I mean… we kinda saw this one coming, didn’t we?
Atlanta United was missing a significant spark in the attack as it fell to Toronto FC 2-0 at BMO Field on Saturday. The loss keeps the Five Stripes at six points through four games with a 2-2-0 record.
Gonzalo Pineda was forced to change his starting lineup for this match given international call ups and injuries. Noah Cobb and Ronald Hernández slotted into the backline in place of Stian Gregersen and Caleb Wiley while Dax McCarty and Nick Firmino fill Bartosz Slisz and Thiago Almada’s spots in midfield. Up top, Tyler Wolff was given the nod at left wing over Xande Silva and Jamal Thiaré leads the line with newcomer Daniel Ríos available off the bench.
The Five Stripes started with an impressive level of composure that allowed them to get forward a few times with no end product. Toronto was always the more dominant force in the first half, putting up eight shots to Atlanta’s two and winning the xG battle 0.6 to 0.3.
The hosts’ pressure was telling and they got their reward in the 35th minute after a clever sequence of short passes ended in 2024 MLS SuperDraft first pick Tyrese Spicer putting the Reds ahead 1-0. That goal was Spicer’s first in MLS.
Atlanta United saw out the rest of the half and were lucky to enter the break down by just a goal. Despite looking second-best in most aspects, the Five Stripes still had hope with the attacking talent of Edwin Mosquera, Silva and Rios available off the bench. The injury substitutions of Shane O’Neil and Lorenzo Insigne in the first half also offered some relief for the Five Stripes.
Atlanta saw more of the ball in the second half, but just couldn’t do anything with it. Toronto kept pressing and creating all sorts of trouble for the Five Stripes’ build up, which led to their second goal courtesy of Prince Owusu after putting away a loose ball inside the box. His first of the season doubled the hosts’ lead with 20 minutes left to play.
In the end, the Five Stripes were unable to get on the scoreboard and ended the night with its second shut-out loss of the season.
Not much else to say other than it was an uninspiring performance for Atlanta. I’m not sure how much you can actually take from this game other than worrying about the squad depth. Bleh.
Atlanta United will hope to bounce back on Sunday when it hosts Chicago Fire at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
What did you think of the match? Let us know in the comments and submit your player ratings below. If you have trouble viewing it, click this link to open the form.
[…] Cobb was called into action due to the injury to Stian Gregersen and the absence of Luis Abram due to international obligations, playing all 90 minutes in a CB pairing with Derrick Williams during Atlanta’s 2-0 loss at Toronto FC. […]
I assume an article is coming, but saw that Gregersen had meniscus surgery, and is expected to miss 3-4 weeks. Not the worst, all things considered.
Exactly what we should expect when half the starters are gone. I can’t make any fair comments on any player’s performance. Good effort. Good try. No way we were coming out of that roadtrip with points. Hopefully one day MLS can figure this scheduling thing out during International games.
I just expected better !! They could not get out of the press and made serious bad judgments in their passing. they did not seem to have a plan to move the ball down the feel . I really expected more from Cobb as shown in pre-season. Did these guys not practice together ? they just seemed not to be able again to connect 3 forward passes? I did not expect them to win, and thought a draw would be a good result. But other teams using their subs seem to play so much better??
Yeah, I hated the insistence upon playing out of the back against a team that seemed quite organized in their high-press. We really struggled to get out of our own third at times. It’s not pretty but with the speed/talent out wide, it might be a hoof and run type of game and grind out a point that way. I don’t think Firmino offers enough against MLS teams to be a reliable starter, at least not with so many other guys out. Cobb was kind off out of sorts as well. That goal they got through three defenders was inexcusable at this level. I’ve been critical of Guzan but that’s not on him, that shot can’t get off with three guys there. Overall, we did put in good effort. We got a few decent looks at goal, but not enough to really threaten TFC. Kind of expected that part but thought we might get lucky on one and steal a point.
Ultimately, MLS gets a 1.0 rating. The league is growing in numbers and stature. Many teams are signing quality players that get called up. It cannot be a serious league when teams are playing through an INTL break without 4-5 callups (often the best/most important players). It would’ve been even worse had Saba gotten the nod for Georgia. He was kind of the one consistent spot in the attack.
Most everyone gets 5s from me. It wasn’t bad per se, but it wasn’t great either, and obviously it resulted in a 2-0 loss (though that 2nd goal looked offsides to me, I think they just didn’t have the angle to overturn it). Guzan gets a 7 for being pretty solid, both goals weren’t really on him. Xande gets a 7 for immediately making some things happen. Firmino gets a 4 for being invisible. Hernandez gets a 3 for constantly giving up possession, poor positioning, and being leaky in defense.
Though now that I’m reviewing the goals, it looks like McCarty might’ve had a pretty decent part on both of them. He was somewhat out of position on the first goal which forced Cobb to vacate space to put pressure. And then the second one he’s the one that made a bit of a bad pass to Hernandez.
With you on a lot of that tbh. Firmino had a few good balls in the second half, but very underwhelming overall. McCarty doesn’t have 90 in him. Thought Muyumba looked good, but ultimately not having Slisz to play along side and break through the press was too much.
Spot on. Firmino looked overwhelmed by the pace and speed of this level. Unfortunately, he also looked to slow to contribute much of anything. Also disappointed to see Noah regress from preseason. Not bad but not great either. Mosquera brought some real energy off the bench, which was a positive to take away.
Has anyone mentioned that playing through international windows is idiotic…