Sorry if that thumbnail of the Wooden Spoon trophy (yes, a real thing given to the team that “wins” it) jumpscared you, but the real deal may be making its way to Atlanta United’s trophy case at the end of the 2025 MLS Regular Season.
After a 2-0 loss to the New England Revolution on Saturday and LA Galaxy’s subsequent 4-1 win over Sporting Kansas City, Atlanta United is in danger of somehow making this disastrous season even more disappointing by finishing dead last in the league. So maybe that Decision Day showdown between Atlanta and D.C. United will actually mean something, as it could be the first cup final in sports history where neither team wants to lift the trophy.
It kinda felt like neither Atlanta nor the Revs wanted to win this game until debutant Dor Turgeman jumped in and said, “Fine, I’ll do it myself.” Funny enough, I said the same thing when I sat down to hammer out this week’s Risers and Fallers for your enjoyment! Did you like that transition? I knew you would. Anyway, let’s get down to business.
Risers
None.
That’s right, you get zero risers this week. Why? Because I had to sit through 90 torturous minutes of this team playing against an already eliminated New England, which was without a coach, and fail to put a shot on target in the second half. Because this team has no identity and its patterns of play can best be described as disorganized, aimless, and uninspiring. Because I was actually thankful to Dor Turgeman for scoring and assisting on his debut, so that at least I would get to see SOME action in this game.
However, I will give out honorable mentions to Jayden Hibbert and Miguel Almiron, who were clearly Atlanta’s best players on the night. Hibbert posted four saves, and I can’t blame him for either of the goals, as he was completely left for dead by his defense on both. On the other hand, Miggy created a whopping SEVEN chances in this game, which is the most of any Atlanta United player in a single game this whole season. It just goes to show you how ineffective the forwards on this team are that none of those seven chances resulted in a goal.
With that out of the way, let’s dive into the fallers. And oh boy, do we have some folks to talk about.
Fallers
Stian Gregersen
The Norwegian international has been a mainstay in the Five Stripes’ backline since his return from injury in mid-July, partly due to how committed and solid he was in recent games, but also partly because this team literally has just three center backs on the roster.
I say was because, well… last night Dor Turgeman took him dancing.
Hoo buddy, that was a painful watch. Of course, I’m not surprised that it happened. This team is terrible at defending in transition, mainly because its center backs are quite slow. To make matters worse, Gregersen lost a whopping SEVEN duels in this game.
I will say, however, that he deserves credit for posting 18 (!!!) defensive contributions, though a lot of them were forced after the team consistently failed to build up from the back.
And that was against an offense tied for 8th worst in the league. It’s a good thing we don’t have any remaining games against high-powered attacks!
Oh… fun… let’s move on.
Saba Lobjanidze
I’ll echo what I said in my last column: Saba Lobjanidze is just too dang wasteful in the final third.
He had just one shot throughout the 85 minutes he played, and it was a free kick that went wide of the goal. He didn’t create any chances or attempt any dribbles, and his four crosses were all awful.
This is where the lack of ideas in the attack stands out the most, because it seems like Saba is just on autopilot the entire time with one thing on his mind: Get to the endline as fast as possible and try to cross. But this is rendered woefully ineffective because the team has a maximum of like two people inside the box at any given time in open play. Oh, and also the crosses suck. Did I mention that already?
Saba has lacked the trickery, finishing, and creativity to pose a serious threat to opposing defenses throughout this season. He’s definitely not the only reason the attack is struggling, but it definitely doesn’t help when he’s (theoretically, at least) one of the team’s best wingers.
Pedro Amador
The Portuguese left back had the latest in his string of poor performances. While he definitely gets full marks for understanding that Ronny Deila wants him to play high and wide, overlap on the attack, and deliver a cross into the box, I have to dock points when he loses possession of the ball 11 times in a match. And it’s not as if New England had a stout, watertight defense in this game. Several of these were just unforced errors.
Furthermore, Amador posted three defensive contributions and won two of his seven duels. Offensively, he had just one accurate cross.
As with some of the other players on the roster, it may be the case that the tactics Deila is developing make Amador a suboptimal fit. Perhaps if this team had a Giakoumakis-style No. 9, whose head has a magnetic attraction with the ball, Amador would have double-digit assists by now. Maybe the eight assists he racked up in 14 appearances in 2024 were simply a fluke. In either case, I’m not convinced about Amador being a starter on this team going forward.
