Atlanta United returned home OH MY GOD THEY SCORED A GOAL IN THE FIRST MINUTE!
Let’s try again. The Five Stripes took on NYCFC at home on short rest and came out swinging, with Daniel Rios scoring the fastest goal in Atlanta United history at 21 seconds – well short of Josef’s previous record of 47 seconds. The squad then proceeded to play, dare I say fun soccer, netting a second goal in the 38th minute. They even had a VAR review for a potential penalty sprinkled in for a little razzle dazzle, and overall the vibe of the team just felt much more upbeat.
Then the second half happened and the Five Stripes let NYCFC into the game, resulting in an underwhelming 2-2 draw. Why can’t we have nice things?
Here are the final whistle thoughts from the Benz!
Off the ball aggression
NYCFC took a while to settle into this match, and that’s because Atlanta’s players were all over the pitch. They were dynamic, mobile, and aggressive from the opening whistle and continued to be even after the early goal. The midfield trio of Tristan Muyumba, Dax McCarty, and Bartosz Slisz were unpredictable and effective all over the pitch, assisting through the spine and out on the flanks – Slisz’s bad giveaway in the second half notwithstanding.
It was refreshing because the team came out with the walk to match the talk. Lately we’ve seen an Atlanta United team that’s admittedly not hung their head during the hard moments – of which there have been many – but they haven’t been effective in actually translating that into good football. They did that tonight, and it was due to simpler, more fundamental play. It was thoroughly enjoyable to watch.
Playing on the front foot…mostly
This ties in to my previous point, but even though the possession numbers for Atlanta were light, the team was much more strategic and accurate with the counters and opportunities they had. They seemed much more purpose driven when they had the ball, and it helped that their passes were more accurate and the players won many of their individual duels. The result is unfortunate but to be fair, the team played much better soccer tonight than they have in a month.
Bartosz Slisz
Yes, he made the poor pass that led to NYCFC’s first goal. But beyond that, the Polish international was superb. He got very involved in the attack and played well off the more defensive oriented Dax McCarty. Unfortunately, the story of the evening will always go back to how that mistake let NYCFC into the match, but that just seems to be more indicative of this team’s luck right now. And trust me, no one is going to be more upset than Slisz himself.
Finish games
Not much else to say on this one other than it’s that pesky attribute of Atlanta United that rears its ugly head just when things feel like they’re going well. Can’t give up another 2-0 lead in the second half at home this season…especially when you’re fighting so hard to stay alive near the playoff line.
Let us know below what you thought of the match!
Looked back on my preseason predictions:
I think we host a playoff series this season, but win zero trophies as a team.
Giorgos gets the Golden Boot.
Slisz finishes 2nd in the Newcomer of the Year.
Wiley gets sold before Almada.
Guzan starts less than 5 games
Lennon tops 10 assists again. Marcelo still says he’s terrible.
Well, I was half right on the 1st, and almost right about Wiley. Lennon has 6 assists so that may turn out correct, and Marcelo still says he’s terrible.
Way off on the other 3.
Do you think the improved offense was due, at least in part, to a shift back to having only 2 CBs?
i think the team is just getting used to not having Almada anymore
Im not sure if Almada or Pineda was to blame, but there seems to be this strategy even globally where you get your best players to occupy strange positions where the other team wont defend you to get on the ball.
Almada did this, Moreno did this, and even Pity.
It sounds like a good way to break a press until you see that the space your left back normally occupies is taken by your number 10. So great, he gets on the ball and now has to pass the option to play a lateral or backwards pass, or a forward pass into a group of players that are on average less skilled in the middle and final third because your #10 is out of position in order to get on the ball.
All that to say that I agree. The team is lacking in quality (and therefore execution), but everyones roles seem more defined.
I’ve noticed the #10 dropping back to receive the ball as well (and I understand wanting your most skilled player on the ball as much as possible… kind of like a point guard in basketball…) but I’m not a fan. That’s not the area of the field where we need our #10 – we need him closer to goal, not further away.
If your defenders can’t pick out a pass when they’re not under pressure, should they even be playing at this level?
Exactly. If a player cant advance the ball in their defensive third, then what good is it going to do moving them higher up to make space for a #10 to get on the ball?
Then on top of that it leaves us exposed in transition.
Slisz. The improvement from the last few games was the return of Slisz. He played the box to box role and allowed Muyumba to drift further into the attack.
If Gregerson wasn’t on red suspension we win that game.
Eh, if Gregersen wasn’t on red, we probably still play 3 out of the back and don’t have the midfield presence to have that attack.
I definitely agree that Slisz is a big improvement over his replacement, generally speaking.
But in terms of the outcome last night, his giveaway was Mosquera vs Philly levels of bad. We had every reason to win that game even without Stian.
The Slizs bit feels so on brand for this club.
“Other than that one mistake that completely changed the dynamic of the game, he was really good!”
They roped me in. Before they game, I’d probably have gladly taken the point. Especially when you look at the roster. Then you watch the game unfold like that and are pissed. Another tie that feels like a loss. I have to think AUFC leads MLS in the most blown 2-0 leads over the last 2-3 seasons.
GarthOut
If you still enjoy being an Atl fan, like this post. If not, then downvote it. I expect more downvotes tbh…
we enjoy being a masochist as an Atlanta United fan at this point. but that comes with being Atlanta sports fans in general.
How did we blow becoming a world club so quickly? We struck out on FDB and then heinze was insane. Heinze really killed us. Any momentum from an amazing start is completely gone and now we’re just another club, with a reputation of blowing leads
It’s quite astonishing when you think of it this way…
You’ve been around for years like me and I’ve talked about it for years, but here’s your really short version of how we blew it.
