It may have slipped under the radar, but Saba Lobjanidze has put together some decent statistical numbers for Atlanta United this season.
Yes, he’s left some goals on the field — whether through “bad luck” or poor service — in another world, he could be on double-digit goals at this point. And yes, Atlanta has struggled collectively.
But with his two assists on Stian Gregersen’s goals on Saturday in a 2-1 win over the Columbus Crew, Lobjanidze is now on 6g/7a through 21 matches and 1,667 minutes. That’s good for a goal contribution every 128 minutes; combined with his 3g/4a in 467 minutes last season, that’s a goal contribution every 106.7 minutes since his arrival in Atlanta.
And, with his 20 total goal contributions with the club, Lobjanidze joined Josef Martinez, Giorgos Giakoumakis, Miguel Almiron, Thiago Almada, and Tito Villalba as the only players in Atlanta United history to reach that mark in 30 or fewer matches.
“I think he has a different energy to him. He’s going to be a father soon at some point. Maybe that’s giving him some extra energy while he can get some sleep,” interim head coach Rob Valentino joked after the match.
Saba Lobjanidze: a prototypical Garth Lagerwey signing
In many ways, Lobjanidze represents the type of player that Atlanta United is looking for in the Garth Lagerwey era: 24-to-29-year-old players in the prime stages of their career that can remain with the club longterm.
And despite being mired in a difficult run of form earlier in the season, Lobjanidze might be turning a corner. He assisted on Daniel Rios’s goal at 21 seconds and scored one of his own against NYCFC on Wednesday before his two-assist effort against the Crew. He might have had a third if not for a great save by Nicholas Hagen on a Jamal Thiare scoring attempt.
“He’s pretty consistent. I don’t see anything different, in terms of what he was doing before the Euros. I think he’s just excited to be back,” Valentino said.
“He came back right away. He had the chance to go and celebrate with his country going to the Euros for the first time, and he was like, ‘No, I’ll be back. I’ll be ready to play’.”
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Like others here, I think Saba is good; not great; not super good; just plain good. Sometimes he gets to be almost super good and becomes our best player. I just wish he had better companions, especially on the overlapping runs or midfielders crashing the box. I am optimistic though, and think things WILL GET BETTER
Imagine how mad Marcelo will be if we sign Miranchuk and the “Russian Mechanic” gets a sidekick (or becomes a sidekick).
Well, the Russian mechanics didn’t do too bad in the euros
Interesting take to call it “turning a corner” for Saba, who is really one of the only players to never have what I would consider a bad game. He may have missed a couple sitters or had a few missed connections with his fullback pairing here and there, but he is constantly trying to rally the fans after big “almost” plays and never half-asses his job. When he has a competent player anywhere near him, he finds a way to make them dangerous.
Saba has really started to roll. The team is clearly playing and celebrating more as full team than I have seen in a while. They’re fighting for each other. No giant egos out there. Our CBs seem the healthiest they’ve been all season. Held Columbus to very few shots on goal. Fortune had a nice game too.
Also he should be the corner taker from now one instead of Lennon
Totally agree. He puts the ball in dangerous spots, with pace.
How long do you guys think he will stay at the club? I love his play style and I hope he stays for many seasons to come, but I have a feeling he could be sold as soon as an offer comes in like other players have
He’s signed through 2026 on a guaranteed contract
To the point of the article, Saba has been a better acquisition to date than any South American transfer other than Miggy and Almada.
Josef was acquired from Europe.
Tito came from MEX technically. But then again, technically, Mexico isn’t south or Central America.
Did you know that AU has only played 6 matches with their preferred start CB combination of Gregerson and Williams. They’re 3-0-3 in those matches. They’ve only had 4 matches with those two plus Slisz.
I’m too lazy to look for the shocked/surprised gif and manually post it, but no I wasn’t aware of that. Very interesting.
I was having a hard time keeping count of starts for various players, so I decided to make a table of it. I miscounted the first time through. They have started 9 games together this year. They are 3-2-4 in those games.
That said, the only three games AU have had what anyone would have projected as their preferred starting XI actually start were the first three games of the season. Injuries, international duty, cards, and outgoing transfers have wrecked the assumed starting lineup consistently.
The green Y boxes means the assumed starter is starting in the position he was brought in to play, rather than having Saba play the 10 while Almada was away, etc…
I’ll play with the results and other factors a bit and see what that looks like. Doing some quick math on the match xG against – basically, the expected goals the opponents generated – and controlling for no other variables (for example, not taking into account the chaos of the midfield defenders being out for international duty or injury, and not controlling for the late switch to a more defensive minded three CB alignment:
When Stian and Williams both start (9 games): opp_xG = 1.37/game
Without one or both of them (15 games): opp_xG = 1.45/game
He servers up a better corner than lennon… that is for sure!!!!!
Lennon’s corners annoy me. So high and loopy. If anyone gets their head on it, it is impossible to get enough pace on the ball to get it past the keeper. Thiago’s were always hit or miss.