On July 20, 2024, Atlanta United welcomed the Columbus Crew to Mercedes-Benz Stadium. On paper, this should have been a fairly straightforward win for the Crew, the defending MLS Cup champions who entered the match 5-0-1 in their previous six matches. But Atlanta, despite conceding a 36th-minute goal to Diego Rossi, rode a second-half Stian Gregersen brace to a 2-1 home win, snapping a four-match winless streak in the process.
Any hope of a similar result on Wednesday at Lower.com Field quickly dissipated.
Atlanta didn’t belong in the same orbit as the Crew in the first 45 minutes. Columbus, who struck for 3 first-half goals en route to a 3-1 win, was statistically dominant before halftime, putting 7 shots on target to Atlanta’s 1 and holding a 2.6-0.1 advantage in expected goals.
“(Columbus) were very good today,” Ronny Deila said after the match. “They’re a good team. They’ve worked together for three years. They have a pattern. If you don’t organize against them, you get outplayed over and over again.”
Deila’s quote speaks volumes about the recent state of Atlanta United, even amid all the talk of trophies and wanting to be one of the biggest clubs in the hemisphere. These days, even staying competitive for 90 minutes — regardless of the opponent — feels like too tall a task.
“I didn’t see anybody give up. I see (in the) second half, we win the second half 1-0 (and) we didn’t concede in the first 50 minutes in the second half as things I can take positive from the game,” Deila added.
That may be true, but with Atlanta ending the night 11 points out of a playoff spot with 15 matches to go, it’s long past time for moral victories.
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Brad Guzan seemed to push back on Deila’s remarks about the second half.
“He’s probably being generous and nice and trying to find something, right? And that certainly is a positive. But the game’s not 45 minutes. The game’s 90 minutes. And if you play the way you did in the first half, regardless of how you play in the second half, it’s going to be really, really difficult,” Atlanta’s goalkeeper and captain said.
So what happened in that first half?
“We talked about willingness to run, willingness to pressure, willingness to tackle. We didn’t do any of that,” Guzan said. “Forget about the mistakes. Mistakes are always going to happen, but you can control the willingness to run, your desire to compete, your desire to close guys down, tackle, and that wasn’t there in the first half. And so that’s extremely frustrating.”
Atlanta United has the third-highest payroll in MLS. Why are we still having conversations about a willingness to perform on the pitch, match in and match out?
I’ve mentioned this numerous times in the past: there’s a deep-seated sense of hubris in this team that has lingered for far too long. To Garth Lagerwey’s credit, he’s at least attempted to right the ship, but I believe that he thought the task would be much easier. Take his infamous “We are back, baby” declaration after the Alexey Miranchuk signing: whether that was over-confidence, arrogance, or a touch of naiveté from one of the most respected front office figures in MLS history is for the reader to decide.
It shouldn’t be lost on anyone that Atlanta’s roster could look drastically different in 2026. I’m not on the “Lagerwey out” bandwagon, but if ever there was a time to truly make his mark on the team and build around a young, talented core, this is it. Jay Fortune is likely out for the rest of 2025, but should be in line for a longer-term deal. Noah Cobb, who’s coming up on a contract year, should be one of Atlanta’s starting center backs in 2026. Will Reilly, who’s shown well in limited action, should figure even more into the midfield discussion. And those are just a few examples. I haven’t mentioned Luke Brennan, Matt Edwards, or Efra Morales.
Everyone else? Outside of Jamal Thiare and maybe Jayden Hibbert, who has made a strong case for a return next year?
It’s tough to say that Atlanta United has had a true winning culture since 2019. Too many players on this roster don’t know how to rise to the occasion consistently. For the amount of money some of them are making, that’s beyond troubling. Here’s hoping that a rediscovered, competitive mindset isn’t too far off.
If not, Atlanta’s chase for silverware will remain just that — a chase.
MY TAKE – sadly – most of everything said here is correct. This team is not good.
We need to start with getting better players. Who is evaluating these players need to be fired.
This season may be the best time to start changing and getting the younger player who hustle and are hungry to be on the field.
I would, get #59 and Klich and slisz out the door to start.
Bring in the the young players let them work, we have seen the player who start and the are useless.
Here is how it can be improved.
GK:
Guzan out Hibert in
Defense:
Abram, Hernandez, Lennon out. Bring in Edwards, Cobb and Morales
Mids:
Klich ands Slisz out – Bring in Reily, Mayumba and get a good starting defensive mid who can pressure, tackle and distribute.
Offense:
#59 out, move Miggy to the middle, put Saba on the right put Mosquera on the left and LL up front.
Game plan: Communicate – Support – Hustle
GK:
start counters, stop holding and trying to keep the play in the back.
Defensive backs. get the balls to the mids or take up the line. Stay on the player not give som much space. Tackle without fouling, but be physical.
Defensive mids –
help defense – create outlets and communicate.
