Atlanta United cancelled out a Hugo Cuypers opener through an 80th-minute own goal, but Rominigue Kouame scored just moments later as the Chicago Fire won 2-1 at Soldier Field on Saturday afternoon. Atlanta are now winless in their last six (0-4-2) and have dropped four of their last five.
While last week’s lineup changes brought about a slightly better result from his Atlanta United squad against Nashville SC, Ronny Deila continued to experiement with his roster (while also dealing with injuries to Stian Gregersen and Pedro Amador) in an afternoon trip to Chicago.
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Despite the official lineup graphic showing a 4-4-2, Atlanta played moreso in a 3-4-3, with Almiron and Miranchuk joining Latte Lath up top. Twenty-two year old Matt Edwards was called back into the starting XI and placed on the right side of a back three, while Brooks Lennon was pushed higher up the field into a more attacking role, lessening his defensive responsibilites. Saba Lobjanidze was moved to the bench as a result. Pedro Amador, listed as questionable before the match, was replaced in the lineup by Ronald Hernandez (in his first start since the beginning of the season) on the left flank. Jay Fortune moved centrally into the midfield with Klich, as opposed to his role last weekend out wide on the left.
Atlanta dug themselves a hole early on as Alexey Miranchuk committed a blatant handball in the box while trying to bring the ball under control in the 13th minute. An easy call for the referee led to an easy finish from the spot for Cuypers, who moved ahead in the Golden Boot race with his eighth goal of the year.
The Five Stripes attack sputtered in response, managing four shots through the remainder of the first half with only two on target attempts from Miranchuk, handled easily by Chicago goalkeeper Jeffrey Gal. After a meager 0.26 xG created per FotMob, Atlanta went into the break down 1-0.
Atlanta started to show a little life in the second half as they created a few half chances to pull level. But Chicago had opportunities of their own to double the lead as they held the visitors at arm’s length.
In the 80th minute, though, Atlanta found the lead on an own goal. Miranchuk’s cross from the right flicked off the head of Jack Elliott before Sam Rogers headed it past his own goalkeeper.
But Chicago pulled back ahead in the 86th minute. An Omari Glasgow cutback pass in the box found the foot of Kouame, who powered it into the back of the net to make it 2-1.
Atlanta had a massive chance to escape with a point go begging in stoppage time as Derrick Williams’ sliding attempt instead rang off the left post. The Fire ultimately saw things out to snap a six-match winless streak (0-3-3) while picking up a first win at Soldier Field this season.
Atlanta has a short turnaround before facing Austin FC on Wednesday. Match time for that one is set for 8:30 p.m. ET.
Watching Barcelona vs Real Madrid. Countless through balls breaking lines. I can’t remember the last time we had one of those. Our attack is so predictable—plod slowly down the field, let the other team get into a solid defensive shape, and then float a low percentage cross that is easily cleared. We have no speedy transition plan to speak of. Just not dynamic.
Been saying this from day 2 (day 1 was decent). We are horribly predictable. Nothing dynamic, no control, no grit. We can’t attack, we can’t transition, we can’t fully defend.
I don’t have the data, but I feel like we haven’t been playing consistent through-balls since 2020.
There is data for 2025, however, and it’s …. not good.
Atlanta United doesn’t play through balls – by J. Sam Jones
What “Where Goals Come From” Says about Your Team after MLS 2025 Week 10: Eastern Conference Edition — American Soccer Analysis
Apologies in advance for the long post. I haven’t posted in a while because, I mean, what has there been to say, but I can’t hold back anymore…
Since 2018, we have changed virtually everything about the club several times – new managers, new GM, complete roster overhauls, etc. Two things seem to remain constant – (1) we miss on our DPs and (2) we hire managers that have rather defined tactical philosophies they want their teams to adapt to, rather than being tactical chameleons that adapt to the roster at hand.
