Let’s begin with a quote from Gonzalo Pineda after Atlanta United’s 2-1 loss to FC Cincinnati on Saturday night, when asked by the AJC’s Doug Roberson what Atlanta can do to keep their rediscovered knack of letting results slip away from becoming a further trend in 2024.
“I mean, what else can we do? We’re showing the film, we’re talking about it, we’re seeing the same things that you see. We’re scoring at home and then certain individual lapses, or however you want to call it, and then we’re conceding goals. We’re aware of it. We’re working on that. We’re showing film, and I think the process at some point has to pay off.”
After Saturday, I’m sure fans can’t help but wonder after back-to-back blown leads at home if a) ut will eventually pay off; b) the message is getting through; or c) a new voice is needed in the locker room. One’s belief in any (or all three) of those schools of thought could be framed by their faith (or lack thereof) in the man in the technical area.
Either way, it doesn’t look like things are paying off yet.
First, let’s rewind to the 2023 season, which followed a 2022 campaign that featured a rash of injuries and carried with it the message of leaving the previous year in the past — a message that was broadcast rather forcefully at times:
In the end, a team expected to take a step forward…didn’t. They went unbeaten in their first four (a home draw against a Toronto FC team that would finish dead-last in the standings notwithstanding) before getting shelled at the eventual MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew with a good portion of their starting XI on international duty. Then they beat the New York Red Bulls 1-0 but afterwards slogged through an 12-match stretch that saw them win just twice and featured:
- a stoppage-time equalizer (90’+4) conceded at Toronto FC
- an 89th-minute equalizer conceded at Chicago Fire FC, just under a month after giving up a tying goal to Chicago at home in the 90th minute before winning on an own goal deep in stoppage time (90’+9)
- a late equalizer conceded to the New England Revolution’s Carles Gil at home (90’+3)
- a loss to 2nd-division Memphis 901 in the 3rd round of the U.S. Open Cup, which saw Memphis pull level on a stoppage-time penalty (90’+6) and take the lead in extra time
They looked better after the new signings came in, but some of the old problems persisted.
- On August 30, leading FC Cincinnati 1-0 at home, they allowed goals to Lucho Acosta and Brandon Vazquez just five minutes apart to fall behind with 10 minutes remaining
- On September 2, they took a 2-1 lead at FC Dallas in the 58th minute before Bernard Kamungo tied things up four minutes later
- On September 20, they led 1-0 at D.C. United before Gabriel Pirani’s 80th-minute leveler
This isn’t an exhaustive list, but if Atlanta had won the above matches in league play, they would’ve had 13 more points, good for 64 points in the regular season and 2nd place in the Eastern Conference. Had they seen matters out against the Philadelphia Union and FC Cincinnati, they’d be on 16 points and in a top four spot in the East.
Yes, Atlanta has had injured players within their ranks. Yes, Ronald Hernandez was forced into an unfamiliar position with Noah Cobb needing to exit at the halftime break. Yes, the Union and Cincinnati are good teams.
In spite of that, Atlanta had leads in both matches. Why couldn’t they close the deal? Either the players don’t possess the mental fortitude to do so, or whatever is happening in training and in the video room isn’t sinking in. Which is it? At this rate, maybe they need to score three times a night to have a chance at winning. (They could have done just that against Cincy, mind you.)
With that in mind, consider another quote after the Cincinnati loss in response to a question by our own Henry Higuita, on what Pineda himself can do to help the team “shake it off”:
“I think you are giving too much credit to the coaches. I think that once the ball starts to roll, it’s also on the players, the good and the bad. I think it’s all on them. How I can affect the game – yes, a couple subs, a couple indications, being a cheerleader on the sideline, of course, but once the ball is rolling it’s all on the players. So, they have to find ways to together make that mental break…and then move on and move forward and continue playing the same way that we have to. But it has to come from them, honestly. I don’t feel like we have that power to send a message from the sideline to all the players [on] the field.”
He’s not wrong: he didn’t allow any of the goals or make any of the defensive errors that occurred on the field. The players have to bear that weight to execute the head coach’s game plan. That said, a team tends to take on the identity of its head coach. I’m by no means calling for Pineda’s ouster — you’d likely find few coaches in this league who are as kind, approachable, and accomodating as he is — but the last few games haven’t done much to appease those that have been advocating for his departure. And frankly, the perfomance of the team on a match-to-match basis does fall on his shoulders.
