Another home match and another great Atlanta United victory. Atlanta, led by a goal by Giorgos Giakoumakis and a brace by his substitute Jamal Thiare, put out the Chicago Fire 3-0 in a comfortable victory. As always, here are the writer and reader player ratings, starting with our own.
Starters
Brad Guzan: 7
Guzan, once again, did all that was needed from him. He made some good saves in both halves, with a good free kick save diving to his left in the second half. The only mistake he made was his poor communication almost leading to a goal when Cobb tried to shield the ball into his hands and he kicked it away in a panic, giving Chicago a great chance 3 minutes in. Otherwise, solid performance.
Noah Cobb: 7
Best game for Cobb in an Atlanta kit. Other than the Guzan miscommunication, he was fantastic and somehow everywhere all at once, putting in plenty of crucial tackles and staying in position much better than he was against Toronto. He really looks to have a bright future with the club.
Derrick Williams: 6
He always seems to start out shaky, but Williams got into a great rhythm. His passing out of the back under pressure was superb, and so was his long switches of play. He also defended well and was a good leader for Cobb. These good performances are now Williams’ norm.
Caleb Wiley: 5
Wiley just hasn’t been himself to start the year, and this game reflected that theme. His last-ditch defending was impressive, but his defending in general was poor. His passing was good on the touchline transitioning to attack but was awful building out of the back. He just hasn’t seen to settled into his game yet, and it luckily hasn’t cost United a result.
Brooks Lennon: 7
Man, Lennon has hit his prime and is a fun player to watch. He was good in the attack, with his defining moment being a world-class, pinpoint cross that met Jamal Thiare for the second goal. Let’s enjoy watching him while this lasts.
Bartosz Slisz: 6
Slisz did alright, putting in well-timed challenges on the ball and always having good positioning, but his passing was very poor. It’s expected as he was completely shot from playing in the Euro 2024 qualifying play-offs with Poland, but it’s been the only bad part of his game all season. Here’s hoping it improves, but even then, it’s not much to worry about. He’s still a fantastic player and showed signs of it during the match.
Tristan Muyumba: 7
It was a fantastic performance that fans have become accustomed to. Muyumba’s combination play with Almada was a thrill and his defending was solid. I honestly do not know how no European first division side picked him up before Atlanta did. He isn’t perfect, and did give the ball away during the match, but he’s easily one of the best midfielders in all of MLS and was a joy to watch against Chicago.
Thiago Almada: 8
Almada hit the post near the end of the match and scuffed a great chance wide early in the game after a 1-2 with Saba, but even without scoring, he put on a clinical performance. His first touch to start the attack on the second goal was class, his movement on and off the ball was great, and his passing was well-placed and the forefront of Atlanta’s attack. A performance like this shows how Almada is the engine of the team that works best when he’s at his best.
Xande Silva: 5
Silva couldn’t dribble to save his life. Every 1v1 situation, he lost the ball. And while some of his transitional passing was alright, it didn’t make up for giving the ball away too many times, and neither did his decent defending. Luckily, the right side of the attack destroyed Chicago, as Silva just didn’t bring his usual performance to the table.
Saba Lobjanizde: 8
Saba’s energy was contagious as he created chance after chance for United, somehow not scoring himself. He provided the assist on the first goal to Giakoumakis while constantly brining havoc to Chicago’s back line, weaving inside and out with great pace, skills, and ball control. What many didn’t note was that his defensive positioning was so much better than in Toronto, and that helped him to create many of his transitional opportunities. He worked well with Almada and was one of the team’s best players, which was a great response to a rough night in Toronto.
Giorgos Giakoumakis: 7
Giakoumakis took his goal well with an easy but precise finish to the keeper’s left inside the 6-yard box, but his rating isn’t as high as you’d expect because his first touch and hold-up play was awful. It was bad last year and seemed to have majorly improved at the beginning of the new season, but I assume his tired legs from Greece’s Euro qualifying quest didn’t help him and affected his first touch against Chicago’s physical back line. Still, a good performance, and with 5 goals, he’s one behind the Golden Boot lead.
Subs
Jamal Thiare: 10 (Man of the Match)
Wow, what a performance from Jamal Thiare. After a horrid first start for the team against Toronto, Thiare subbed into the game and absolutely feasted off of Lennon, Almada, and others. His combination play out wide with Mosquera was great, his off-ball runs in behind were great, his passing was great (I only saw one giveaway the entire 30 minutes he played), and his goals were great. It was a superb header for his first goal, and he finished with considerable aplomb on his second goal after taking a great cut back with his first touch to send a Chicago defender sliding by him before slotting it home in the bottom right corner. The superb performance was a great celebration for Thiare’s birthday.
