Atlanta United traveled down to the location of last year’s Decision Day miracle a.k.a. the happiest place on earth a.k.a. “Orlando, haha” a.k.a. Inter Miami & Co Stadium to play Pumas in Leagues Cup. What began as another rough one when Brooks Lennon gave up a penalty to put Pumas up 1-0 turned into a relatively fun jaunt as Atlanta United went in to the half up 2-1, before turning back into a crap show as Atlanta gave up two second half goals to lose 3-2. Here are the final whistle thoughts from Orlando.
Saba time
I’m never going to be super critical of Saba Lobjanidze as he continues to get played out of position on the left wing. Interestingly, what I love about Saba is that he never freaking stops putting in the effort, and it seems he finally figured out something that works during this match. Despite being played on the left where he’s been largely ineffective, he found joy mixing it up between making vertical runs and drifting far to the center of the pitch to get involved.
The goal he scored was at an absolutely insane angle, something within 3 degrees of the end line, and that was after a thunderbolt of a shot moments before that almost tied the game anyway. It wasn’t just his goal, though, that is statistically being counted as an own goal. He was all over the place causing problems for Pumas’ back line and generally being an absolute nuisance, which opened up space for the other attackers. Plus, his assist to Latte Lath was chef’s kiss.
I always enjoy a comeback story, and no one of this team deserves it more than Saba.
Ronald Hernandez stays on the right
It just works. He makes Miguel Almiron and Alexey Miranchuk better, simply because the EAFC Ultimate Team chemistry lines are green. His work rate and unpredictability over there are leaps and bounds an improvement over what Brooks Lennon has been providing there this season. We know he loves this club and would bleed Atlanta United colors (black and gold, not just the red, thank you), and he’ll leave it all on the pitch even when the chips are down. It’s hard to justify not starting him there at this point.
I typed that before the penalty that made it 3-2 to Pumas….I don’t take back anything.
Help
Just get the new folks in. No one is under any impression the actual season is salvageable at this point, but the Five Stripes desperately need this reset. New blood is an understatement. It just feels like the team needs all the help it can get while allowing everyone who’s staying plenty of time to take a full step back.
Dang, what a wild season it’s been so far.
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Let us know down below that you thought of the match.
Let’s just ignore the insane level of unsporting, disrespectful conduct by Pumas at the end of the game. Frankly disgusting and disgraceful.
I wish I could be as bad at my job as Deila is and still be employed NEXT YEAR as has been indicated to already be determined.
I renewed my tickets for next year because I’m weak and love self-torture, but it’s just such a shame I can’t employ a contingency of requiring Deila out before 2026 to finalize my decision. All I can hope for is they pull a de Boer and punt him after the first few games of the new season.
Now that I’ve ranted, I can be serious. All roads of explanation for what’s happening lead to Deila’s poor coaching and leadership:
– players that had a decent 2024 are suddenly awful
– the “system” is clearly not working and actually seems to be what stifles the creativity in the final 3rd
– whatever is being said at halftime needs to be stopped because the 2nd half collapse is now a predictable event
We used to complain about Pineda’s predictable and inflexible subbing, but I wonder if Deila is a pendulum swing in the opposite direction. His subbing strategy is over-engineered and confusing. We were tied, and he made changes that left a tired and yellow-bound Hernandez as basically the only CB (which isn’t even his position) with his only other companion being an AU2 callup and Lennon, not your ideal defensive setup. And this isn’t the first game with this level of confusing adjustments.
Well said…..on the flip side those 2 (Pineda & Deila) will go head to head next Wednesday @ the Benz. Looking forward to Atlas winning against us as I watch it unfold on Apple TV and the rest of the “loss – I mean matches this season”……per your Scarvesandspikes post after the Necaxa match last week.
Although on second thought there might not be a head-to-head matchup with Deila vs. Pineida if Deila has to sit out the game per his red card.
Let Pineda coach both sides since the match is just a scrimmage at this point.
That’s not a bad suggestion.
Your first 2 bullets above have been my take since the beginning of our downfall. How do both Lennon and Amador go from being instant impacts in games last season to not impactful at all?
How does Saba go from being one of the top in goal contributions to having very little?
How are Gregerson/Williams not terrifying opposing forwards similar to how they were last year? I’d watch them body the other players off the ball and disrupting progression and none of that is happening.