Atlanta United had the full wind in their sails coming into tonight’s match, said our good friend Max Bretos on Wednesday’s Scarves and Spikes show, after the wild 4-3 win over NYCFC last weekend. However, some lingering and then last-minute injuries cast some doubt on how strong a performance the Five Stripes could wrangle against a Dallas squad that now has Atlanta’s nemesis, Lucho Acosta. Thanks to a Miguel Almiron penalty and an unassisted Petar Musa goal, both teams settle for a point. Here are the final whistle thoughts from the Benz!
Miguel Almiron
With the slight injury to Alexey Miranchuk, Miguel Almiron was forced to his natural playmaker role as the number ten. By the end of the first half, Atlanta United had multiple chances, an xG of 1.13, and a Miggy penalty to show for it. Almiron is so dangerous in those transition moments when Miggy has a split second to pick his head up and play in an on-running Latte Lath, Saba, or -insert attacker here-. Tonight was no different, as Latte Lath found himself on the end of more than a few beautiful through balls.
Almiron’s ability to orchestrate was on full display, but he was assisted by very solid individual efforts by those around him throughout the first half. Is he the permanent 10 while Miranchuk becomes more of a midfield maestro? We’ve talked about it over and over again at this point, but whatever combination that places Almiron centrally and Saba on the right seems like a great start.
The 60th minute
I never know what’s going to happen at the 60th minute in an Atlanta United game. I’d literally said out loud that the passes were becoming too lax and the movements too predictable, and a goal came seconds later. Dallas had just made three attack minded subs and were pressuring Atlanta a bit more, and instead of slowing the game down to their tempo, Atlanta tried to play at the same pace. It backfired and Dallas scored off a quick turnover at midfield.
Is the issue the ability to keep concentration with the fitness levels required to play the way Ronny Deila desires? I don’t think so. This particular goal came from a couple of poor passes and trying to thread too fine a needle, and ultimately it comes back on the midfield to be better at regulating the tempo of the match. Atlanta United sometimes does almost too well creating chances, and then not capitalizing, to the point where they seem to be under more pressure to force the same attacking momentum throughout the game. Especially after three attacking subs, and more so while up a goal, the idea should be to take the wind out of the subs’ sails by controlling the game. Frustrate them, let them make the mistakes.
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A point at home?
Kind of disappointing, honestly. When you break down all the stats and the eye test, almost every Atlanta United match this season has been a story of missed opportunities. The foundation of the attack is there, but the finishing – which is admittedly the hard part of the game – has been so inconsistent. In this match, I’d have loved to see Atlanta test the keeper more simply from shots near the top of the box. Instead, it seems the players are adamant about playing their way fully into the box before resorting to endless crosses as the game winds down. Miggy, Latte Lath, Xande Silva, Saba Lobjanidze, even Muyumba and Slisz, all have the ability to pick out a top corner. Can’t score it if you don’t try, though. A dry fishing line never catches fish, or something.
Let us know down below what you thought of the match!
[…] turning a corner. I’d have loved to write that article infinitely more than this one. The 1-1 draw against FC Dallas was frustrating, but acceptable IF Atlanta handled business against a struggling New England […]
If we can sell Miranchuk this summer, there’s this really talented Argentinian kid I’d love to bring in. He plays in France atm and is exactly the player we need as a creative connector visionary.
Good luck convincing him to come back
“So Arthur… 60m fee and 20m salary should do it?”
Dallas’ D deserves a lot of credit. They’ve brought in some damn good defenders.
impressive! Developing Story: Major Incident Reported in [City, Country] 2025 superior
Muyumba needs to stay in the line up. Was all over the place defensively getting stuck in and plays one and two touch passes through the midfield. Thats why I was hopeful to see Alexey there this game…we need more one and two touch passing and less dribbling to “create”. Maybe muyumba 6 alexey 8 miggy 10. Doenst help the D but we cant get any worse there. Honestly CB’s are our biggest liability. Williams has been wrong step after wrong step all year so abram comes in and does ok but stepped away from lucho at the crucial moment and is worthless when the goal is scored. Was alot leading to that with 30 yd gap between front line and midfield and an awful ball out from guz then both mids collapsing to the exact same spot and getting beat by a short pass forward but how do we not recognize lucho is their most dangerous player and not stay on his hip?