Atlanta’s next chance at three points comes against Chicago at Soldier Field, a venue where they’ve had a whale of a time getting a win. They’ve had a whale of a time getting wins on the road, period. Getting one against the Fire, who were drilled by Real Salt Lake 4-0 in their last outing, would be a small step in the right direction.
So who’s to blame for Atlanta United’s inability to hold leads? The answer might not be as clear-cut as it seems. One thing’s for sure: “the process” had better pay off sooner rather than later.
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I thought the Dax was acquired for just such occasions. Get fresh legs and leadership onto the pitch and seal the win. I would also think that with known injuries to the back line, Pineda would get training in the week before the game to whoever his subs would be so that they would be prepared. It’s not unrealistic to assume that we could be up a goal midway through the second and train the team to say that we would be in that position. It seems to me that Pineda doesn’t adjust to the situation. Granted it’s up to the players to execute the plan on the field but the coach needs to get the right players on the field at time they can influence the game.
When we have a healthy starting 11 we have enough offensive power to outscore most teams but we still haven’t learn to defensively seal a win.
We flat out get out coached in many ways. He knew he only had 2 center backs that were available, so train the “just in case” scenario. Be prepared change the formation and adjust on the fly. Your 6 could drop in and put Dax in for the true 6. The same approach, blame the players-yes to a point but also adjust and show more passion for the game and quit barking at the 4th the entire game. Come up with a better plan. Plan for everything that could go wrong. Wolf and Fortune should not be in our lineup. Maybe, just maybe the FO could bolster up our bench.
Agree with the first part, but the new FO has done a great job of ramping up the quality depth we have tbf. It just wasn’t used in the best way here, I agree we should have kept Muyumba on and played him or Dax at CB
Derrick Ettiene transferred to Toronto for (up to) $375k in GAM. Pretty shocking we got anything for him at all, but at least we don’t have to use a buyout on him…
crazy how we can keep getting other teams to buy players we thought are worthless
Don’t know who at AU thought he was worth bringing him in.
Tbf, I did, and most people here got excited about it too when it happened.
I think we can all agree this is Vox’s fault
Rec
Man city and ATL supporter here (don’t hate)
While I understand his comments about “it’s on the players once the ball rolls.” I also feel like this is an extremely poor mentality as a coach.
I watch Manchester City about as much as I do ATL. They have the best players in the world, and every game I see Pep calling the likes of KDB, Haaland, Stones, Silva, etc to the touch line to give them instructions. I watch the Amazon docuseries and he is explaining every little detail about a players positioning and where the ball should be going. There are multiple ballon d’or capable players on man city and Pep is chewing them out for a poor pass mid game. I also saw this Wednesday from Real Madrid’s manager.
I saw all this to say, while I agree with pineda’s assessment of coaching can only go so far, I disagree that there isn’t more he can be doing.
In 2022 we had a problem where our on field captain (miles) was a bit too quiet. I fear our overall general isn’t doing near enough during matches
Hard to argue there isn’t room for improvement. Also hard to argue there hasn’t been improvement. Making a judgement on this season, especially given the injuries and how the foibles have transpired seems precarious. Either way we’re gonna find out.
Oh, the injury excuse. Are we the only MLS team with injuries? Look at Miami, they’ve been ravaged by injuries, yet with good coaching they’ve been able to do fairly well. Like Marcelo says, we don’t want to be an Ok team, we want to be MLS’s leader and achieve international recognition. Can Pineda do this? I don’t think so.
I don’t see it as an excuse…I’m not playing a blame game. Just noting it as relevant context. He also doesn’t really control the availability off the bench. Other teams have built their rosters differently. This team is also nothing like Miami. Is Tata a better coach? Probably. One thing is for sure..the org is going to make a determination after the season almost irrespective of what any of us is saying here. Which is probably for the best.
Well, if Garth starts looking to me for advice, we’re in even more trouble than we think we are.
Ditto. In as much as I value my opinions, guessing he’s got a better handle on the situation than I do.
