Another promising night turned sour for Atlanta, an all too familiar story this year, as Philadelphia left Mercedes-Benz Stadium with a 1-0 result.
Atlanta United returned to the Benz after a two match trip to Chicago, where they fell 2-1 to the fire, and Austin, where a late Thiare goal rescued a 1-1 draw Wednesday night.
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Due to the short turnarounds from midweek matches, each side rotated five players from their prior starting lineups. Most notably for Philadelphia was the omission of Golden Boot leading scorer Tai Baribo, who started from the bench.
For Atlanta, Jamal Thiare started up top in place of Latte Lath, while the midfield duo of Slisz and Klich was swaped for a pairing of Tristan Muyumba and Jay Fortune. Pedro Amador and Brooks Lennon returned from injury and returned to wingback roles, while Hernandez and Cobb were dropped from the lineup instead. Matt Edwards, who played in Lennon’s right wingback role last week, moved to the right centerback of the back three.
In tonight’s setup, Miguel Almiron played high in attack with Thiare, while Miranchuk sat slightly deeper behind them. Tristan Muyumba stayed back in midfield as more of a single pivot defensive midfielder, while Jay Fortune joined Miranchuk in that advanced midfield role. After some early looks and big saves from both Brad Guzan and Andrew Rick, Atlanta settled into the match, controlling the flow of play with a higher line of confrontation than seen in Austin.
In the 20th minute, Brooks Lennon went down with what seemed like a potential leg injury, forcing Deila to turn to his bench early. Saba Lobjanidze entered in Lennon’s place at right wingback.
Atlanta’s high press continued to cause issues for Philadelphia, forcing turnovers in the Union’s half and creating good transitional opportunities for the Five Stripes.
Tai Baribo entered at the break, and Philadelphia charged out of the locker room in the second half. In the 54th minute, a long ball from the Union brought Guzan off his line but misjudging the trajectory, leaving an empty net for Uhre. Luis Abram tracked back and slid in as the shot careened off his arm. After a VAR check, a penalty was given and yellow shown to Abram. Baribo stepped up and placed the penalty just out of Guzan’s reach, giving the Union a 1-0 lead.
Subs came for Atlanta soon after in the 67th minute, as Latte Lath and Edwin Mosquera entered for Thiare and Muyumba in an attacking shift from Ronny Deila. Atlanta shifted into a 4-3-2-1 with Miggy at the 10, but still couldn’t break through the Philadelphia defense. Bartek Slisz entered in the 86th minute, moving Fortune to left back, but the change still fell short of providing a needed late spark.
As we’ve seen so often this season, it was another tale of two halves for Atlanta United. A silly mistake, a trailing goal, and Atlanta couldn’t step up in response. The Five Stripes are now eight matches without a win, and have seven total losses on the season through 14 matches, and are now only above CF Montreal and the L.A. Galaxy in the combined table.
The Five Stripes will return to the Benz next Sunday, where they will welcome FC Cincinnati for a 7:00 PM ET kickoff.
O, black and red, how bright you burned,
A phoenix rising, fierce, unturned—
In Five Stripes bold we found our pride,
But now we watch the dream subside.
We sang your name from crowded stands,
With golden cups held in our hands.
The Benz would roar with pulsing might—
Now echoes haunt the quiet night.
Where once was pace, and fire, and flair,
Now sluggish feet tread weary air.
The passing sharp, the pressing tight,
Replaced by chaos, lost in flight.
Our stars have flown, our captain’s gone,
The glory days feel far withdrawn.
From Josef’s fire to Miggy’s glide,
The soul of legends won’t abide.
The front office speaks in hopeful tones,
But all we hear are muffled groans.
For every spark we seek anew,
A misstep dims the dwindling view.
Still in the gulch, the faithful wait,
To lift this club and challenge fate.
For though we mourn and though we cry,
Our voices rise—Unite and Conquer—in the sky.
O Atlanta, do not forget,
Your history’s ink is wet with sweat.
We’ll chant your name through loss and pain,
Till Five Stripes rise in strength again.
(Yeah its CHATGPT’d that about the effort they put out on the field….)
Looking at the schedule we could very easily lose the next 6 games. I don’t really see this getting any better anytime soon.
All I have to say is that every match I have attended this year we have won. I am 1-0-0. My tactics are 100% on point and we haven’t scored fewer than 3 goals across all my competitions. #banantoesIN
Please go Sunday!
I still think this is a system instituted by the manager that doesn’t work with the assistants and the players. You have to figure out what type of team you are and all be on the same page. Feels like coach is saying one thing, but the team is saying another.
Well, we have English, German, Portuguese, French, Polish, Spanish, and Russian speaking players. Maybe that could be the problem? Just wondering….the team plays like multiple nationalities not speaking the same language 🫣
Strange game. Philly didn’t press high and we had room to maneuver but couldn’t get much done. We still look like a bottom table team. Not much else to say…how can this be?