Jamal Thiare
I don’t ask much of a backup striker, but I do ask that they at least register a shot after playing for over an hour. Thiare failed to do that.
He did have that chance in the first half where he tried (and failed) to put away the rebound on Steven Alzate’s long-range strike, but he was offside, so the shot didn’t actually count. In fact, he was called offside three times in this game, which points to some lack of awareness on his part.
I also thought Thiare tended to make it very hard for his teammates to find him, except with crosses into the box. He struggled to find spaces where teammates could play him in behind the defense, which could have been a contributing factor in the team’s inability to create big chances, and forced them to rely on 14 crosses (of which only two were accurate).
To be fair, I don’t think Latte Lath improved the team at all when he came on, so I still think we’ll see Thiare starting in the next game.
Alexey Miranchuk
I really don’t know what else to say about Miranchuk at this point. I still don’t think he’s creative enough to be this team’s No. 10.
In the last column, I dove into some of the in-depth statistics that show it, but just seeing what he does with the ball should paint enough of a picture. He takes too long to play penetrating passes, and many times those are executed poorly. He had zero chances created in this game as the No. 10. How can you expect to have a functional attack when the main creative engine isn’t creating?
His best form recently had more to do with his shooting, but even that was off the mark in this game as he managed just two of six shots on target.
I’m not sure what the right answer is with Alexey Miranchuk. He is one of Atlanta’s highest-paid players (about $4.8m in guaranteed compensation) and occupies one of the club’s three designated player slots. He is under contract until at least 2027, so unless an offer comes for him or the club decides to eat a large buyout, he’s not going away anytime soon.
Ronny Deila
Aha! Bet you weren’t expecting a second twist in this column!
I have refrained from putting the manager in this column (even though I think he’s the biggest faller of them all this season), but now I feel I have to. I’ve gone back and forth with my opinions on Deila. I really want to try to give him the benefit of the doubt, seeing as he’s an MLS Cup-winning coach, but this season has been such a mess that I just can’t advocate for him anymore.
I could use this space to go on about his boring and ineffective tactics, his poor game management or how he seems to have lost the locker room, but the thing that frustrates me specifically about this game is how few changes he made to the lineup. The team has started each of the last two games as a team eliminated from playoff contention. It was not playing for anything in either of those games, yet Deila ran out the exact same full-strength lineup featuring players that we’ve already seen enough of throughout this disaster of a season.
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An even bigger slap in the face is that he subs on players like Emmanuel Latte Lath, Brooks Lennon, or Tristan Muyumba as substitutes — all of which have had a poor 2025 — instead of giving a chance to other squad players who are waiting for their chance with the first team, like Cayman Togashi, Dominik Chong Qui, or Cooper Sanchez. Then, in the postgame pressers, he’ll complain that the team is “soft” or the opponent “wanted it more” when he neglects players who are hungry for their chance to shine.
You don’t get to complain about an attitude or motivation problem when you’re fielding the same players that have demonstrated time and again that they “don’t want it” as much as they should.
What do you think of my picks? Let me know in the comments, and be sure to share who your Risers and Fallers are for this match!
[…] result that would, unfortunately, keep SKC right in the thick of the Wooden Spoon race—a grim but perhaps fitting end to a season of upheaval and […]
No reason to play the next 3 matches. No relegation, no way to the playoffs. These next 3 are exhibition scrimmage games. The preparation for 2026 started yesterday – start prep before everyone else, it’s the only advantage we have in an otherwise bad situation. Experiment, play the kids, bench players who didn’t deliver.
If Diela is at the next match, he needs to stay for the first half of 2026, otherwise, what are we doing? If he’s gone next season, let him go now to send a message. If neither of those scenarios happen, than I’ve lost faith in Hendersons abilities.
Would be surprised if Diela is not the manager for the balance of the year, and would be surprised if he changes the lineup (or tactics) in any meaningful way.
I agree, and it’s the source of my disappointment.
I joined the #DeilaOut train after this one.
The Revs’ *interim* coach made changes that turned the game around and Deila did … nothing. For 20 minutes. The Revs scored twice in three minutes and had been close before that and continued to be on the front foot after, and Deila waited 10 minutes — the 85th minute — to make his changes. He put on Lennon and Muyumba (and Afonso for his first minutes).