I have an easier time chalking it up to injuries if we were just outplayed but we somehow found ways to get ahead. We did all the hard work even missing our starting center forward and wingers! As chrisjonesatl stated below once you are up there is really no excuse for a professional team not to be able to defend and see out a game late in the second half. If it happens once, well things happen. It has just happened so many times it seems to be a systematic or organizational problem
That’s how things WERE and not they ARE today. Unfortunately. Yes, back in the previous decade, Atlanta wanted to get into CCL (now CCC) and win it and go to the Club World Cup and show off on the international stage. The hirings of De Boer and Heinze were a continuation of that mentality and it’s unfortunate that those guys failed here. But once the decision to hire Pineda was made, that mentality was completely gone. You don’t hire an MLS assistant who has never been a manager before if you have international ambitions. I was absolutely furious at this and what at the time I perceived as a betrayal of what the club had stood for. I eventually made peace with it. I accept that the goal of the team going forward is to simply get into the playoffs and hope for the best. That’s it. If they ever fire Pineda, they’ll just replace him with another first time manager who is an MLS assistant somewhere and the results will be the same. I neither hate nor love Pineda. He’s OK and no more. The team is exactly where I predicted they would be this year – win some and everybody here overreacts (“I asked my manger for time off in December for the MLS Cup parade!”) and have a couple of losses and they overreact (“Burn everything down! Fire everybody! Trade everybody!”). I predicted that the team would do a rinse and repeat of 2023 and so far, that is dead on. Once Garth decided that he too was in love with Boca and Boca had to keep his job forever, there was no realistic good outcome. We’ve already won our final trophy under Boca and Garth and Blank are OK with that so I don’t get bent out of shape when the team loses because they’ve already told me that their ambitions are no higher than just making the playoffs and they have enough to do that.
I dont expect Pep, but we definitely have the money to pull a more tactically gifted coach. And under Lagerway rather than Boca, we would probably have better luck than when Boca just hired FdB and Heinze without doing his research
So Thiago errant short corner pass is on the coach?
Edwin horrible horrible back pass is on the coach?
The injuries to key players…on the coach?
Ronald Hernandez place on the roster…on the coach?
Have we won with his tactical approach?
Has the way we play highlight our DP’s as some of the league best one that could potentially bring in the highest fee
We need to stop with the blind hate before we run another good coach out of town. FDB won two trophies and was fired based off “fan” feedback just because of the spoiled comment
Look it’s FORM folks and it’s a fickle beast this to shall pass….with a full strength squad I would think we get one or both of the last two
Totally. Fans have the luxury of complaining without the constraints of interpersonal dynamics, employment, organizational complexity and so on. Partly just a sign of the times and outrage culture…everything is either amazing or cause for outrage. The reality lies somewhere in between.
deBoer was proved to be an awful coach. he just had an all star team.
pineda has had plenty of rope. he has done nothing.
Agreed. We won two trophies in spite of FdB, not because of him.
I wonder if anybody at AU reads any of this stuff. Well said.
I see what you’re saying, but the metaphors don’t quite work for me. At a restaurant for example, if you hire a bad server, you can just fire them and hire someone new – you haven’t signed them to a multiyear contract subject to the rules of an industry-wide restaurant association.
In MLS the performance of the team often reflects decisions made in prior years – there is a lag between results and process. For AU the lag is particularly long because we’ve had so many bad players on bad contracts for so long. This indeed reflects poorly on the front office, and to some degree the managers that influenced player acquisition. Personally I don’t place a ton of that blame on Pineda individually, because a lot of bad decisions were made before he came here and he’s had to live with them just like the rest of us.
Last year there was finally a recognition of that reality, and significant effort to address it. And after cutting a lot of dead weight and bringing in better players we actually have a good roster. So we should see better results this season. If not, then the manager is a reasonable place to look (I think this is Pineda’s last year under contract with us anyway), but at this point in time I think his overall win percentage with AU is less a reflection on him than the organization as a whole
I blame the loss on Kirk Cousins. He was the golden spike hitter and Atlanta United went on to lose the match. He also threw out the first pitch at the Braves game on Sunday and they went on to lose the game as well. That’s the only logical explanation
Thank you! Finally a voice of reason!
Also, the Falcons will probably lose a draft pick or two in the near future because Cousins has a big mouth. So yea, he is a walking curse
He’s also slated to throw the first pass for the Falcons this year. Not hopeful.
The only exceptional thing about this team is its home attendance. Everything else is mediocre, with the exception of away game performance – which is pathetic.
That’s an interesting take. And I would add that actual attendance has been and continues to drop (at least to my naked eye. We will not know because no one will release actual attendance.)
Pineda is super nice guy. Had a chance to talk to him in Nashville (the team stayed at my hotel) Very personable and approachable but that doesn’t make him the right coach for a winning team. Sometimes I think he’s too nice and maybe that is his problem. Does he need to put his foot down and get tough with players? Maybe. When a teacher can not teach his students year after year, maybe the teacher is the problem
People jump on Pineda for what they perceive to be poor tactics and subs, but I think this is the bigger issue.