Unfortunately, those things are related and they seem to be baked into the very identify of the club. Even more unfortunately, in retrospect I think this isn’t in spite of, but because of, our success in 2017 and 2018. As an expansion side we really had two moments of unbelievable luck come together – the ability to hire Tata (a manager with a very distinct tactical approach) and the ability to shape a roster from scratch with a lot more roster financial flexibility than a mature team has. And that was exceptionally successful across all metrics the firm wanted to be – we put an awesome and exciting product on the pitch, we made boatloads (even Arthur’s Yacht level boatloads) of money on our young players when sold on, we had some of the largest crowds in the world and we got an unbelievable amount of attention.
I fear we took the wrong lessons from that, thinking that if we hired a “man with a plan” type of manager he would be able to whip the players into shape to play his style, and we would be endlessly successful in being able to go bring in players that fit whatever we wanted to do. Unfortunately that’s just not possible in MLS, where success (Miami aside) isn’t built on an “Avengers Assemble” model, but on one that maximizes what you get out of your non-DPs both by paying careful attention to the skillsets you’re getting AND by hiring managers that can adapt to what will be an inherently more rigid roster construction than one can have in other countries and then supplements that by DPs capable of extraordinary genius. I don’t know why, but this issue seems to be baked into the very fabric of the franchise.
The trouble with this, of course, is that when your mid-roster looks like the Island of Misfit Toys, even when you hit on DPs they just aren’t going to be able to succeed other than in “individual genius” moments because this is a team sport. Even more than being about galacticos that can carry a team, MLS’ roster construction rules and talent disparity make it a “weak link” league, and we can’t ever seem to strengthen our weak links up to league average. Pair that with truly horrific misses on what seems like half of our DPs, and you have a product so bad no one wants to watch, and a team that used to have a multi-year waiting list having to literally give away drinks money to people who have already paid for their tickets to show up.
What I don’t understand is why Garth seems to be making the same mistakes given that he is legitimately deeply knowledgeable about MLS and has demonstrated past success in the league. I certainly couldn’t do better – I was legitimately excited with the Deila hire and going into this season thought we had a roster that he could take somewhere like the top 4 in the East, so WTF do I know – but it is truly baffling that as an organization Atlanta United can’t seem to get it right at any level.
In any event, I hope everyone has a wonderful Mother’s Day and that each of you take the time to do some little wonderful thing for the moms in your lives today. This is my first one without my mom and it definitely puts things like the importance of watching grown men go out and kick a ball around into perspective.
Yes.
Yeah, all of this. You may have hit on the cause of part of our culture problems.
One possible missing ingredient is perhaps a coach that can successfully exert some influence over player selection. Tata played a big role in that. I think a large part of why he left is that he realized that wouldnt be sustainable.
FdB never really got the keys to the castle. Heinze didnt have enough time. Pineda didnt have the leverage, in my opinion. And because it took us so long to fire Boca and do other front office stuff before hiring a manager, Deila hasnt had the opportunity to demonstrate whether his own instincts in player selection would be heeded (and if they would help anything).
Im really curious to see how we handle the summer window. Will the infamous analytics department call the shots, or will Deila have some influence?
This is my theory as well. Tata picked his players and made something work. No other team we’ve had has been given such luxury and we have been objectively worst since.
Not giving Deila (or whatever coach) more time after our season effectively died in the summer last year, is a condemnation on Garth’s performance and leadership. He owes us an explanation.
Sorry for your loss. The first MD without a mom is a tough one. Had the same thing a couple years ago, but with my Dad.
It would be nice if we’d allow the coach some input on the players we acquire. We’ve collected the players first then hired the coach later in most cases.
Most importantly, I’m sorry for your loss.
I think you hit on some VERY good theories and points of what I’ve been wondering for a while now in terms of different FO, different coaching staff, different DPs and players….same results year over year…even worse this season…
It’s very frustrating and I still can’t put my finger on why players get worse when at AU and better when they get on with other clubs – doesn’t seem to be dictated by league MLS, MX, Etc…there have been countless examples and i think your points above are big contributing factors to this mystery.