I get that we don’t have game-changers on the bench anymore; Latte Lath for Thiare (like for like) was the only change at 64′ until the 85′. But you have to answer when the opposition changes the game. If you can’t do that, you need to go.
I feel I need to speak on a few things said in this article
1) Amador was brought in as a backup level full back, he went on an unbelievable run last year and now he has come back down to earth, this team needs Fullbacks like no one’s business, they are all average at best
2) Latte Lathe and Thiare: Latte Lath has played non stop since last August, except for the short break when he was hurt recently, this helps explain how hot he was at the start of the season and how his has broken down as the season has gone on. Thiare is a back up striker, he is and always has been ineffective as a starter, yet this fan base acts like he is a world beater whenever he has 1 or 2 good games. Togashi is and will be the same.
3) Delia, this one I agree with, I don’t want us to be the team that constantly fires their coach, but he has had the entire season to figure things out, and nothing has improved, there has been no discovery of hidden players, this is maybe the worst coaching I have ever seen, and as we all know, we have seen a lot of bad coaching with ATL UTD. DE Boer built a strong defense and left the rest up to Josef, Heinze wasn’t hear long but you could see he wanted to press, and finally Pineda wanted to posses the ball, he did nothing with the possession but he wanted possession. Tell me after a season of watching Ronny, what does he want to do? This is the concern we should have, even if we could magically turn every player over and get “Ronny’s” guys, I am not confident that works.
Overall, I believe we need to understand the limitations of back ups, that guys coming from Europe don’t get a break and therefore get tired, and Delia out.
I agree with the Latte and Thiare assessment. There has been some players in MLS who came over from Europe, struggle through the first season, but after a full offseason, they usually improve in the 2nd season. So I am not freaking out about Latte. Thiare is definitely good in small runs, which is what you want in a back up striker. He is like a lightning in a bottle. If he got a full season run as a starter, I think the fans will tire of him real quickly.
agree on this – perfectly willing to give ELL another season (and it would help if he got better service, but that’s another issue). Thiare has had a few good games, and some not so good games. He is a back up striker, and in that role, he probably should be retained by the club. A lot of work to be done on this team in the offseason.
Willing to give it to him or not, it’s a bit hard to move on from a $22 million albatross, so he will definitely get his chance to prove whether or not an off-season will help his 2026 performance lol
Amador’s assists came when our forwards were Daniel Rios and Jamal Thiare. More than needing a GG style forward, it would seem the real culprit is how we are coached and play.
I forgot that GG was already gone when Amador came in
roster thoughts
keep – miggy, brennan, hibbert, reilly, togashi, afonso, fortune, edwards, chong-qui, cobb
depth and development – slisz, thiare, amador, cohen, torres, gordon, sanchez, alzate (maybe)
other than cobb, there is not a cb on this roster that i would keep, if i didn’t have to. and the morales deal is still raw.
we should move on from everyone else including deila and garth imo. i didn’t research our contract situations with any of these guys, so it is entirely possible that our hands are tied in some of these cases. but the point remains…
this roster rebuild (v. 6.2, or whatever we’re up to now) has been a disaster…again. get rid of or bench up and coming young talent and bring in average to below average aging players instead, seems to continue to be the strategy.
#EverybodyOut
sadly the description about Saba’s one thought also fits Lennon. Since it happens every week, I have to assume that the players are doing what they are being told in practice, and that means that Deila needs to go NOW! There is a lot of turnover needed in this squad, but start with Deila.
Let’s go get the “spoon”!!!!!!
On the rise: Andrew Gutman with a banger, now 3 goals and 10 assists on the year…but guess just wasn’t cool enough to win over some fans…we definitely need more high dollar players and not be loyal to wood choppers..
https://www.mlssoccer.com/video/goal-a-gutman-vs-clb-25#goal-a-gutman-vs-clb-25
To be fair, Gutman was performing poorly at the time and we needed to make room for Caleb Wiley. Not that I don’t wish we had him right now or had a better plan to replace Wiley.
yeah…don’t regret moving on from gutman at that time. nothing against him, but we had better that needed playing time.
