Brad Guzan and Atlanta United claimed its 1st clean sheet of the season via a 2-0 win over Orlando City on Sunday evening.
That’s not to say Atlanta’s goalkeeper and captain was overwhelmingly pleased with his team’s performance.
“If we’re being honest, I don’t know if it was better than last week,” Guzan told media in the locker room postgame. “Goals change games and obviously to get the first one was huge, gave us a bit more belief. But after that we fell off.”
Atlanta were clearly the better team last Saturday during a 4-1 win over a New England Revolution team that was feeling the effects of a compressed schedule due to Concacaf Champions Cup.
Like New England, Orlando’s schedule was itself congested due to the Lions’ own Champions Cup trek. And it briefly looked as if a 9th-minute salvo from Saba Lobjanidze courtesy of a brilliant pass by Giorgos Giakoumakis might mean that Atlanta were to make quick work of its visitors.
That notion was put to rest partially by Pedro Gallese, who made several highlight-reel saves in the 1st half, including a double save late in the 45th minute.
Atlanta didn’t help its own cause, though, with a glorious chance by Thiago Almada in the 26th minute off a feed from Lobjandize going begging after Almada failed to get a shot off.
“In the final third, we work a lot on the decision making, but it felt like … we could have been a little bit more dangerous in the final third,” Gonzalo Pineda said. “In those transition moments, or when we break them down, with better decision making, we could have done better.”
And while Giakoumakis’ 71st-minute strike from distance doubled the scoring, Atlanta’s sloppy play threatened to let Orlando back into the game.
“I don’t think we are as sharp as we needed to be. I don’t think we were great when linking the ball from back to front,” Guzan said. “Obviously the second goal was an exception, but overall, we needed to be better with the ball.”
In the end, it’s 3 points and a shutout for Atlanta with a date against Toronto FC looming, albeit with a reduced squad due to the international break.
“We talk about competing, we talk about being willing to do some dirty running and put in real work, and the guys did that,” Guzan said. “Certainly we were tired in the second half and we still had to go up and down … so from a competitive standpoint, I thought we were excellent, we’re really good. But overall, we need to be better.”
“I think we were grinding, fighting, and competing more, and never giving up,” Pineda said. “The players did well though, and obviously [had] the clean sheet, so there were some positives, but there is always a reminder that we can do better.”
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Watched the game on iPhone in UK last night. A bit of a tough view, but generally saw a lot of poor first touch, sloppy passing and failure to show for each other. Other than long balls we were not maintaining control in the midfield. Some of our long ball attack was very good and created chances, but turnovers gave up possession too quickly. Very glad for the points and especially a hard earned clean sheet. I’m confident mid field possession will improve with this group. Go United.
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What tactical problems are you seeing?
Personally I’m not seeing any, but it seems we are not building up possesion. What I mean by this is we are losing the ball in the final third very easily when our defense just got attacked on for like 5 MINITUES. That is a problem. We need to be more patient and more decisive in the final third which are two very different and difficult things but we need it.
ATTENTION ALL ATLANTA UNITED FANS: CURRENTLY, GIRGOS HAS 40% OF THE VOTE FOR GOAL OF THE WEEK. SAINT LOUIS HAS 44%. VOTE FOR GIRGOS NOW! EVEN IF YOU DON’T HAVE A TWITTER ACCOUNT, MAKE ONE QUICKLY AND VOTE FOR HIM NOW!!!
Vote early and vote often
Happy for the 3 pts. Was really impressed with the our Defensive organization. Unfortunately we got a lot of in-game practice because Orlando spent a ton of time around our goal box.
Now we once more have to wait 2 weeks to see our starters play together due to call ups. 4 starters out of the lineup against Toronto. I hate these call ups.
One thing on the bright side is we showed the ability to win when not playing well. It’s something that really good teams do especially when playing lesser teams. You don’t always play “good” games and so you have to find a way to still win. AU did that this game. Not that you want to make a habit of it. Doing this two or three times a year can mean the difference of making a playoff spot or getting a better slot at the top of the table.
I think it will bring back some very good memories from Tatas era👍
Well, it was an enjoyable game and not a bad crowd either but wow, did we miss scoring chances… one thing I’ve noticed about Miami is they seem to score with very few chances. We need to put teams away when we get the chances. Toronto is not gonna be easy; we need the away win.
Toronto is going to be very tough. Not because they’re all that great (they’re OK), but because they only have one player getting called up for international duty. We have 6, including 4 starters. And it’s on the road.
The good news is they’ve only scored 3 goals in 4 games.