Late in the 2018 season, Darren Eales had to pick between keeping Tata Martino or Carlos Bocanegra. Tata made it clear “It’s him or me”. Eales picked Boca. Boca is still here. We’ve already won our final trophy with Boca at the helm. Until Garth wakes up and realizes this, and he likely never will, we’re done winning trophies. What’s kind of hilarious to me is Boca and Garth are the unstoppable ego vs the immovable ego.
You’ve been around s long time spouting that same nonsense. With peace and love, that didn’t happen.
When Tata leaves Miami next year – or even this year – will that also be Boca’s fault? That’s what he do.
Not what Tata said. Doesn’t fit the profile. Yet spoken with such conviction. Maybe cite a source for this information or consider the moniker tinfoilzontar.
Tinfoilzontar says Tata is a liar…exposes all on S&S…
https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/tata-martino-reveals-why-he-left-atlanta-united
Well done. Please post this every time zontar posts this nonsense.
Straight up bullshit penalty. Cannot believe they let him get away with a blatant flop with NO replay. Absolute trash referee. ATL deserved that win.
I still don’t know why Brennen picked up a yellow. He beat the guy to the ball.
He got a yellow for flopping
He picked up the yellow for going down in the box with no contact. Refs are bad about calling yellows for diving, but it’s technically what they’re supposed to do.
Why is it a bad thing for calling a yellow for flopping? That absolutely should be heavily penalized
I didn’t think it was a bad thing to call a yellow, and I think it was the right call. I’m just explaining in case people don’t know that diving is a yellow card, since it doesn’t get called all the time.
Also, I could see it not being a penalty, but at least on TV I don’t see how’d you overturn that. Lennon clearly has both arms extended pulling on NYC, and it was dumb of him to be reaching out that far.
It was really really soft, and the attacker went down at first contact clearly trying to draw a penalty. But once it was called as one, there was no way replay was going to overturn it.
It was a real WTF moment for Lennon. I don’t know that the actual contact made a huge impact on the play, but he wasn’t really making a soccer play. He’s got his arms outstretched on the defender with no real play on the ball. The whole sequence was set up by poor play in the midfield after Muyumba came on, though. I think it was Fortune who lost possession, seemed to foul an attacker outside the box (but didn’t stop the play), and then Brooks got beat.
One of the dumbest fouls I’ve ever seen. The attacker was inside the box, but did not have a great angle and was moving towards the end line. Lennon has speed. No need to grab. Especially when a penalty lets them tie it up.
And yet nothing on the pull on Silva in the box in the second half. Consistency is all I ask and there was none. Maybe Silva should have gone down, but the tide had turned at that point and the ref had his thumb firmly on the scales.
Longshore and Conti on the radio briefly argued about this. Conti thought it was a soft penalty, but a penalty nonetheless. Longshore was adamant that there was no way it was a penalty. There was a VAR, per the radio, and it was upheld.
Sorry, guy, wrong take.
Lennon’s penalty is soft, yet it’s an undeniable penalty if you get called on it. You just don’t give the ref any reason to call one, no matter what – and pulling down on a guy’s jersey during a run in the box is a reason.
Brennan is a yellow for the dive – no contact anywhere (not even with a toe in the ground or some other viable explanation) and he goes tumbling to the turf. Dive, simulation call, yellow.
I watched it in person, I watched it on the stadium screen, I watched it on my phone from like 5 angles, and there’s just no way it should have been called a pen. It’s a clear flop. And then the ref has the inconsistency to card Brennan for going down after taking more contact than that on the other end. There’s just no way. I don’t think I’m being biased in evaluating that either, I kept watching it asking myself “if this was the other way around would I think it should be a penalty?” and the answer is no. I just can’t see it, Lennon’s got a hand on his shirt, doesn’t seem to be impeding him in any way, and then Magno acts like he’s been tripped and tucks both legs like he was taken out. Obvious flop.
Brennan wasn’t touched, he just lifted his feet and fell
What a dumb self-inflicted result.
Everything else aside, when the opposing goalkeeper is the player of the game after giving up too goal. You know you should have won. With that being said idk what it’s gonna take to not constantly blow leads. I guess it’s just part of our identity
It’s going to take a manager and on-field leadership that can keep the team together for 90’+. That’s pretty much it. We haven’t been able to consistently close out games since Big Red retired because he was the last real Captain the club has had. I love Guz as a person, but his tenure as Captain has been a disaster.
Get the leadership in training, in the locker room, and on the pitch and we will be right back in the thick of it.
And yes, their GK absolutely stood on his head. As every GK seems to be able to do playing against AUFC for some reason.
Well, we need a defense. We’ve never had fullbacks. Wiley and Lennon are not very good defenders. Hernandez and Lennon are not very good defenders. We need real fullbacks.
One of the reasons that Valentino has been playing a 3 CB lineup this far is to provide that extra defensive coverage. Unfortunately that removes a midfielder and makes it that much more difficult to connect the defense and attack which accounts for the attacking issues when we don’t have a truly creative midfielder or attacker to pickup the ball and push forward. Muyumba/Slisz are good 8s, and Saba/Xande are good wingers, and Rios is decent at hold up play, but there is nobody in that group to take on the playmaker role alone in a way that makes the team attack consistently productive.
So, either we need fullbacks who can get forward (allows Saba/Xande to provide width and create overloads), or a creative attacker/mid (allowing use of 3CB with wingbacks like Lennon/Wiley). If the Aleksy rumor is true they’re looking for the latter first as that’s easier to plug into the existing team. Once we get a new manager, that could very well change.
I remember a Falcons game against Carolina when Desmond Ridder threw a horrible interception at the end that ultimately cost us the win. One of the Carolina players was quoted after the game, saying “we knew he would give us one eventually.”
I think MLS teams feel the same way about the AU. We’re going to give them one or two goals if we happen to get a lead, so keep pushing.