Ajani Fortune: 7
Fortune usually is best as an 8 but played well as a 6 for 30 minutes, dropping back deep to collect and distribute the ball, which he did well. He brought stability and helped secure the game, which is all you can ask for from the bench.
Dax McCarty: 7
In his limited playing time, McCarty at his old age still ran around Chicago, combining with Atlanta’s attack and building up the play well with Fortune. It was extremely impressive how involved Dax was and it gives me a great outlook for Atlanta’s midfield depth.
Edwin Mosquera: 6
Mosquera was great when it came to pinging the ball around up top with Thiare and Almada and he brought his signature bursts of energy. However, his 1v1 opportunities were wasted and he gave the ball away too much while dribbling. Fine performance, but a little disappointing.
Luis Abram: N/A
Community Player Ratings
Brad Guzan: 7.27
Brooks Lennon: 8.02
Noah Cobb: 7
Derrick Williams: 7.32
Caleb Wiley: 6.49
Bartosz Slisz: 6.29
Tristan Muyumba: 6.88
Thiago Almada: 7.12
Saba Lobjandize: 8.59
Xande Silva: 6.1
Giorgos Giakoumakis: 7.85
Subs
Jay Fortune: 5.88
Edwin Mosquera: 6.39
Jamal Thiare: 8.85 (Man of the Match)
Dax McCarty: 6.03
Luis Abram: 5.55
Gonzalo Pineda: 7.45
That quote is from the article above and it’s about Muyumba.
I agree. I have to give Garth and the rebuilt analytics team credit here for finding him. Looks like the French 2nd league is a great place to look for talent. The teams there can’t really say no to a good offer, which is how we got Gregersen. Gregersen’s team in Ligue 2 was paying him a Ligue 1 salary to stay there after relegation and eventually they had to sell him because they aren’t even close to promotion and are far enough away from relegation that they needed the money more than him.
Fans and site staff are both down on Slisz because of his passing.
I’ll be the first to admit that its not perfect, but I do want to point out that when he does give it away, he’s often choosing passes that typically dont expose us in transition in the middle of the field.
Most of his unsuccessful attempts are trying to play someone in behind the back line.
That’s not an excuse, but we rarely seem to have turnovers that lead to us being unbalanced defensively, which is an improvement upon last year.
I expect his passing to continue to improve as he settles in.
From Lowery at MLSSoccer:
“Muyumba can move the ball, but Slisz leads Atlanta’s central midfielders in both progressive passes and progressive carries per 90 minutes, according to FBref. The 25-year-old often ventures ever-so-slightly further forward on the right side of the double pivot than Muyumba on the left, but the two have developed an effective give-and-take even in the season’s early stages.
Not everything is clean and crisp yet for Slisz, but he plays at a high tempo.”
He’s a bit of an enigmatic player. His ultra composed demeanor makes him look a lot slower than he really is.
Great points and completely agree. Love the nuance on “possession vs progression”.
Match commentators have pointed out that Pineda wants the team to play more direct.
Whether that is Pineda’s true preference or an adaptation to who we have, a preliminary assessment seems to indicate its at least help with our defensive structure when we don’t have the ball.
I feel like the Wiley critique was a bit harsh. I thought he had a decent game. Similar to the community average ratings, I think Wiley had a better game than Slisz. Slisz had way too many turnovers. Hopefully once he shakes off the jet lag his passing will improve.
I thought the critique of Wiley was not harsh enough. His first half yellow for kicking the ball away was completely unnecessary and unacceptable. We are lucky Chicago was so anemic on offense that they weren’t able to leverage it more. At the very least, save it for the last 5 mins of a tight game.
In agreement here. 6.5 feels about right. Would have been a 7, if not for a youthful mistake that should be a learning experience. Chicago was completely void of any threat down either wing. Honestly feel that Xande’s poor performance had more of an impact on Wiley going forward, than Wiley himself. The poor give aways caught Wiley up field on a few occasions early. Once we put in the first goal, he clearly opted to hang back and avoid getting caught up field. These mature decisions collectively amongst the team are why our defense is more stout this year. I’ll personally take a solid defensive outing from Wiley and a clean sheet win, rather than an overly aggressive offensive performance that could result in the opposition earning a counter goal.
Loved seeing the breakout from Thiaré as much as anyone, but Saba was the most dominant player on the pitch from start to finish. He was easily the MotM.
An 8 for Almada is awfully generous…a few nifty juke moves here and there else it was another subpar performance. I guess the upside is if that’s his new normal, defn won’t be fetching strong European offers and he’ll remain with the club. Not being intentionally mean…like the kid…but won’t even get a glance as far as all stars go…should simply be a higher expectations. Both center backs had better performances imo.