Up front – Miggy give the ball to LL Mosquera and Saba – be creative and get LL involved more.
The effort and mindset of this team needs to change – if you do not hustle and make and effort to pressure – you do not get on the field.
Agreed – and to accomplish this, Deila also needs a reset and the willingness to enforce the requirement to hustle and give 100% while you are on the pitch. Each player should be told they are playing for their position next year.
All of this disfunction simply proves that a championship team cannot be bought – it is built. EX Philadelphia Union. Cheapest owner, but best record in MLS.
Sadly – I’ve stopped watching the games and just catch up on the highlights. That is how far I’ve fallen since attending the inaugural game.
When I watched the highlights of this last game, I saw more players simply giving up and not putting in the effort to recover and defend if they lost the ball. That is a mindset and culture problem is there ever was one.
So yeah… my attitude lately has turned into – “how the h€ll did we get HERE with the money we spent… burn it all down and don’t use the ashes to rebuild anything!”
The only ones worthwhile are the youth that at least try. Our club is a joke right now and the season is literally ‘over’.
We need a reset (RD) on the reset (GP), that was a reset (GH) on the next coach (FD) after our good coach TM).
Dear Atlantistas: I still visit from time to time, like checking on the acquaintances from the old neighborhood. Because, as we can see, I moved on, Atlanta United has stayed put.
I think what is happening a the Club World Cup is very telling. All Brasil teams made it to the 16, none of the Argentinians. And Inter Miami also did.
Brazilian clubs play in a very tough league, where FOUR clubs are relegated. They fight in Libertadores, Sudamericana, Copa do Brasil, and the Serie A. Prizes for Serie A, Copa do Brasil, and Libertadores are in the tens of millions of USD. Argentinians have not been able to win at Libertadores, and their league prize is 500 thousand USD. No relegation either. They are drowning.
The Atlanta United of old did not see itself as a MLS club. They had Tata, and a very good combination of South American talent. Inter Miami inherited that tradition, and they have won 20 million USD just by making it to the 16.
Things are not accidental. They are where they are because of choices. Atlanta United has chosen mediocrity over brightness, regardless of the eventual money they spend. Because there is not real competitive intelligence in place, the money is poorly spent. If there is no vision, and no coach, money will be wasted.
MLS itself is in a bad place. You can see what is happening. In Brasil, we had all the talent, no real league, or structure. That was strategically changed, and now our league is again competing against UEFA. You need to change ownership, with real footballing people coming in to take charge and take advantage of the huge US market with a real, competitive league, without these ridiculous salary caps, and with punishment for sucking. The Mas brothers are challenging the system, and more MLS owners are trying to sell their clubs. This is time for change. As is, your league rewards mediocrity, and Atlanta seems to have drowned in it.
I do hope that things will change, for what your community showed in 2017, 18. There is a city that deserves a club. I hope you get it back.
just to be clear, the $20 mil that Miami is getting will go to the owner’s pocket. that money does not technically go into the team budget for players. due to the current MLSPA CBA, the players will barely see any of that money. that was the whole thing about the Seattle players complaining about their ownership.
Spot on.
I believe Blank will sell the team within next five years. It’s not a broken slot machine spitting out money anymore. He’s just not into it, clearly. This team is a complete disaster and had been for years. I just hope he sells it to someone with overbearing addition.
Honestly acting like the difference between Atlanta and Miami is just choices is wilfully ignorant. Yes, AU makes terrible choices pretty often. Yes. Miami usually makes good choices. But Atlanta as a city will not attract the talent Miami will. Atlanta was not helped by the league to sign the best player ever. Atlanta doesn’t get the favor from referees that Miami always gets. The right to go to CWC was not ripped from MLS Cup winners and given to SS winners for Atlanta. Atlanta get get world class players to join as non-DPs to play with their friends. MLS didn’t look the other way for a year while Atlanta had an extra DP.
So yes, Miami as an organization makes way better decisions than Atlanta, but Miami is also gifted so many things that Atlanta isn’t, and there is no world where just making better choices would have put us to the heights they were carried to by executives behind closed doors.
The fact that Almiron is the 4th highest paid player in the league speaks volumes. Sure, cultural reset…but I’m pushing my stack all-in on the fact that any team making that decision at that juncture isn’t going to thrive irrespective of culture. But to your point, maybe not wholly unrelated either…if the culture is what led to making a decision based on popularity vs strategy. At the end of the day that was more marketing and desperation than anything else.
Anything short of a high quality manager with a clear vision and the recognition that this will be a multi-year effort that requires some consistency will just yield the same results.
Regardless glad to see Lennon get a goal. He isn’t the greatest but he has a good attitude, puts in the work and gets far too much hate.
Agree on Lennon. It’s fair to question his quality, but not his effort. He’s MLS-ok, and we shouldn’t really hold his play to a higher standard than that.
We can, however, hold the FO to a higher standard.