Unfortunately, I think the players know there is a big gap between the preferred 11 and bench.
Muyumba should be benched for some of his passes.
I mean, I dont mind not agreeing with folks on every little thing, but you lose credibility when you say in the same the thread that Almada is not the problem but Muyumba should be benched for occasionally giving the ball away.
We’ve also been playing much more direct this year relative to recent years, especially with GG on the field.
They’re different players doing different things. The 10 needs to try more audacious passes. You don’t break lines by passing backwards. You’re naturally going to have a lower completion rate.
The 6 / 8 can’t give the ball away. Period. If you’re getting turned over in your 1/3 then you’re asking to give shots away.
I mean yes, in a vacuum they both make shit passes. But their objectives are different. Or, they should be.
Have we been more direct? I’ll admit I haven’t been watching games after going in person….but I’m not seeing a slew of balls over the top. Either to the striker or a winger running up the lines…..the only guy who seems to want that ball and get it frequently is Lennon.
Dear Atlantistas:
I feel it is time that we, just like Rachel, and Ross, go on a break for a while.
I have thought that Atlanta´s destiny was to be always one of MLS super clubs. Like LAFC, NYC, and now Miami, way higher than everybody else. Just making the playoffs, like you say, well, that´s just the bare minimum, and means only that tragedy has been avoided. But, if you can´t really compete for the marbles in a given year, than that team needs an upgrade.
We are friends, and I do care. That´s why I say bluntly that this Atlanta is not capable of competing for the marbles, it needs an upgrade in talent, and it needs a coach.
I feel I need to give you a break. There is nothing I can say that will help anything, other than make you dislike me even more.
I will use my MLS time watching Miami. They are doing something I believe in. Tata can spot talent – just look at Cremaschi, Ruiz, Diego Gomez, Aviles, Redondo, Facundo, all young, all very good. He removed the entire ex-Miami, which even had very bad Brazilians! – and changed everything. I like that spirit, it is precisely what attracted me to Atlanta. I hope Atlanta will come back to the good path, and then I will be back bothering you.
All the best, and I do hope the next window brings you top people, and not B leaguers. They can eventually be a rhyme, but they are not a solution. You know I am on your side, just not maybe for now.
Best everything, and see you around.
If Lennon was Brazilian you would stay wouldn’t you lol
If he were Brazilian he would treat the ball differently.
And have only one name.
wnding with “inho”, if he is really good
Lenninho?
He hasn´t earned it.
Appreciate your insight Marcelo. You were right about the coach and saw it way before I did. We need a better coach or else this team isn’t going to do anything special and keep making the same elementary mistakes.
Hi. Yes, that´s number one. Portugal has amazing coaches, as a suggestion.
It’s not even the mistakes, which happen to every team. The tactics are poor.
On offense we f*** with the ball too much. We refuse to play over the top. It’s like they watch video of Man City every Monday and then try and dreamcast it onto the field…don’t be a snob. Hit route 1. Even if you don’t score off it, the threat of that ball opens up spaces that are currently being squeezed. You also keep teams from counter pressing too hard, because the CB’s are backpedaling. Instead they’re jumping passes into the middle, because they know that’s where you want to play.
(Which reminds me….Lennon folding middle and Wiley sitting in a back three is the dumbest Pep / Berhalter shit ever. We are not a Ferrari. Stop trying to drive us like a Ferrari. Have Muyumba or Slisz drop between the CB’s and play like you know what you’re doing)
On defense, it’s not that bad. Because he’s not trying to do anything too fancy. My only qualms are that we are in a constant 4-1-4-1 and the way to defend most teams is 4-4-2, based on the 3 man build out line…..however, on the other hand, one reason we have trouble seeing out games is because we never defend deep. I’m not advocating a low block, but it’s the most basic of basic soccer. You need to be able to do it. You need to be able to see out games. Play deep and counter. It’s just…basic.
I do disagree with Marcelo on the players. We are far, far too good to be this mediocre. The excuses are over.
Hi. As I said, coming here to say a few peaceful things should be ok.
I honestly hate seeing Soltedo at Gremio. For me, some agent dumped him on the club, for whatever reason. He is not a Gremio player, he is not up to the task, period. We look at players from this perspective here. I look at your current players, and I don´t see Atlanta in them (the way I see your club). Some of these guys have the moves, but not the football – IN MY VIEW. Muyunba, Silva, even Soviet mechanic are just not there. Lennon is a robot.And not a particularly good one, maybe Boston Dinamics can help you there.