Intensity was great and maybe unlucky not to get another goal but really feels like somethings not working. I feel like ronny wants inverted wingers but miggys not keen on staying wide and the team as a whole doesnt realize alexey is the best player on the field and they should be playing through him instead if lennon. I dont dislike lennon but he shouldnt be getting the most passes on the team. Lastly, why do we not let our golden boot contention strikers take pks? We did it to GG who was in the running and now LL doesnt get to take the pk he earned when a golden boot might be all we have to hope for.
Yep, I hypothesized about Muyumba possibly being the best match up with Alexy in the midfield (w/ Miggy as 10) before this match, and was not disappointed in what I saw. Muyumba proved he’s up for the role as a 6 in my opinion. Jury is still out on alexy as the 8 (#nagbereplacement) but it just might be best for the team. Miggy wasn’t amazing as the 10, but no worst than when he was out right cutting in all the time. – and I think he’ll grow into the role he played for us 7 years ago.
Essentially it’s replacing Ronny’s original starting 11 by swapping Slisz with Muyumba, and putting Silva on the field in place of klich. (Sorry polish pivot). Defense is going to be suspect for real, but we should be able to snuff more out before it becomes an issue IMO.
This is a weird game to give feedback on.
I share Matt5931’s sentiment that Miggy’s wasn’t all that at the 10. Now I know the idea would’ve been to have Mira at the 8, but I thought Slisz and Muyumba held their own pretty darn well (a few missteps from Slisz in particular in transition)
The article says it all – miggy had option of Saba, Latte Lath, and “insert attacker here”. Silva is a super sub to catch tired teams off balance. When other teams are fresh, his tricks don’t work well.
The defense wasn’t fantastic, but I think they did what they could with what card they were dealt. Cobb should’ve started over Abram even though I thought he had an above average game (by his standards).
Overall, glad we got the point, but we need to get 3 next weekend.
Biggest thing I’m noticing while watching Atlanta is that it’s not a team. Of course there’s individual quality but it’s far from being a cohesive unit. You can tell by lack of fluid play, lack of United defense, you can even tell by players not sticking up for each other when fouled, and you can tell by goal celebrations.
Funny, I noticed fluid play, united defense, full team celebration, and players arguing for their teamates. I watched the game at 7:30 on Saturday night—was there another game that I missed?
I was more so speaking about all 7 games so far…. Results speak for themselves. But I guess there’s different standards and seems like the team meets yours 🤷
I understand. Standards have to be realistic, and so far I think we’ve seen a general improvement. Results do not always speak for themselves—id say that the eye test says that this team is better than the results let on. I get what you’re saying, but the reasons you provided for why the team is struggling just don’t exactly match what I’m seeing.
Agreed on the last one especially. After Acosta went crazy and hurt Stian, we needed to send a message. We immediately made multiple subs, Diela should have told one of the players coming off to get a yellow putting Acosta in the turf before being subbed.
Sorry but in my view, it was a disjoined performance. Among many issues, our wingers keep cutting into the middle and their defense just kept crowding the center. I wish our wingers would push to the end line more often. We didn’t really take any shots from outside the box. Miggy needs to be a little more selfish; there were several times he could’ve tried to keep ball and take a shot but he elected to pass. Credit to Dallas defense though; they had some great tackles and defended very well. We made one mistake and got punished; can’t figure why this happens to us every time. 7 games in and we just look like a 10th place team. Are we really improving?
“Miggy needs to be a little more selfish.”
Yes, please. Please.
Agreed on Miggy being selfish. You have to take chances and test the goalkeeper. We got comfortable and pushed a pass instead.
Our wingers lack of discipline is my biggest complaint. If they stayed on the backpost, we’d have put away some of those crosses that rolled all the way across the goal
Muyumba was man of the match, although he looked completely spent by the final whistle. Not sure why we have so many soft tissue injuries keeping people off the pitch – is it a training issue, the physio’s, what? Really need to clean up the defensive lapses. Certainly should have won this one –
I’ve been in the uncertain category regarding Miranchuk but he helped change the 2nd half when he came onto the field. Progressed the ball really well and was really dangerous in the final 3rd.
Saba was off last night, which is rare for him. Still worked his tail off, but he looked a bit out of sync.