My biggest issue was that Gutman wasn’t making so much that keeping him on even as a reserve until Wiley was sold wasn’t out of the question. He was kind of the only guy we didn’t need at that exact moment that could be moved for a decent return, though. I thought it was kind of short sighted. I doubt keeping him would’ve moved the needle on this mess of a season, but he’s a really nice attacking LB.
I think I’m as discouraged as you are with the team’s performances in the majority of games, but I do object to you lumping practically everyone in the ‘don’t want it’ category. For example, Delia may have relegated Lennon to 2nd tier due to Ronny being Miguel’s choice of best buddy and preferred passing partner on the right, but I have never seen Lennon give less than 100% effort. And the fact that the central attacking players often don’t make intelligent runs–and too often can’t shoot accuratly at the target–makes it tough for anyone passing in from the wings to get kudos for adding assists to their resume’.
I don’t disagree with you on the whole, but I have absolutely seen Lennon give less than 100% effort. Definitely mentally if not also physically. Constant pass backs, shooting from practically midfield while multiple players wait in the box, crossing to back post while the two players in the box are both running front post. Going autopilot and not looking for the best option isn’t 100% effort.
Thanks for sharing your different point of view on Lennon’s performance. It’s my opinion that safety first, possession-retention backpasses leading to recyling the ball to the other side of the field or wherever a central defender or deep-lying midfielder can distribute to another option are better than forcing a pass into a crowd and losing possession. Part of my beef with the attackers is exactly what you mention: two attackers running into the same areas, namely centrally or near post. There should usually be a back post run to pull one or more defenders wide, don’t you think? And looping a cross over the congested center of the box to the back post is a good choice to bypass the tall central defenders–but not if no one is going make a strong run to get there or dart out to that side from the congested center.
I agree on all parts. My point wasn’t even that Lennon is fully at fault for passing back sometimes or for crossing to the back post consistently despite no one being there, (I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve yelled at the screen “back post, you know he’s putting it there, so why aren’t you going there”) more so that it seems to be his only mode of operation this year. My point was that this year he’s predictable to a fault, and I’d argue that’s lack of effort if he’s not trying to figure out at least a few more options that could work. There are times where he passes back when he had wide open field in front of him, or passed to open players upfield, and although there is blame to the attackers for not going where he’s obviously going to cross, I remember before when he had great success cutting in and doing the cutback pass, and the other attackers positions probably would’ve worked better with that choice. I’d put that on him for not taking the time look at the situation at hand.
Though thinking on it, I feel that Lennon has always been great at doing exactly what the coach tells him to do, and Deila has a history of relying on crosses, so it could be that this is all Deila’s fault too.
Edit: In case it wasn’t clear, thanks for the thoughtful discussion!
I like your ideas and means of expressing them. I, too, appreciate polite, thoughtful discussion.
To be fair, the past two matches(?) Almiron has been starting the match at LW and Hernandez stays on at RB, so kind of defeats the purpose matching them together as passing partner. I agree with the assessment, but I think Lennon has fallen out of favor from Deila at this point.
Good point about Hernandez remaining Delia’s starter at RB even with Miggy on the left. This frustrates me, because I still believe that Lennon is the better RB and the better defender. I know that many don’t agree with that assessment, and I must admit that part of my frustration is reading all too often negative comments that built up against Lennon ever since Gressel left the team! I liked Gressel, too, but the vitriol I see and hear sometimes dissing Lennon is unwarranted. Not on this forum in particular, however, and I appreciate your assessment.
I prefer Lennon over Hernandez because I do think Lennon is a slightly better offensive piece than Hernandez, but I do think Hernandez does have a higher defensive floor than Lennon. Lennon has been making too many defensive mistakes. It also does seem like Deila makes less emphasis on using the fullback, so if that is the case, it makes sense to play Hernandez at RB.
Completely agree with the coach. If you go back to posts earlier in the season on this site, you’ll see i’ve been calling him out as one of the main issues with this team. His style with these players don’t match. Do you try to fit 15+ people into your plan, or do you adjust your plan to accommodate 15+ players using their strengths to your benefit? Feels like that latter should be in play, but we’re not seeing it.
I can’t give each player a rating, because I believe they’re all playing to what the coach wants them to do which is failure #1. No creativity, no game control, no one looks dangerous, and VERY PREDICTABLE, and this game was no different. Every movement was predictable.