That being said, I think there is a severe overall culture problem – seems to have started with Tata’s exit, although not as obvious back them because FdB capitulated to the players style. Once Boca dismantled the Cup team, it seems like it has been the land of misfit toys, to your point.
Can’t build a solid culture with a group of folks with a transient mentality – most don’t care as they know they will be moving on at some point.
Don’t really know what I’m trying to say here, other than I think your theories above are correct but contribute to more than we are giving them credit for….
Dear friends (Atlantistas as Marcelo would say) we have a team that is not defensive nor offensive nor counterattacking nor pressing nor possession based nor quick nor aggressive nor inspired and looking desperate for help. We have managed to bring the worst out of every player we put on the field. Nobody is playing to their capabilities and look like they are suffering out there. How can this happen? At least, the Galaxy has very good excuses but we don’t. Getting mad doesn’t help me and I keep looking for answers. What needs to happen? How are things going to improve? What fits our roster? What are our options?
We are headed straight down to relegation. Oooops, lucky we don’t have that. Watched a lot of games today and we are really bad; probably bottom two.
Too right!
When Deila said ‘Do you hear that? It’s the sound of a MF train, get on board!’, I did. I didn’t realize I was actually getting on the tracks and the train was coming right at me. When Garth said ‘We’re back!’ I didn’t realize he meant we’re at the very back of the standings holding a high – priced season ticket in one hand and a wooden spoon in the other.
This team has nothing to offer except opportunity for young players to show they can’t be any worse than our overpaid, underproducing starters. We start and continue to play like the players have never met and we’re already down 5 goals, so why bother. Deila appears to consult a magic 8 ball to pick and place players each game. Caleb Porter has been able to turn NE around and we have regressed from our only decent win vs Montreal in game 1.
I love ATL UTD, but I just can’t watch this train wreck anymore.
I guess it’s taken Porter a season and a half… so given that, we might have a bit more heartache to endure. San Jose on the other hand had the luxury of having Bruce involved in the transfer window decisions. Both porter and Deila have not had that chance in their first seasons.
I think it’s just another example that the team builds should include a managers input.
I understand hindsight is 20/20, but I and many others agreed at the time that Garth should have fired Boca and Pineda immediately when he got here. The frustration lies, first off, on the delay of action, secondly, on starting a rebuild without a manager in place.
Exactly!
Garth came by the supporters section today before the game and greeted all the fans. We chatted with him for a bit, and told him we went to all the other games. He responded by apologizing for the lack of good performances and said it needed to be better. (Genuinely seemed like he meant it and could see the frustration/shame in saying that).
It’s one thing to care. But fixing it requires a different skill set.
I feel bad for any player, manager, technical director, physio, or team chef that signs for this team.
It seems like no matter the players, no matter the manager, no matter the gm, success is not achievable here any more. We haven’t had a successful season since 2019 and it was barely successful at that. This team and organization are abysmal. I’m a season ticket holder and have followed this team feverishly but I just don’t care to watch the games anymore they are just depressing.
Is Rob Valentine available? This is now an official atrocity of a season.
I didn’t get to watch the first half, but just based off the second half, Almiron did not look good as well. People can’t say Almiron is performing poorly because of the other players but not give the same benefit of doubt to Miranchuk. I love Almiron, but I think some of the fans need to take off the rose color glasses and face the music that he isn’t the player that left Atlanta to go the England. People also say that coaching should be able to work with the pieces given to him, but maybe Deila is a specific systems guy. And lets be real, if there is a coaching staff that can win with this roster they probably would be coaching in the big 3 league, not MLS. I think our roster is so poorly built at this point with so maybe overlapping players like Miranchuk and Almiron or our oversaturated midfield or even our nonexistent wing play minus Saba. Probably get downvotes for this comment, but I think most of the issues this team is having is an issue with how our previous FO handled roster building and we will need to give Chris Henderson at least a full calendar year to make some touches on this roster.
