Following the dismissal of Atlanta United’s longest tenured head coach, Gonzalo Pineda, on Monday, club president Garth Lagerwey spoke to Atlanta media about the club’s direction moving forward. He began the press conference by emphasizing his respect for Pineda and assistant coaches Diego de la Torre and Eugenio Villazon and how they all personified the values of Atlanta United, but noted that the “results hadn’t been there.” Lagerwey will now be leading the coaching search as they sift through what he referred to as a likely “avalanche of candidates,” with one caveat.
“I’ve had success with interim head coaches in my career,” said Lagerwey, reiterating that there is no timeline on when they’re looking to bring in a new coach – if interim coach Rob Valentino doesn’t work out. “Rob will have our full support to turn the season around.”
Garth’s time in Seattle as part of the Sounder’s organization saw a similar coaching change in 2016 when Sigi Schmid was relieved of his duties and then-assistant coach Brian Schmetzer stepped in to fill the head coaching shoes that he’d previously held when Seattle was in the United Soccer League. Schmetzer proceeded to then win MLS Cup that same season and helped create one of the stronger perennial MLS teams in the past decade.
Garth also responded to the rumors of a Giorgos Giakoumakis move to Cruz Azul, stating that deal is certainly “not done.” He emphasized wanting to have players in Atlanta that want to be a part of the club, and confirmed that while Atlanta has received offers from the Mexican side, they haven’t signed off on anything. In addition, he noted that there wouldn’t be any movement with DP’s in the summer unless the right negotiation comes along to offload any of Atlanta’s three current Designated Players. None of them can be bought down at this point, but Garth did mention they may tweak other roster spots.
That, of course, comes on the back of another Fabrizio Romano post saying Cruz Azul and Atlanta United are negotiating the installments on a $10 million dollar bid. But Lagerwey also referenced the clubs longstanding policy of not commenting on player contracts or potential trades until they’re finalized.
In terms of what type of soccer fans can expect to see going forward, Atlanta United has had a possession-oriented focus on the game under Gonzalo Pineda. But Lagerwey told media he believes there is no one “right” game style to focus on. He provided examples of clubs like Columbus that focus on possession and do well, and others that tend to play against the ball through pressing, like New York Red Bulls.
“That’s more of a head coaching question,” he stated, but also noted that the coaching and game model needs to be pragmatic. He also emphasized it’s important for a prospective head coach to at least have a relative understanding of the nuances of MLS, like the travel and roster rules.
Regardless of the recent run of form, Atlanta United will always be an attractive draw for potential head coaches around the world. While Garth did touch on the fact that some European candidates could be available soon, based on the end of most other league’s seasons, he constantly reiterated that there is no timeline on making a head coach hire.
Meanwhile, it’s possible Rob Valentino will receive another assistant coach to help round out his staff, though it’s unclear from the club at this point if Rob will have a say in who that person is, or if they would be an internal or external hire.
In terms of the rest of the 2024 season, “we’re all on notice,” said Lagerwey when referencing the talent on Atlanta’s roster and the various staff members that impact the product on the pitch, from technical director and VP Carlos Bocanegra down the ladder. The goal is to still shoot for the playoffs and try to get much more from the talent Atlanta United currently has at its disposal.
Let us know your thoughts below as this whirlwind of an international break begins.
Looking forward to the list of possible candidate posts.
Ive read many comments in here and moreso the other thread that indicates many people feel the roster is “fine”.
I’m curious what people mean by that.
Do we have a top 4 seed roster? Or do we have a top half of the eastern conference roster?
When you factor in how we are disproportionately affected by various international competitions (thats a gut feel driven assertion, to be fair), I do not think we have a top 4 roster. But we should at least be in the top half, and a couple summer transfers away.
Curious what you all think.
Potential: Top 4
Reality: Top 7 pretty much because of what you said
I think the roster quality is extremely similar in top 4 vs top half. Throw out Miami who is in a league of their own and I would say that the individual quality of our players is not too dissimilar to the top 4 teams. The big difference is simply the ability of those players to play as a cohesive team.
Also, the fact we are impacted by Int’l call-ups is alone an indicator we have top quality.
I think if you line this team up with Columbus we’d land relatively level.
