to have control of the game more, which was one of the main emphasis of halftime. Try to get more control of the game.”
On the focus of the team after wanting to focus on performing better in away games:
“I see that the team is more focused today. Especially in the second half, I was very happy with the response of the players. It’s not easy to play the defending champions in the first game of the season and they (the players) did a great job. I think they adjusted pretty well at halftime, I liked what I saw in the locker room, the belief they have in themselves. We lost today, but especially the second half performance is encouraging, and we can build on that. I see a better mentality already. We have to take that now to the next game.
On if the coaching made a change to cut down the big switches Columbus had in first half:
“Diego (de la Torre) and Rob (Valentino) helped work on that positioning with the fullbacks. It was difficult because they always tried to play in behind, they had players in the pockets, players willing to attack the back. Somehow they are doing counter movements, someone running in behind, someone checking in the pocket, so if the whole backline drops off there is space in between the lines. I think in the first half we were getting a lot of passes in their channels and doing a good job of that, but again we couldn’t secure that possession in our attacks for long periods. The position of the fullbacks was key there and our wingers were doing a lot of work today. Xande (Silva), Saba (Lobjanidze) and Tyler (Wolff) did a great job of covering a lot of ground in those passing lanes. Again, it was a good performance, but not good enough today.”
On any concerns with the upcoming two-week layoff before next match:
“No, not at all to be honest. Of course, having some rhythm helps. At the same time, we didn’t have Thiago (Almada) for any of the preseason matches, so we will have some time for him to know the teammates around him better. It’s also better for Bartek and Stian (Gregersen) to have more time with the team. Also Giorgos (Giakoumakis) and Stian lost some time in the preseason, so we are going to have some training sessions for them so they can know each other better. But we will use these two weeks to be prepared for the next two home matches.”
Atlanta United Goalkeeper Brad Guzan:
On the different between the two halves and what made things better in second half:
“I think for sure we took care of the ball better. We were loose with the ball in first half. We weren’t able to connect the second or third ball going forward. That allowed them to create more and more pressure. But in the second half, I thought we did a much better job with that.”
On the goal the team conceded today:
“I think we have them on the left side of the field. We could have gotten closer there, then they hit the diagonal ball to the other side. We are probably a little bit late getting out on the 2-v-1 situation and they slot the ball down the channel. They have two guys, maybe three, I haven’t watched the film yet, in the box and at that moment we have our center backs and Caleb (Wiley) in the middle and Cucho (Hernandez) comes on the far post. I try to make a play on it knowing the two attackers in the center of the box can certainly make a play on it. It’s a bang, bang play and that moment Cucho is on the back side.”
On if he was pleased with the fightback and grit the team showed in second half:
“Listen, at halftime we knew we had to keep going. We needed to be better on the ball, we were in second half. They are a good team. But we had enough opportunities to get something from the game. When you look back on it, the dissapointment is there because we had the opportunity to get something from the game. Whether its a point, or if you even go on to win the game. A loss certainly leaves a bitter taste in your mouth after the performance in the second half.”
I don’t think Pineda says what he really thinks. Crew blew so many chances in the first half that nobody with a sound mind would find our play acceptable . I think he’s trying to give a post game press conference and get out of there. Nobody can realistically think that possession alone will win games. If he does, then replace him now. His comments seemed like he’s talking more on the second half play and he just saying whatever to cover the first half disaster. I don’t think we will ever hear him really tear into individual players bad play or especially poor tactics by the team in public. If this is what’s happening and I hope so, then I understand what he’s doing and that is protect his players poor performance publicly. If this is true then we should not expect to hear his real thoughts on poor play except in very generic terms. We will also never hear “our game plan sucked so we had to adjust”. As much as we’d like to hear what’s really happening from the coaching staffs view, we are to be left to do our own analysis. Keep in mind, injuries, players particular skill sets rated against their opponents will not be shared by the staff. I personally think Pineda is getting out coached. His tactics are not aggressive enough and he’s relying on possession to get him more chances at scoring. Unfortunately too much of this possession is either back and forth in our half or it gives their defenders time to set and then our passes in their half is trying to get around a set defense. Not a good way to get goals but I think last year’s Titanic size goal leaking defensive play had him scared to pressure Crew in the first half and their pressure on us should have given them several more goals.
I don´t know what irritates me the most about this coach. The bland aftergame words, or the bland football itself.