I still think Fortune needs more minutes. He also helped solidify the midfield after the Dallas changes put us on our back foot for a bit.
Should have walked away from that one with 3 points. These dropped points at home are going to keep us out of the top 4 at year’s end.
Fortune is great, but so are muyumba, slisz, klitch, etc. we are actually pretty well stocked in midfield…
Also, anyone’s hopes of us playing miranchuk deeper and miggy at 10 were dashed last night when we decided to bring miranchuk on and put miggy wide left
Agreed, was hoping this was the opportunity to show how Miggy should be our 10 but he didn’t step up enough to make that clear. Miranchuk stepped up big time as did Muyumba.
What a horrible game for Brooks Lennon. The team lost faith in him as the game progressed, which was abundantly clear from the stands. Late in the 2nd half, several passes to a wide open Lennon were not made because of that lack of confidence. Once Amador is back, I would honestly start Edwards on the right.
Lennon was fine. His crosses were like always, but less opportunity because most of the times, Saba or Almiron would cut inside with the ball instead of passing it off to Lennon down the right side.
I remember Araujo being seemingly reluctant to pass the ball to Lennon in particular (but to most anyone else in general). Wondering if others have similar feelings or if it’s that Lennon hasn’t been available since the start of training camp and the team is getting used to him being on the field.
Blah. Our offense looked completely inept in the 2nd half. I also don’t share the prajse of Miggy. I don’t think he’s doing a lot for us
I missed this one. Did the 1.13 xG in the first half include the penalty? If so, the supposedly dominant first half didnt amount to much.
Should have won the game.
I said this before, but I thought bringing Miggy back was a mistake and I was a big fan during his first tenure. Through 7 games I’ve not really seen anything to change my mind.
This is just a team that is not clicking at all. We are wasting winnable points and games and have had enough time to gel. Why is it not happening!
I don’t think this is Miggy’s fault, it’s a full front line issue. Miranchuk hasn’t been acting like a 10, Saba/Xande/Miggy haven’t been linking up with LL like they should. They’re not linking up with our fullbacks either.
All of our main issues are in our attack vibing. We’ve gotten lucky at times, but we still look out of sync.
Miggy as a winger just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. I know he was one at Newcastle, but look at how we fell in and out of favor in that role. I still think he’s the attacking mid we need with Miranchuk behind him controlling the midfield but getting Xande/Saba/LL on the same page on that front line with Miggy directing them would be the best case.
Considering how we’ve had Miggy, Barco, Marcelino and Thiago at that 10 position, Miranchuk seemed like a miss. Those others were dynamic in that CAM, he’s conducting like an 8. I can’t be the only one who sees this.
You’re not the only one who sees it, trust me, it seems like he can best be served as the conductor and tempo controller
https://scarvesandspikes.com/2025/03/24/is-alexey-miranchuk-secretly-atlanta-uniteds-nagbe-replacement/
We are blowing points because the defense has been ass. The offense isn’t totally off the hook, of course, but the front line isn’t the collection of players making awful turnovers and blundering assignments to cough up goals. We are T7th in MLS for goals scored (and that includes 2 OG). However we are T4th in most goals allowed. Saturday was only the second time this season we’ve held a team to less than 2 goals (the other was the 0-0 draw vs NYRB).
Miami, up 1-0, lost 2-1.
Cinci, up 1-0, drew 2-2.
Dallas, up 1-0, drew 1-1.
Through 7:
1.29 pts/gm, 1.57 GF/gm, 1.71 GA/gm
2024:
1.18 pts/gm, 1.35 GF/gm, 1.44 GA/gm
2023:
1.50 pts/gm, 1.94 GF/gm, 1.55 GA/gm
2022:
1.18 pts/gm, 1.41 GF/gm, 1.59 GA/gm
I think it’s still too early to tell whether or not this roster with this coach is going to work or not. I’m waiting to see what this looks like after 10-12 games. I think Miggy has mostly performed up to DP billing, in that he looks like one of the best players in almost every game we play. The end production numbers aren’t quite there for him, but they aren’t for anyone not named ELL. The season isn’t off the rails yet, by any stretch, but we need to start seeing some real improvement over the next month.
Ronnie has also not been impressive to me as Coach.