Atlanta United will have to wait a bit longer to claim its first win at Sports Illustrated Stadium (formerly known as Red Bull Arena) after the team fell 2-0 to New York Red Bulls there on Saturday.
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The result drops the team to 13th in the Eastern Conference with 17 points in 17 games and a 4-8-5 record. Atlanta also has yet to win a match on the road this season, and faces five more before returning to Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Head Coach Ronny Deila made just one change to the lineup that came back to defeat Orlando City on Wednesday. Pedro Amador stepped in for Ronald Hernandez at left wing back, essentially returning to the same starting XI from the 4-2 win over FC Cincinnati last weekend.
It was bad news from the start for Atlanta as Miguel Almiron’s long switch led to a turnover in front of goal, which Cameron Harper then dispatched to open the scoring after just three minutes.
The Five Stripes fell even further behind in the 29th minute after Harper beat Pedro Amador in a foot race before assisting Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting for the Cameroonian striker’s 11th MLS goal this season.
Overall, the players looked tired and uninspired, which isn’t surprising given that many of them had played close to 180 minutes in the past seven days. However, that doesn’t excuse the mental errors and poor play that once again cost the team.
After a week and a half of rest, Atlanta United will travel to Yankee Stadium where it will seek a season sweep of New York City FC – Deila’s former team – on June 12.
What did you think of the match? Let us know in the comments below.
That was another flat and uninspiring performance. I thought this would be a tough game to win, but it felt like we completely reverted to the anemic style of play that landed us in this hole. It was also completely disheartening to see Miggy make such a massive blunder, and so early in the game. Even as he’s kind of struggled to find a fit in the team/system, he’s too good of a player to make such a costly mistake, and he wasn’t even really pressured into it. This season is already on the brink of disaster, and I worry a couple more games like that on this extended road stretch will be the nail in the coffin of 2025. I’m also not really sure where they go to fix this. I’m not really convinced Deila is the problem, but I’m also not sure how to reconcile this record against that claim.
On the positive side, I thought Slisz played a good game. We need that version of him to show up way more often.
The season is already over. Ninth place PPG in the Eastern Conference is 1.53. That’s a season total of 52. ATL UTD needs 35 pts in 17 matches to get to that total.
I think during this extended time off. Almiron needs a little heart to heart so he realizes that he is better off playing the wing. But that again sort of leaves us without a 10. I think Miranchuk is fine as a 10, but I know a bunch of people here thinks Miranchuk is “slow” so they hate him playing 10. But I think in our current formation, we just need a 10 who if capable of distributing the ball and I think Miranchuk is better at that then Almiron is. That would put Almiron at RW and Saba at LW so we play inverted wingers. That could help Almiron still push into the box with his left foot as just focus on scoring.
Almiron and Latte Lathe have been complete busts. They need to bench them for at least 3 games straight and see if the rest of the team can gel and maybe give glimmer of hope for next year, cuz this year is toast.
Saw that there is a (probably completely unfounded) rumor circulating in the UK that Ipswich will try to get Latte Lath.
Clearly the Red Bulls were the better team.
Clearly atl u breaks down under pressure.
Almiron totally screwed up giving away goal 1.
Pedro Almodor along with the entire defense over committed on goal 2.
Miranchuk disappeared as usual.
Sliz I thought played well and carried most of the weight in the central midfield. Fortune lots of positive energy, desire and movement.
When I see atl u reverting back to and relying on dropping the ball to Guzan I see a beaten team.
Clearly atl u still cannot generate enough shots. When we do generate shots , the little generated are mostly massively off target.
Crosses are great but this is only one dimension being shut down by the opposition.
Clearly cannot figure out how to beak LL free into spaces. When will you figure out that a high press can stifle a player like LL. He is being limited to a defensive role.
Appreciate the fight but dude y all need to get your heads out your arse. Come up with more tenacity and production in the midfield, miranchuk that s a lot on you.The lack of attacking patterns from the middle attacking third into the attacking third is a glaring issue. The lack of options being produced on offense is startling. Mental mistakes will kill you. I see improvement with this team but they need to do much more.
Enough said. I switched to the Miami game