Atlanta United made their traditional early-season jaunt up to the state of Ohio during the international break today, taking on FC Cincinnati in a match that saw tons of talent out for a variety of reasons. Midfielder Will Reilly saw his first MLS minutes, and Matt Edwards slotted in as a center back, while Saba Lobjanidze slid back over to the right wing. A solid performance over the majority of the match led to Atlanta pulling the first goal, before they subsequently fell apart for most of the final 20 minutes of the match. The final result is a 2-2 draw for the Five Stripes in another game that admittedly feels like a missed opportunity. Here are the final whistle thoughts from Cincinnati!
Will Reilly
Will Reilly was absolutely thrown into the fire today, and he played exceptionally well. It’s not just his first MLS minutes, but it was a start at a hostile environment away from home. He played a relatively calm match where he never seemed to panic, and did well playing through pressure. Yes, he received a yellow, but it was actually sort of refreshing in how much attitude he showed. Overall, it was just a really good showing for a young, up-and-coming midfielder.
Almost 90 minutes of good soccer
As I write this, Atlanta just had an own goal go their way. But before that, Atlanta United had played a very solid 70 minutes of soccer before allowing a goal off a free kick (from a terrible foul), and then a total breakdown in defense to go behind 2-1. To be fair, the equalizer was a result of keeping as much pressure as possible on Cincinnati, but it’s irritating regardless because the issue continues be lapses of concentration in which the team gets punished. Thankfully, a 2-2 draw on the road isn’t the worst result in the world, but the bitter pill is that Atlanta is playing good soccer and not getting the results that depict that good play. They always have moments where other teams make them pay, and by my count, that’s resulted in at least four dropped points this season so far.
Saba on the right
Saba Lobjanidze did much to show that the right side is his better side. Meanwhile, Alexey Miranchuk had full rein of the midfield until Tristan Muyumba was injured early on, and he wasn’t able to be the game changer that fans wanted him to be in this match. Xande Silva also had a golden opportunity in this match to snatch that left wing position, but it never felt like that side really got flowing well. Most of Atlanta’s attack came from the right side, where Saba, Brooks, and Cayman Togashi(!) combined heavily to try and feed Latte Lath.
Overall, it raises some questions for Ronny Deila in how he places the various pieces to be most effective for this team going forward. I still think Saba is the better option on the left, but the number 10 spot is legitimately up in the air at this point. Do you push Miggy in as a 10 when he gets back and lay Miranchuk over on the wing – even the left wing to push Saba over to the right – or make a more drastic change entirely?
No matter what, it’s still early in the season and a draw on the road is a point on the road…not the worst thing. But the team has a higher standard it needs to start meeting sooner than later, because there is a loooong, looming road trip on the horizon that’ll be tough for Atlanta United (or any team) to navigate. Here’s hoping the chemistry gets completely right before then.
Let us know below what you thought of the match!
Couldn’t watch the game, but a goal off a deflection that doesn’t go our way is very hard to defend. An own goal going for us still counts as a good goal IMO. And great heads up play by Cayman to get that first goal.
Overall, not a bad point on the road, though there looked to be glimpses of a good attack and build up. But i’ll beat this horse until he’s dead, in the ground, decomposed and sprouting a tree that brings mls cups…Miranchuk isn’t our 10.
Miranchuk did better, but still not as he should imo and I’m a fan of his. Xande did exactly what I thought he’d do. Reilly was a great option to fill in – really did well to cement a first team contract. Mostly everyone else did their job too aside from Edwards, who is forgiven due to his age.
As a DP, he should be as influential to the team as Evander was for them. Saba is our DP, he continues to shine. For me, it was hard to watch either team, but I’ll take the point.
Oh I agree. Being a fan of his doesn’t mean I’m blinded to the fact he isn’t producing like we need him to. I think it’ll either take time to know his teammates or he needs to switch positions w/ Almiron. He might need to find his way to the door if he can’t keep up.
Matt Edwards has no business starting on this team.
I disagree. Edwards was put in an extremely tough position. He started his first game not even 1 month ago, and then this game he was moved to a new position for his first start there. He performed relatively well, and did not stand out to me as being overmatched.
Where we were overmatched, until Klich came on, was in the midfield. We had virtually no buildup through the midfield for the first 70 minutes.
My personal observation: most of the top 6 or 7 teams are playing with 4 or 5 midfielders and our lineup doesn’t match well against those formations; not enough speed through the midfield. So far we haven’t done well against the better teams so something has to change or our season will be trash.
That’s a nice sentiment when your options were him, Hernandez, or an au2 player. Or earlier in the season when your options were him or a different au2 player.
He did Ok as a fullback; not great just OK, but as a CB he’s not the right choice as a starter.
I guess my point is: obviously. Not specifically to you, just in general to everyone who is very frustrated with him. He’s not supposed to be starting at either position, but our roster of CBs and FBs has been so gutted at the beginning of the season that he’s the last guy standing (quite literally, as we have to reach for pulling players from AU2 to fill in behind him). If he had any business starting, then he would be starting and not be 4th string FB, the backup to the backup. It’s the nature of having a salary capped team in a league that thinks it’s a good idea to play during international breaks.
Yes we maybe could’ve/should’ve found another backup FB during the offseason, but with a salary/roster capped system, FB is going to be one of the lowest priorities, and it’s not like we didn’t have 3 players ahead of him in the depth chart. Yeah he has no business starting on CB, but this isn’t a fault of him not being a CB, it’s the fault of the league forcing us to play when we literally only have 1 CB left.
I dont know why this is getting downvoted. Multiple things can be true here.
Has Matt Edwards been put in an extremely tough position? Absolutely!
Does Matt Edwards often make 1-2 critical mistakes per game that have an impact on the final score? Also yes!
If our current goal is to win now, then this current version of Matt Edwards cannot be trusted to start. And to be clear, the FO not filling a clear need at FB (and/or replacing Abram) is the root cause of this, not Matt Edwards.
But the unfortunate reality is that having to rely on him has put the team in a hole to start the year.
Until we fix our defensive structure, we are not going anywhere. But wait, didn’t we say that 3 years ago? Now heading into our 6th match against a tough opponent…
I didn’t downvote, only comment, but I would assume the downvotes are that the comment implies that this is a fault of Matt Edwards, not the situation. My thought is don’t blame the backup of the backup (of the backup of the backup in case of CB) being what he’s supposed to be, blame the situation that caused you to have to go that far down the depth chart in the first place, or the rules that make it infeasible to have stronger depth.