It’s a different competition, but the same old story for Atlanta United as they remain winless in Leagues Cup with a 3-1 loss to Necaxa at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
After a weird own goal put them behind early, Atlanta received a well-worked goal from Alexey Miranchuk (thanks to Luke Brennan and Tristan Muyumba) to pull level at 1. But, as has been the case all season, things fell apart in the second half as Necaxa pulled ahead in the 77th minute as Tomas Badaloni headed one home on a corner kick routine before he completed his brace in second-half stoppage time.
Thanks to the new Leagues Cup format, Atlanta immediately finds themselves behind the eight ball if they’re to advance somehow: they need to win upcoming matches against Pumas (on Saturday in Orlando) and Gonzalo Pineda’s Atlas (next Wednesday) and hope that goal differential is enough to put them in the top four of MLS teams. That said, barely anything they’ve done this year suggests any chance of that happening.
Sydney, Tyler, and Henry have their three takeaways after another Atlanta United loss. Be sure to hit the like button on YouTube, and if you aren’t already, subscribe and turn on notifications to get an alert any time we post new videos.
0:00 – Intro
00:16 – Same old, same old for Atlanta United
03:47 – Missed chances for Miguel Almiron and Latte Lath
09:21 – Why is Atlanta United still struggling with late-match fitness?
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One of my screen saver pictures is from a 2018 match at MBS – it shows a truly packed stadium (bottom two levels) with NO empty seats. Seeing that picture after (being one of the few) attending the Necaxa match is painful and shows just how far we have fallen.
Leagues cup sucks. The stadium is better attended with a losing team at the bottom of the tables in the MLS. That says it all.
Given you’re pretty much out if you lose in the new format, why don’t they just make it single elimination
Something something more matches more tickets more money (in theory, see schyoo’s comment about empty stadiums)
I guess tomorrow’s match will be a better indication of the direction of the Leagues Cup since there will be more people available to attend a match on a Saturday, then on a Wednesday.
Curious to see how many more years of empty stadiums do Leagues Cup need to see before they fold the competition
We’re struggling with finesse. Horrible first touches, sloppy control, and sketchy combo play with others. When we had the ball, it was easy to give up. When they had the ball, they looked in control of it (for the most part, though we did do well winning the ball back better in this game than we’ve seen in the past).
It just doesn’t look polished. Maybe that’s the word, polished.
And damnit, take some good chances. We left a few chances on the pitch and others we took went up into the 200 level.
Another predictable implode from a team that is lost. From the executive leadership down it’s pathetic. As a founding member and season ticket holder from day 1 I am sick of the platitudes on radio and TV pretending we are “are back”. This lot has managed to empty MBS and screw up one of the best ever MLS franchises. Bad decisions on players and coaches have left us with a team that isn’t motivated, has no playing style, is predictable and error prone. We have somehow turned some good players into bad ones and are now pushing kids out there who just are not ready. All looks desperate. Ronnie is right saying the players are soft but so is the whole organization.
Decent first half, awful second half. It really felt like we had something going with the attack in the first half, but just couldn’t connect on the final pass or finish with good shots. Still not great, but better, I guess. The second half was a disaster. Necaxa was able to generate opportunities quickly and without sending a ton forward. Piss poor game by Williams. He’s had his good moments, but he just doesn’t have the legs and it leads to costly mistakes. We really shouldn’t be in a position where he’s counted on as an every game starter, though. I hope Mihaj is ready to go 90 soon. There’s little chance we move on in LC, but I’ll hate watch our matches anyway.
Williams should have been let go last season. I said it last year. He was decent but not good enough to continue and would only be a liability. Fast forward to now and proof is in the results. Gregerson has been injured so much now, that hes gotten weak and slow. Sell em both and hope for better from the new guys.
Struggling with late match fitness? We’ve scored several goals in stoppage time.
We’re struggling with inadequate squad depth.
Defn. Although some spill over effects when you factor in the kinds of minutes some of these guys play over the course of the season in a system that doesn’t exactly emphasize conservation of energy.