IN a very well coached team, with better company, maaaaaybe these players could produce enough football for you to be competitive. Being competitive is not to be able to compete, but to systematically win, home and away. Your current team, and philosophy, can´t. It makes me angry to see this.
To be short: I truly dislike your current management. Football Director, President, coach. I think they are doing their best to make a MLS team out of you – at the moment the best in the league are moving in a different direction. Miami brought in Matias Rojas today, a fine player I saw being wasted at current terrible Corinthians. They have a lot of talent, and a coach. So, they will move up and beat everyone in the league. They dumped the entire bad roster they had last year. This is how you do business.
Get a fine, modern Portuguese coach, let him design the team, and then you go back to being a force. And may the Force be with you.
We win by insistence, and persistence. I think MLS will change fast, and I hope Atlanta can go back to leading it as it did.
I do have a questoin. Your stadium serves a US football team, and Atlanta. I see it is super modern, and with air conditioning, which seems amazing.
I saw Miami play at some US football stadium last week, and they are going to play in another US football stadium this Saturday, so local clubs can sell lots of tickets and make a lot of money. Fine.
But the stadiums look very old,and they are not covered!! Are these stadiums actually being used in NFL? Does the league allow stadiums that are not covered? Are these first division clubs?
Sorry if this seems very ignorant of me, but offering this kind of infrastructure to supporters seems so disrespectful!!
Well, and so we go.
Only a few NFL stadiums are fully enclosed and most of them are much larger than MLS ones. Most have partial covering over the stands though. Personally I prefer the smaller venues, say 25-40k, can see the action much better.
I find this incredibly different.
Futbol still has a long way to go in the US. More kids are playing it but still the best athletes go for baseball, basketball or football (American). Slowly it’s becoming cool to play street soccer so maybe in the next 10 to 15 years it will be big, then… Brazil watch out!
Soteldo was overhyped. He was not capable of playing against faster, stronger, taller, more physical players in MLS. He had a few moments but that was it.
The being able to sit deep, defend, and see out games part is what I was thinking that you articulated better than I did.
I mean….goal kicks and block defending are a couple of the easiest things to set up at practice
Isn’t what DeBoer was trying to instill?
I think so but the difference to me is he was using it as more of a means to an end. I think any team needs to be able to do it situationally to see out a game or when the particular circumstances call for it.
Sorta. I think it’s best to instill a defensive mind an attitude first as a base/foundation and then add attacking prowess. The best teams have a solid defense and they can get by with a so, so offense. But I think this approach was not liked by our fans.
Understand, but hope you don’t stay away too long. Always appreciated your insights, and always wish best of luck to your Gremio! Hopefully we’ll get it turned around one day and hope to see you back on this forum real soon.
Thank you for the wishes. Gremio won away, in Argentina, for Libertadores tonight. That´s usually a good thing.
I think you are blinded to Lennon’s contributions by the fact that they are a result of simple hard work, precise crosses, and executing the fundamentals of his position well. No flair, no added style, no preservatives, and no poetry beyond the simple beauty of achieving goals through hard work and putting in shifts consistently.
But however long you’re gone, we’ll miss you and your perspectives.
Hi! New decision. I will come and say some meaningless things from time to time, just to keep up with what is going on. I will just not comment on your team, because I have said enough. When things change, then we back in full.
Good stay in touch
I’d love to hear perspectives from Argentinians (Argentines?) here; sorry not sure this is the correct reference.
In the spirit of doing all one knows how to do, here’s a question:
Assuming we are able to sell Almada and replace him with a player of reasonable quality (yes I know that is vague), are we better or worse?
The reason I ask is that some players can have a negative on field/locker room impact that impacts the team more than what they do on the ball.
We saw it to some extent with Josef (even if the negative energy was frustration at the universe for not being able to recover from a tough injury).
We see it at Chelsea with Madueke and Nico Jackson arguing over who gets to take a penalty and Casemiro with his abomination of a penalty with Man United in the FA cup semi.
In my opinion, we see that with Almada too. I think he is more talented than Almiron, but doesn’t have the same hunger to win. He feels as if he’s put together his highlight reel. So what if his occasional turnover leads to a goal? He’s still one of the best in the league right.
Well, I think its possible that mentality starts to show up in other players. Granted, I think out team plays extremely hard (minus Almada, as times). But we have players take risks to make plays that are above their skill level. Im thinking namely of the Wolff giveaway at NYC and the Mosquera pass against Philly.