These statements from Pineda don’t give me a ton of confidence in his tactical mindset. Possession isn’t the goal, goals are and you don’t have to control possession to score goals. Moreover what he isn’t recognizing, at least here, is that our entire defensive scheme and marking was terrible. The issue was less our ability to “control possession” and more our inability to track and mark players, and cut off passing routes. Our outside backs were getting torched in the first half…repetitively, and it led to their goal. On the offensive side we created almost zero shots on goal. The entire first half, we weren’t attacking as a team nor defending as a team.
The issue wasn’t possession or control of the ball, it was tactics and synchronicity.
How do you score without the procession of the ball? Is there some magical trick to getting the other team to pass you the ball for a shot or them to just score on goals?
Frank?
GUYS I FOUND FRANK’S BURNER ACCOUNT
Believe it or not, yes there is a way to get other teams to practically pass you the ball for a shot. Actually there are multiple ways. None of them are magical. One is called a high press, where even though they have possession you force them to pass backwards and then create turnovers of mistakes deep in their own half that you can then capitalize on. Basically you force them to cough up the ball on the top of the 18 teeing you up for shots. Red Bull New York successfully ran that strategy against us for years despite us almost always having majority of possession. It’s what Bayern ultimately used to beat “possession” based Barcelona teams in the early 2010s. Another way is a little more nuanced, called a Counter Press. It’s basically the same philosophy but involves luring teams into thinking they have forward progression in possession lanes, having just taken the ball from you, and then pressing them in a way that allows you to counterattack in numbers with them caught out of position.
Both of these philosophies allow the opponent to have the ball or even dominate possession percentage, but you still win the game, because you force them to make mistakes and then quickly capitalize on their mistakes.
My other team, SC Freiburg, routinely wins games despite rarely having more than 50% of possession.
There are entire systems and philosophies based on literally allowing or enticing the other team to keep the ball or dominate possession in a false sense of security so that you can force them into errors in dangerous situations with their players caught out of possession.
TLDR: No you don’t need to keep possession to win games; games are won by scoring more goals and you can score goals by capitalizing on fast breaks by forcing your opponent into errors even if they are dominating possession of the ball.
I don’t personally care about possession numbers at all. I care about goals and goal chances created, and you don’t need to dominate possession to create chances and score goals
That was delightful. I’ll take possession with a purpose – which I feel can be such a cliche term – when it’s executed well. But when Atlanta got rolling in games last year it’s because they were super quick to go from inviting a bit of pressure to winning the ball back and sending some combination of GG, Xande, Almada, Saba, Mosquera, or Wiley down the center back’s throats. Super quick counterattacks. because Atlanta has the personnel for it. Those were the games where they wore down opponents and nicked another 2 or 3 goals in the final half hour.
My favorite philosophy is exactly that: to invite a little bit of pressure and then transition at lightning speed. Unless you have world class talent and a huge talent gap in the midfield and offense, most goals are scored when lines are broken quickly and the back line is overloaded or caught out of position. If the progression and transition is too slow it allows the midfield to cut off passing angles and allows the defense to regain their shape. Thus unless you have world class talent, the best way to get in behind the defense and create overloads is to invite the opposition out, so that the space is behind them or caught to one side.
Yeah I’ve always preached that this type of football is the best…when you have the talent to make it happen.Otherwise there needs to be some pragmatism and ability to strike on opponent’s mistakes
“Wilfried Nancy stressed possession and under his coaching last season, Montreal completed the the fourth-most passes in MLS and had the second highest completion percentage at 82.6%”
“Under Nancy, every player is encouraged to be patient with the ball, setting traps for opponents and luring them in. When the opponent steps into the trap – typically, by applying pressure to the player in possession – the attack begins.”
-from Dec 2022.
And of course we’ve seen the same trend in Columbus.
Is this “above everything else”? Eh…not sure he (nor Pineda) would say that…seems like a sweeping generalization. An integral part of the system? Definitely and with good, broadly recognized reasons.
Speaking of outdated…let’s see where Tata ends up after a disastrous MX stint and season in Miami. My money would be on Atlanta and Columbus scoring more goals, conceding fewer and finishing higher in the tables than Miami.
https://www.fmscout.com/c-fm23-tactics.html?id=9723
Well, I would argue possession is as much a part of our defensive identity as it is our offensive.
But other tactics would include sitting in a defensive low block and counter-attacking with lightning speed, NYRB style risk/reward press, or the Ange Postecoglu method of playing a more “balanced” (for lack of a better word) scheme in which riskier forward passes are preferred to possession mixed with a high line defensively that kind of invites an open game.
i think this was especially true when columbus started the big switches. we had no answer for that. it was like defensively we had not trained for that at all. second half adjustments were better, but in the first half we were pretty sorry after the first 10 minutes or so.
