Atlanta United continuing to focus inward as derby vs Orlando City looms

If you’re Atlanta United, what do you change after a 4-1 walloping of New England Revolution in front of almost 70,000 fans?

“We focus on us, do what the coach says, and we can do better,” said Xande Silva on Tuesday from the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Training Ground.

Xande echoed similar statements from other players and from coach Gonzalo Pineda over the past couple of weeks. The team doesn’t seem concerned with any outside drama or storylines; they’re concentrated on fine-tuning aspects of their own play, such as disciplined pressing, defending as a unit, and continuing to build the chemistry that fans have heard (and seen) so much about.

Don’t mistake that inward focus for shirking typical responsibilities like opposition studies and film review. Gonzalo Pineda even gave his film folks props after the 4-1 win Saturday, noting that they were able to exploit portions of New England in that beautiful team goal that started in Atlanta’s own corner and ended with the thunderous header by Giorgos Giakoumakis.

Instead, the idea is for everyone on the team to commit to the overall identity and plan and then execute it exceptionally well. As the players filtered out of the building and onto the training pitch Tuesday, they immediately warmed up and then dove into a variety of drills focused on playing through pressure and also on what Pineda refers to as “pressing to attack.” One drill was a simple 5v5 tournament, another was a large double rondo, and a third was a small-sided possession drill incorporating neutral players, small goals in the middle, and goalkeepers in the large goals for when defenders won the ball back.

“A big emphasis for us this whole year is going to be the better we defend, the more compact we can be…the better off we’ll be,” said defensive midfielder Dax McCarty. “As you saw, our attacking players are quite dangerous and they don’t need many chances to bury a team. The message is very consistent: let’s use our attacking players to be a fun team to watch to score goals, and on the flip side of it, let’s concede less goals than we did last year.”

The aforementioned drills and the focus on identity contributes to every point Dax made on Tuesday. Atlanta United knows what they want to do on the pitch game in and game out, it’s simply a matter of making it happen on a consistent basis to disrupt other teams and then dominating them with the squad’s high powered attack. That’s what they’re looking to continue on Sunday against Orlando City.

“They [Orlando] are really good in possession,” noted Dax. “It’s all about communication, the way we communicate on the field, the way we stay compact, make them go wide, don’t let them penetrate centrally because that’s what they want to do. Oscar will have them ready to go, it’s a derby, it’s a rivalry game.”

The Five Stripes are back at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday against the Lions, who’ve had a tough start to the year despite being picked by many to be a top four team. They’ll be coming off their own 4-2 trouncing at the hands of Tigres in the Concacaf Champions Cup. Let us know your comments on the matchup below!