Atlanta United currently fields a handful of midfield players, and is about to add one more back into the mix as Jay Fortune returns from injury. The past few seasons have seen the Five Stripes experiment with a revolving door of central and defensive midfielders with limited success, but the version Tata Martino wants to implement requires the number 6 to play a very dynamic role. Tristan Muyumba has been pretty open about what Tata’s 4-3-3 asks of the player sitting at the defensive midfield spot when I’ve spoken with him this year. It consists of aggressively trying to win the ball, play forward quickly, help in the build-up, and – crucially – give the two 8’s enough cover to get higher up the field. It’s not a particularly glamorous role for a player who by his own admission is more naturally an 8, but that solidified defensive aspect is the foundation the whole system runs on. When it works, everything above it tends to flow better, too.
I had a chance to talk to Muyumba after Atlanta’s preseason match in Dallas back in February, and again after the 3-1 win over Philadelphia last Saturday night. Across both conversations he’s described essentially the same assignment. Against the Union it finally looked like the pieces fit, helped in no small part by a center back pairing of Stian Gregersen and Enea Mihaj that was noticeably more stable and organized than anything Atlanta showed in the first three matches of the season. And yes, it also helps that Philadelphia Union is struggling, to say the least.
In the Philly match, it admittedly didn’t click right away, though. The Union came out pressing with two strikers, which squeezed the space in midfield and made it harder for Atlanta to find any kind of rhythm early. Muyumba said in the interview that it took the group a while to sort out how to handle it.
“I think it’s more the way they were pressing us with the two strikers,” he explained. “And we had to figure out how to be in position, with the two 8’s, and also with me, between the lines. So we took, like, I think, maybe a while to figure out how to hurt them. And as soon we get it, we see the first goal, it’s exactly what we want with the ball and how we want to hurt the opponent…”
When you go back and watch the first Atlanta goal, it illustrates what Muyumba described pretty directly. In the image below, you can see Muyumba having dropped all the way back between Gregersen and Mihaj, essentially slotting in as a third center back to help recycle possession out of the back. It’s a pretty typical and fundamental role of a number 6, but one Atlanta has really struggled to consistently get correct over the past few seasons. The arrows show the ball moving forward from Muyumba over to Mihaj, and then up to Cooper Sanchez. Sanchez played a beautifully lofted ball forward to Elias Baez, who laid it off one touch to Miguel Almiron. Almiron took a touch and played it into space in front of Latte Lath while getting tackled, and Latte Lath ran onto it 1v1 with Andre Blake and finished cleanly.
None of that starts without the 6 dropping that deep to give Mihaj somewhere to go with the ball and forcing Philly’s attackers to make a decision. Sanchez, who played perhaps his most mature game ever, was free to get into that higher position precisely because Muyumba was covering behind him. Muyumba reiterated postgame that Cooper had a strong match, noting that “Cooper had a pretty solid game today. He shows a lot of personality with the ball, and he works a lot also without the ball.”
The second goal came just a minute into the second half and showed Muyumba operating in a similar role, but higher up the pitch. This image below shows the moment right before the Paraguayan combination that led to the goal. Muyumba is boxed on the right side just outside the center circle, sitting deeper than almost everyone else while Miggy and Matias Galarza work through a combination on the left wing (with Elias Baez, again). Muyumba is sitting just behind and to the right of all of it, available as a failsafe option if anything breaks down, since Philly once again had options lurking.
That’s what allows Galarza and Baez to commit into the combination without any real hesitation. Galarza, who Atlanta brought in for exactly this kind of role as a high-energy central midfielder who can play forward quickly, linked with his countryman through a quick exchange before Baez added another flick to keep the ball progressing. Miggy ended up with the ball in the box before sending it across the face of goal, Latte Lath (kinda) dummied it, and Tomas Jacob arrived at the back post. Tata explained after the match that Jacob had hit goals like that in training during the week. Muyumba also spoke about Galarza in the post match interview, pointing out how everyone knows the high level of quality he’s already bringing.
The third goal was perhaps the most complete of the three, and the screenshot below might be the best visual of what the dynamic 6 role actually has to get right in Tata’s system. The wonderfully drawn red box captures Muyumba tracking a Philadelphia runner back toward Atlanta’s defensive line at the moment Mihaj was stepping up aggressively to contest an aerial ball. The arrow shows the ultimate direction of the ball after Mihaj won that aerial duel, which ended up in all three of Atlanta’s DPs getting involved in the ensuing goal. If Mihaj loses that duel, though, Muyumba then becomes the only player standing between two of Philly’s players and Lucas Hoyos in goal.
Since the midfield throughout various coaching and regime changes has struggled to solidify, I was curious about the early journey with Tata at the helm. When I asked Muyumba in the locker room whether anything had changed since preseason in what Tata was asking of him specifically, he was straightforward.
“No, not especially, we’ve been working a lot about the 4-3-3, a 4-3-3 with one 6 and two 8’s. And like I said, I have a play on this position. I already play in this position. So for me, it’s more like natural for me playing as a 8 or double pivot, but I can also play as a 6 and for me, it’s not a problem because I already play in this position and I can help the team in different ways.”
Caveats and questions to this entire system certainly exist, of course. Is Philly an objectively bad team at the moment? Yes. Does Atlanta’s midfield have a long way to go before fans would consider it trustworthy? Also yes. This is the first match in quite some time, though, where they executed their plan very well. There’s now a working blueprint to use going forward, and whether Muyumba stays at that number 6 spot or someone else who’s a bit more defensively stout steps in, Atlanta has something to build on.
I love these deep dive analysis articles as they give [some of] us a different perspective on how the game plays out. I’ll admit, i’m familiar with the game and the different styles of play but not at the level these players/coaches get into (hence why i’m not a pro either).
But it’s been clear to me that our midfield has struggled to be cohesive these last few seasons and it felt very much like a coaching system issue. Very clear under Deila, got better under Rob, struggled a bit under Pineda.