Atlanta United saw its winless streak reach five matches with a 2-1 loss to Minnesota United on Saturday evening at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Both teams didn’t create any major chances in the early going that served as challenges to Brad Guzan or Dayne St. Clair. But Atlanta was let off in the 9th minute after a giveaway that eventually found Robin Lod, but the resulting shot was tipped over by Brad Guzan.
Just over a half-hour into the first half, Atlanta looked to have a sure goal as Saba Lobjanidze was played into the box, but he wasn’t able to get enough on his chip attempt to get it past St. Clair as the ball rolled harmlessly out of play.
Atlanta had its best moment of the half, though, just moments later as a perfect ball from Thiago Almada to Giorgos Giakoumakis saw the Greek striker get a head to it and bounce it off the turf, but St. Clair was somehow able to knock it over the bar.
Minnesota, however, took the lead through Kervin Arriega in the 54th minute, as he headed a Joseph Rosales corner kick past Guzan for the opener.
The Loons doubled their advantage in the 60th minute as Tani Oluwaseyi scored his team-high fifth of the season, as he hit a well-taken effort past a diving Guzan who, for his part, should have done much better.
Atlanta, though, made it interesting in the 82nd minute as Daniel Rios slipped it to Lobjanidze on a counter, and this time the Georgian international scored to make it a 2-1 contest. But despite a frantic finish, the equalizer never came, as Thiago Almada’s free kick at the end of stoppage time sailed right into the hands of St. Clair.
Atlanta has a short turnaround as it takes on USL League One side Charlotte Independence on Tuesday night at Fifth Third Stadium in Kennesaw.
Let us know what you think of the match — leave a comment and fill out your player ratings below. (If you’re having trouble viewing it on mobile, click here.)
Ok so the trend continues in fact it has gone from bad to worse. #Pineadaout #Bocaout. GL has to make the move at the summer transfer window, I don’t know if we’ll have Almada past then, either way Rob V as interim again, lets see our guys play using their God given talents, enjoying themselves, winning again and making the fans rejoice. Guys I wouldn’t miss if they left, Hernandez, Mosquera, Fortune, next tier Caleb <I know I know>,Wolff,Muyumba, Silva,Thiare all these guys are ok to good players,HG’s included, but good is the enemy of great and we want to be great again think back 2018. We need to set our sights on a new #10 and work our way out. I love our club and it simply painful to watch.
You want to get rid of Thiare, our first productive backup striker since 2019? I can get behind selling Wiley since it’s the logical next step in his career, but only if he have an alternative lined up. Wolff is fine for his position on the depth chart imo but I dont have a strong opinion on him. I agree on Fortune, I havent seen anything from him since his first couple games.
I do think that on Thiare I agree he’s better than what we’ve had but I don’t think he’s that good. He had a couple of good games but I don’t think we will be consistent. Just my thought.
He definitely needs a larger sample size, but 3 goals in 5 games (and playing well positionally) doesn’t make me want to sell him considering our hit % on signing backup strikers.
ATLUTD has struggled since 2019, firing Pineda while leaving FO intact is treating symptoms, not problems. We’ll just find some other possession coach for Boca to micromanage, then fire.
I was on that train for 4 years, we fixed that problem. The FO is fine.
Yeah, since Lagerway arrived, it’s hard to find much fault with the overhaul of the roster. If we don’t start winning with a quickness, I am hoping he overhauls the coach this summer.
Individual performances were off tonight. But I put this loss squarely on Pineda. From the moment we took the field there was absolutely zero creativity in tactics. No one making runs, no dangerous balls being played. Nothing. And I put that on the coaches shoulders tonight.
Personal opinion, but I really feel like our boys are willing to put in the work needed to win. We saw that at the end. But we are being completely stifled by terrible tactics.
The two goals we gave up sucked. But that can happen to the best of teams. What’s way more concerning to me was our offense.
We have one of the best rosters in MLS and are getting nothing out of it.
Pineda out
MU made us look like a team that needs a total upgrade. Why couldn’t we play the match like the last 10 minutes? Was Pineda the only one that didn’t know MU was going to play in a low block?
It’s compounded by Pineda’s post-game statements that we “dominated” MU based on the numbers. Not really. They “lead” on xG at the half by a little bit. I’d guess the possession got completely tilted after they went up 2-0 and were happy to concede the ball and defend in their low block. To their credit, their shape was on point pretty much the whole game. Just well prepared to come in and grind out the result.
It was discussed elsewhere, but with Gregerson back, this team might be better suited for playing a similar style against good teams, and going 5-3-2, especially if Silva is going to be out a while. I think Saba can play as a second striker and we have good depth at ST behind Giako. We have mids that can defend in Slizs and Muyumba, and we all know Lennon and Wiley are really more wingbacks pressed into fullback duty (small but important difference).
Something has to change.