I think we have a top 4 starting XI. I think we need some depth help at wing and maybe WB/FB. It is tough to evaluate the players because I really do not think they have been put in the best position to succeed.
Which brings up the question – why was Boca hired in the first place? He had NO experience as a coach or FO personnel. None.
My God, I wouldn’t give anything but I would give more than most to have been able to hear first hand just what he said that convinced experienced soccer guy Darren Eales that giving the job to a guy who had just retired and had zero days experience in the job was a winner. I get why Arthur Blank went for it – He LOVES to hire people into jobs they have never held before. All I can figure is Boca is like this. 20+ years ago we had an opening for a junior IT guy who I would be the team leader for and I made the decision to hire a guy I will call Joe. Joe worked out well, but holy crap, the guy was a self-promoter to an extent I wasn’t prepared for. He did noting against me, but he was always promoting himself and in a few years, he left us for some kind of higher paying job doing customer sales support at another company. He had little real experience in that area when they hired him, but the dude could bs with the best of them. I figure Boca probably had supreme self confidence and a ton of bs claims like they HAD to hire him because he knew MLS and they would be ska-rewed if they didn’t.
Anyway, Boca is never leaving AU so he will be an ongoing issue.
Third coach in a row fired in mid season. Continual acquisition of players who are good, but not good enough for a championship team. Kind of like losing 5 home games in a row. If Boca is smart, he’ll be looking for another job right now.
Wasn’t he linked to a European club last year? I want to say Scotland, but I could be way off.
If I was a betting man, I think this is Boca’s last season with AU. Garth didn’t know him and had no allegiance to him. Boca’s record without Eales is a proven collective liability for the club moving club. Unless the team somehow makes the playoffs or Boca recruits a top-class coach and relinquishes control, I think he is a goner.
In other words, start packing your bags Boca!
Boca is part of the good ol boy USMNT network
He needs to go
It is weird how Pineda got crucified for no coaching experience while Boca continues to get a free ride.
GG has agreed to personal terms to a deal with Cruz Azul…so much for a leverage move by the agent…
This is fine.
I’m pretty sure the money from this sale gives us the Garberbucks to buy down Gregersen.
You then bring in your new coach and given them two open DP slots to recruit stars and pair them with Almada until you sell him next summer*
*If you bring a star manager in, you get another year out of Almada
Interesting that Garth would not say Boca is part of the coach search.
Probably reading too much into that. Garth almost never talks to the press and it’s probably mostly that in not mentioning Boca.
Hot Take: We should sell GG. Recently, he hasn’t looked like he has wanted to play for this club. His desire doesn’t seem to be there anymore and he really has let his emotions (anger mostly) out in the games.
Garth said it and I will too. We will show commitment to players who show commitment to us. And at the moment, I’m not sure GG has a 100% commitment to us. Get as much money as possible and use it to get another DP.
I agree!
It sure sounds to me like we are selling GG.
FYI, he did the same at Celtic while having similar fitness issues related to his knee
Agreed, though if we move on him, we absolutely must bring in someone who is a proven goal scorer. We’re so abysmal in front of goal it’s embarrassing
Agreed. Though to be fair, a big part of us being so abysmal in front of goal was Pineda’s extremely primitive tactics in attack, to wit: send the ball down the right wing and send hopeful cross into the middle….repetitively. A single repetitive attack vector is extremely easy to defend
The tactics point here is exactly why I would argue against selling him. GG’s passion for the game is evident. I think he IS a proven goal scorer. I’d argue he’s been shut down recently due to our tactics being so one dimensional. I’d love to see GG under a new coach with different tactics.
My hope is that his body language is fed up with GP and the tactics, and not Atlanta as a city or club. (similar to Josef under FDB)
Similar to Josef under Pineda
I don’t know why this is getting downvotes. It’s spot on. I’d also add, a good way to improve finishing is to increase the frequency of good chances (blindly banging in crosses isn’t really it). It’s just math, but I also think it takes some of the pressure off when guys know they are going to get more than one decent look a game.
I tend to harp more on the blown open shots than the lack of creativity and consistent scoring. To me, until you have a team that routinely punishes silly mistakes (like folks seem to always do to us), the rest is just funny business