I’ll admit to some bias RE: Miggy, but he has at least proven himself both here and in England. Miranchuk hasn’t proven anything. I remember Miranchuk’s hype reel when we signed him, and I thought to myself, “that’s it?” Miggy is arguably a better player than the one who left for England, based on experience. There were so many times today when I watched him off the ball getting open for a pass and asking for the ball but not getting it. Our midfield is not capable of leveraging his abilities IMO.
I dunno. Garth has now been here 2.5 years and hasn’t made the playoffs in 2 of those years. We gave him the benefit of the doubt with ‘cleaning up previous mistakes’ but this is his team now and the buck stops with him. We seem to do the same thing over and over again. Sign high priced players, don’t think about how they fit into the team, blame prior management, and then don’t make improvement (we’re objectively worse, actually). Frankly this is just a losing culture at this point and I would 💯 just go after a big name coach and let them do whatever they want. This clearly isn’t working.
It’s been said many times before, having the FO, instead of the Manager, select the players is stupid – and with the salary cap restrictions of MLS, doubly so! The organization needs to decide on the style/type of team they want to be year after year, find the Manager that fits that style, and THEN begin building a team. Right now, we have mixes of all different style players, and a somewhat inflexible Manager – we will continue to compete for the Wooden Spoon until this changes. I’m not ready to give up my season tickets, but this is truly painful.
I wonder if this next transfer window changes anything.
we could use a true left winger, right fullback and DP level defensive midfielder. Buy down Miranchuk or trade/sell/loan him. Also trade/sell/loan Abrams, Muyumba, Hernandez and maybe Fortune to get roster space for the new players?
Hernandez and Fortune are not going anywhere. Hernandez is at this point considered a veteran on the team who has occasionally wore the captains band and he has a green card, so he doesn’t require a international slot. Fortune should still be on a homegrown contract so he cost nothing, so why get rid of a player that cost next to nothing. Others, you can’t just trade/sell/loan a player if no team wants them. I don’t know if we have the allocation money to even buy down Miranchuk’s contract at this current time.
To be fair, Garth wasn’t brought in to technically work on soccer operations. If I remember correctly, he said during his introduction that he was brought into Atlanta to work more on the business side of things, but Boca being a terrible TD essentially forced Garth to mettle in the soccer operations. But now that Garth was able to bring his guy, Chris Henderson, in that he can let things go on the soccer operations. And I also agree with what Allen said below. Manager should essentially be able to take a list of names that he needs/wants to build his team. But of course it is up to the FO to try to get like for like player if they can’t get the exact players. We also need to understand that MLS isn’t a top tier league, big name coach will not be coming MLS unless they are in their latter years, like Tata, or trying to rebuild their worth after a few years of struggling.
Bring Tata back 😉
I hope they have a needs list already in place
Unfortunately, I think you are correct about Miggy. The number of times that he checks back for the ball, just to make a simple pass back to the same player is frustrating. The younger version of Miggy 100% turned and took the ball at pace up field. I said it before, England took the aggression out of him.
I think the sample size is large enough on “the Maestro”, and it’s time to move on from him. This midfield is anemic in all aspects, and he’s literally in the middle of it all.
Time to send Miranchuk and Deila packing.
Agreed Miranchuk is a massive disappointment. He s plenty of playing time to show and he does not produce , does not contribute enough , does not make things happen . I must also say his hand ball in the box today was very aggravating in terms of it s casualness, laziness.
Looks like he’s trying very hard to leave
Wait, this was the “we’re back, BABY!!” signing. What does that say about Garth?
My fear is Miranchuk is Garth’s ride or die. He’s going to have to swallow a lot of pride to admit that we were not, in fact, back.