Unless you’re a counterattacking team, possession is important. Considering a team that plays with the formation Atlanta does, if you don’t possess you will be consistently caught out of shape and with large gaps in the midfield. Thinking through the dynamics of that, pushing bodies forward, losing possession (unless we think the scores should be 30-0 atlanta), requiring mad recovery runs and results in a team that’s gassed earlier in the 2nd half…and probably prone to major lapses late in the 1st. It’s not about possession for possession’s sake….it’s about possessing long enough to shift bodies forward and work towards high quality scoring opportunities.
The defense last weekend was actually kind of decent, especially relative to last year. 1 goal conceded to Columbus is a decent showing.
That first half was horrendous plain and simple. I’m saying this as somebody who just recently started watching soccer worldwide about a year ago! But everybody on the field looked a step slow like they were waiting on Columbus to move before they did. It was all reactionary and the attacking play seemed scary. Also I think Saba and Xande should switch sides. Saba seems allergic to drop back and help defensively and since Brooks likes to get forward it leaves that side extremely vulnerable. It won’t help the attack but when we aren’t controlling the game we will always leak goals from that side. However I think our two CBs will be a million times better than what we threw out there last year. Stian seems like a big upgrade over Miles even though I hope he gets better this year for the sake of the USMNT.
I think we were fortunate to not get blown out in the first half. They missed some good chances and I don’t think we had even a single shot on goal. Better in the 2nd half but we could not get the quality we needed at the end – seems I’ve heard that before.
We scored a lot of goal last season, but we also had a lot of chances – I think the most in MLS. I would hope for a better conversion rate this year. Hopefully during the two-week layoff we can shake off the rust.
It’s crazy because either half could’ve gone in favor of both teams
Can’t decide if Pineda is just trying to appear humble or if he really left it to his assistants to make the halftime adjustments. I did see he was back out on the pitch before the rest of the team was.
Not sure how you could find much to compliment about that first half. I’m not going to overreact though, since it was the first half of the first game of the season. Having said that, we need points early this season because of the player losses we will have in the summer. Destined to drop points then.
Not quite getting the comment volume yet. Where is everybody?
On the way! We’ve had some good comments in matchday threads and just prior
He’s a good coach, but perhaps not good enough for Atlanta United…
I sometimes try to give good reasons why one thing or the other is ok, but admittedly, the things I found wrong so far were coach decisions, not really player faults. I like the guy, I think he’s better at tactics/coaching than some give him credit for, but I’ve wondered often if it’s time to move on. I’ve been on the Pinedaout train before.
i keep going back to my original thought – we are not the club to hire a manager for “on-the-job” training. pineda was a good #2. he was clearly not ready for a job of this stature. plus, this job / club was already established as a great gig – pay, publicity, facilities, etc. why we didn’t take a big swing is beyond me…but now this guy is into his 4th year and still has the confidence of boca and uncle arthur (and apparently garth too). the roster is better, but i still don’t see any indications that he’s growing as a manager.
I agree with you that we’re not a club that wants to hire a manager for “on-the-job” training, but I think we needed some stability after going through de Boer and Heinze. I don’t discredit Boca and Eales (was Eales still here?) for hiring Pineda. It seemed like a pretty safe move and I think we have the results to match.
Now that we have a roster that should (on paper) do well, this is Pineda’s chance to prove he deserves to be here. I personally don’t think he’s the guy, but as others have noted, this is the last year on his contract and if we don’t win trophies (or at least make it to a final of something) then it’s definitely time to move on to someone who’s proven they can perform. With 3 of our next 4 games at home, and 2 weeks until our next game, I think the first 5 games will be a decent measuring stick for how we should expect our season to go.
There aren’t many MLS coaches that I’d prefer over Pineda, but that may not be saying much…
Personally I’d have promoted Valentino if I wanted to let a former assistant do OJT with my team.
I think the more successful routes worldwide have been hiring either a proven winner as a head coach, or a proven winner as a player who just recently retired. I think mostly you want someone the locker room immediately respects and buys in to.
agreed, if you wanted to promote an assistant, why go outside the club. but i think that would have been a below average hire as well. it’s hard to remember back to exactly who was on the market internationally, but i do know that rafa and ancelotti were both out there. i was expecting us to take a “tata” kind of swing again, and we went in a completely opposite direction.
I’d like Columbus’s current coach. Seems like he’s everything Pineda is supposed to be, but he’s actually getting results.
i would have loved to lure him away from montreal. i think he was fantastic with what is a marginal and generally dysfunctional club. but we were married to pineda at that point.