The silence from Garth is deafening. He purports to be all about metrics and data and accountability. There is more than enough evidence that things are broken Why is he hiding under his desk?
Where in the world is Garth?
Garth was everywhere to be seen and heard from after he let Rob Valentino go. He made a show of the coach search. And now… when his players and coach has failed, and the responsibility is clearly his…he does hide under his desk. He should have given the reins to Valentino. If there is any accountability to be had in this organization….Garth should face the same faith Valentino did. Then the next person in charge, should rehire Valentino. The character of a coach matters more than a past win loss record, or analytics.
I get that Garth has some answering to do, but I don’t get where this whole “rehire rob” movement is coming from. He did well for like one small set of games and that’s it, and it wasn’t even for any decent playing, it was just for getting the players to give a shit. We already had matched up well against Miami for multiple games long before rob took over, he didn’t pull off some miracle with that.
I interpret it less as “rehire rob” and more “i cant believe weve ended up with someone who has been worse than a guy that was realistically never in the running for the full time job”.
Bonus points that the series win over Miami was probably the highest point for the club since the US Open Cup win in 2019?
Sidebar: we now have to win our next two to beat the point total Pineda had through 16 games last season.
Quote from the comment, and not too dissimilar from other rhetoric I’ve replied to before:
“He should have given the reins to Valentino. If there is any accountability to be had in this organization….Garth should face the same faith Valentino did. Then the next person in charge, should rehire Valentino.”
To that point, I would say put more emphasis on character of the coach they hire, if not Rob. Rob has the character, and had them going in the right direction. Coach has to inspire thru building relationships. Would loved to have him had a chance in a non- intermin basis, with this club.
That part is fair. Having someone to rally the troops would be good, though I still want at least some better tactical acumen/analysis better than what we’ve seen. A good portion of our problem has been players seeming to not know how to play with each other, or not putting players in their best position.
Personally if we’re going to previous coaches, I want us to rehire Tata. I think he knows how to build an offense, inspire, and get people running. I imagine it’s probably a long shot to get him to agree to come back, but I think most of the reasons he left are gone, and he’s already proven by going to Miami that he’ll come back to MLS for the right reasons.
Valentino came up under Tata’s umbrella. And has shown great respect for Tata. I like Tata, and thought Rob was a small extension of him. But my main point, Garth no where to be found to take responsibility. He should be resigned to business financial matters only…if he is even capable there. I know his decesions are not helping the club today on any front. And..he is now where to be seen or heard.
Not to play Monday Morning Quarterback too much, but if memory serves, BJ was available right after his stint as interim for the US and during that time, they played exciting, attacking and free-flowing soccer under him – it was obvious he was a player’s coach – and they responded.
Should’ve, would’ve, could’ve to death, but IMHO, that is the style of play we have recruited and bought, and that’s the type of coach we should’ve been hunting, instead of pedigree. Rob, to me, had very similar traits – and for that matter, so did Tata (although he does have the pedigree).
Just seems to me that our FO just tries to outsmart the obvious to prove their football acumen and justify their existence and pay. Even in the timing of bringing on a coach vs player acquisitions – “There! I’ve built your team for you, now go out there and win the cup!”
This isn’t the NFL guys…just stop it and use some semblance of common sense. At the end of the season, it’s about wins and losses – that’s what the fans pay for and that is how you are judged.
Apologies…just had to get that off my chest….
Wonder if they will raise our ST prices again next season????
I’m sure Ronny is a great manager. I’m sure this is a fine team. But there’s something off and doing it over and over ain’t working. If there were relegation, a change would be made tomorrow. It’s time. It’s past time.
The sad thing was this isnt even “doing it over and over again.” There were 5 changes from midweek I think?
I’m on the fence about statement one. I thought it was wild his previous team fired him so quickly, but now I’m wondering if they just saw early on that his pedigree over-promises his managing abilities. He’s made every player we had last year look arguably worse, and players who just got here as proven talent look just as bad.
Well, that IS a talent 🫢
I’m starting to think this team might not be good…
Solid first half with too many missed chances. 45 mins of hope to be met with Philly adjusting second half and we didn’t. The lack of energy and pressure the second half was evident from the first 5 mins alone. Between the coach and our players, one key mistake (and a first goal against us), and I knew the game was over.
This game settled all debate in my mind. We have absolutely no enduring solutions to fix this team’s problems without yet another window to try again for the ‘uptenth time’. This season is looking more like it was dead on arrival. Hope I’m wrong, but it is starting to look like this season could be the worst collective failure ‘across the board’ in our club’s history.
Why do we have to suffer so much as fans of this club!?!
This is a failing organization. It’s an illusion to think otherwise.
Sorry, delusion.