Thats not to say all of that is on Almada. I’m just wondering if we might benefit from a new number 10 that was a but more team oriented even if not quite as talented. Coincidentally, a Lucho Acosta for example.
I think it’s a fair question. This version of Almada is definitely not adding the value needed as our dp 10. Hopefully he snaps out of it and stops trying to just play for the Europe sale. Even if he rings 6 into form there will be enough questions about his consistency now that I don’t think he has any chance of breaking the Almiron record.
Without Almada we are a below average team. I’m gonna go on a limb and say Almada is playing per the coache’s directive. He used to play farther forward and make runs into the box and we would leak goals like bottomless bucket. To me, it looks like he’s being asked to defend more. I could be wrong. In any event, he is an awesome player and enjoy watching him.
Almada is not the problem
This. Pineda did the same thing with Josef. There were lots of issues with that relationship and Josef bore some fault for sure, but Pineda seemed to want him to play way deeper than was helpful.
IMO, Lennon should be taking the corner kicks from the right corner. He has done so regularly in the past and had good results. Thiago obviously has the right to supercede Brooks, if he likes, and has been making that choice more often lately instead of just taking the CKs from the left. It’s up to Pineda to have a chat with Almada, if he thinks that Brooks has better success from the right than Almada does.
Amen! I just posted a critique on Almada in another article. Almada is selfish. Period. Electing to push Lennon out of the R corners led to a bad goal against and no real chances on other services. Then Lennon takes one and hits the forehead of our guy in front of the goal. It’s Almada first, team performance second.
I wouldn’t say Almada is the problem…he is often a problem. It’s a bit like Barry Sanders was in football…exciting, big plays, but also had a high number of negative yardage plays, which makes it difficult to sustain drives.
That said, he is a kid…as are a lot of the other players. And part of the approach the club has taken is to partly focus on developing talent. That doesnt happen overnight and can be a multi-year process.
The fact the team has conceded so few goals on the whole is encouraging given the injury situation and the fact that so many have been caused by fixable blunders. Will these players continue making errors? Sure. Hopefully those will decline over time…still a lot of fresh blood on the roster and that also requires time.
People are entitled to their views and emotional reactions. Personally I wouldnt draw too many conclusions until the season is a wrap. That’s certainly what management will be doing. Have the results been good, not thus far, but it also isn’t a dumpster fire. The benefit of waiting and providing positive encouragement to the young guys is worthwhile and if they have a better coaching option lined up, they might just go that route.
Mostly I see an improved defense, some new players who’re contributing and some really bad situational choices. Are some of them similar mistakes, probably, but not always the same guys. And again, these are development ops. Think it’s all salvageable on the season. Ymmv.
I appreciate this take, but not sure I agree with you on the defense. I feel like we are seeing the same poor positioning and lack of focus (especially late in games) that we have for the last two years under Pineda. We give opponents so much time and space, particularly on the wings. Eventually that comes back to bite you. By now it’s starting to feel like re-runs every time I see us concede a silly goal. To be a great team, you HAVE to at least be able to see out a result after you’ve gone up a goal (or two).
I don’t disagree that the play could be better. I also think the nature of the lapses varies. While maybe the first goal this weekend could have been prevented defensively, I wouldn’t go there. The second goal was a combo of blame and would agree, mistakes we’ve seen before. Some of that is also inherent to the system we play, how it can leave the wingbacks a little gassed and scrambling to recover. No free lunches.
There should have been more pressure at the cross and Brooks looked to be out of position already and probably shouldn’t have held up trying to sell the offside call…he was already behind the play and didn’t need to take himself further out of position for a sales pitch.
At the same time we went into the weekend tied for fewest goals conceded and just 1 goal off that…with second string center backs. So far that’s a big improvement over last year and to your point, could be better. This is definitely not a great team.
I’d like to see us aspire to be a consistently good , have a chance in the post season any given year and doing well at developing young players internally for the long term. Long term consistency. If that means sacrificing some performance near term for some stability and aligning all the pieces top to bottom, that’s ok with me. If it means transitioning to a better coach if we have the right resource lined up, great.
That’s not Almada being selfish. The play was clearly to make a short pass to Lennon, who would serve the real ball in. Almada just scuffed it completely.
Yeah. I’m not sure “stop kicking the ball to the other team’s best player in open space” is a “tactics” change a new coach would bring. Our best player rolled a corner to a league MVP on the opposite side.