I’ll respectfully disagree with you on Lennon’s effort. Effort not only includes getting up-field to support the attack but fulfilling your defensive duties, where he is woefully lacking. He is regularly late in his defensive duties because he stands there throwing his hands up or “hitting the surrender cobra” after one of his crosses sails 10 feet over any of his teammates heads or his heavy touch sends the ball across the back line. He’s highly paid and should be providing more.
Yeah, thanks…I’m aware. Some of that tardiness in getting back is somewhat inherent to the position. It happens sometimes…if you’ve ever played the position, you’d know why.
Again, is he elite, no. Does he make a lot of mistakes on the ball? Yup. Suggesting he’s not working hard enough is just wrong…have you seen any of his work rate stats?
At this point, my issue with Lennon is more of a mindset thing. He’ll do the physical work of going up and down the field, I can’t fault him for that. The problem is that he has very obvious tendencies, as obvious as “Miggy will use his left foot”, that make him extremely predictable and extremely ineffective. The reason why that problem is on him and his effort, is that he could very easily overcome those tendencies because he has before (inverted fullback, cutbacks, etc). I need to see him putting that sort of effort in again to think for a second and try to find the actual weakness in the defense instead of doing the same thing over and over.
Fire the front office fire the manager and overhaul the squad
Cultural reset, maybe – to me the bigger problem is that the Manager is not getting the best out of the team he has (shades of Frank de Boer in early 2019), and appears to be unwilling to materially change (and, unfortunately, we do not have a player like Josef willing to force change). Despite the frustration, there is a lot of talent on the team – but it is not performing. The changes for 2026 need to be massive (manager and a lot of players) and in doing so, hire the manager first then select the players to fit the manager’s preferred style – otherwise we are doomed to repeat 2025 regardless of the talent on the field.
The problem with manager 1st and players that fit his style is that, when the manager changes, you’re stuck with players that fit the old manager. There needs to be a clear vision throughout the club of who we are and how we will play. Then, develop academy players within this vision, bring in outside players that align with the vision, and hire coaches that align with the vision. This club, since Tata left, just throws crap at the wall and hopes something sticks. If the fast paced, high press of Tata era was a club wide vision, we would never have hired De Boer, but we were swayed by a big name to change our identity, and then did it again with Heinze, and again with Deila. I have no clue what they teach our academy kids because the first team vision changes every 5 minutes.
Even since Pineda was fired, every aspect of our organization from players to front office seems to have gotten worse.
If Cobb, Reilly, and a few of the other younger players don’t get significant time, it’ll be managerial malpractice here on out. They have a good amount of the second half to assess what is needed in 2026. This club will never win a trophy with Brooks Lennon regularly starting.
I knew it had been bad but that stat from Conti blows me away.
The players are getting visibly frustrated with each other on the field. I wonder what the esprit de corps is like on the team? If it’s as low as it looks, then we definitely need a cultural reset.
““We talked about willingness to run, willingness to pressure, willingness to tackle. We didn’t do any of that,” Guzan said. “Forget about the mistakes. Mistakes are always going to happen, but you can control the willingness to run, your desire to compete, your desire to close guys down, tackle, and that wasn’t there in the first half. And so that’s extremely frustrating.”
But Delia said ““I didn’t see anybody give up.”
I don’t believe both statements can be true, but I know which one I believe. Even the radio guys were saying that everyone in the field besides Slisz had quit playing after Columbus got the 3rd goal.
As for team hubris, the only hubris I see is coming from Garth. I don’t see it from the players; I think they know they suck as a team.
I have had it with Garth. He has always presented himself as the “smartest” man in the room. He has many,many time eluded to how he has “been successful everywhere he has been”. Here he has done nothing and now we are stuck with more bad contracts (Miggy, Latte, Miranchuk). And he said the team needed to increase STMs last yea4 to pay for upgraded players. Now we are worse than LY.
We are “back,baby”! What a juvenile comment.
Get Garth out.
People focus way too much on “we are back, baby.” Good Lord. He was being enthusiastic.
Better to focus on his lack of progress. It, more accurate: regress.
This team is horrid, from top to bottom. They suck. They’re almost unwatchable. In fact, they are certainly unwatchable of they’re not your team. All the casual fans are gone. They might not be back.
Look at this community! This board right here. Where is everyone? Gone.
For me, the “we’re back” comment from Garth isn’t the focus, but it sure sums up the lack of progress (and as you say, in fact regression) of the team under his watch coupled with the hubris evidenced by silly statements and increased ticket prices.
I was threatened with a ban because I talk bad about lard (garth) since last year on the other site and discord
He actual thought two do additions would make up the shortcomings of this roster any online video game player will tell you since 2019 we have lacked top tier attacking talent also a clear strategic foundation other then run and close down lol. The tactics from game to game to me is RD throwing his hands up.
But yea get Garth and his traveling circus the fuck up out of Atlanta