Saturday’s 3-1 defeat for Atlanta United to an Evander-less, winless in six FC Cincinnati side dealt not only a brutal blow to the mathematical remnants of the Five Stripes’ playoff odds, but also to the perceived upward (even if only slightly upward) trajectory of the team in the second half of the season. The lackluster result leaves Atlanta with yet another home defeat, their eighth of the year, to securely claim the title of worst home form in the Eastern Conference.
Here are the ratings, starting with mine followed by the average rating from our community player ratings form. As a reminder, here’s a look at the rating scale:
- 10 – world-class performance
- 9 – elite performance
- 6 – average
- 5 – slightly below average
- 3 – well below average
- 1 – poor in every level
Lucas Hoyos – Staff rating – 3.75; Community rating – 4.06
No saves on the night from Hoyos, who faced 2.17 xG from on target shots and had three goals find the back of the net. Hard to blame him in some regard, but watching the replay of Denkey’s first goal… yikes.
Elías Báez – Staff rating – 4.0; Community rating – 3.44
Seemed to be Atlanta’s main attacking threat from the left flank, but couldn’t defend well enough when tasked with Cincinnati’s attack. He did complete 90% of his passes, though, and a looping cross did wind up, eventually, in the back of the net via Miguel Almiron.
Júnior Alonso – Staff rating – 4.5; Community rating – 4.89
Alonso was kept busy, but maybe not in a good way, with over 100 touches on the ball in this one. Still, he wasn’t up to the task against Denkey and Barlow, and had trouble keeping up in defensive situations to prevent clear looks at goal.
Enea Mihaj- Staff rating – 4.0; Community rating – 3.5
Moreso assigned with neutralizing the threat of Kevin Denkey in this match, Mihaj didn’t quite succeed in that regard. Even without having the threat of Evander on the field to provide service, Denkey still managed to find plenty of space in front of goal, taking six shots and scoring twice.
Tomás Jacob – Staff rating – 4.5; Community rating – 4.22
Jacob was able to create a couple chances, but was overburdened in his double duty as a wingback and left to chase Denkey by the end of the match, resulting in the match sealing goal for the visitors.
Mauricio Amaro – Staff rating – 4.0; Community rating – 3.94
The young defensive midfielder seemed a bit out of place positionally here, and wasn’t able to solidify things when dropped to the backline to act as the third center back. Amaro was ineffective in cutting out danger in the middle of the pitch.
Tristan Muyumba – Staff rating – 6.0; Community rating – 4.89
Freed up to operate more in the attack in this match, Muyumba did well in his off-ball movement and work rate to put himself in good positions, whether to shuttle the ball forward or get into a spot to shoot. His test of Cincinnati goalkeeper Evan Louro in the 40th minute was one of Atlanta’s best chances of the evening.
Giuliano Galoppo – Staff rating – 5.0; Community rating – 4.44
Well, he’s not afraid to have a shot, as shown by his four attempts from outside the 18. None seemed to trouble the visitors much, though, and outside of that didn’t show much of a commanding presence in the midfield as one would hope. But that can be said for the majority of the team in this one.
Jay Fortune – Staff rating – 4.25; Community rating – 4.67
It was a quiet night for Jay Fortune, who only managed 19 touches in his 56 minutes of play. Not the type of game we’re used to from Fortune, but also not the role we’re accustomed to seeing him play in a wider left attacking position.
Miguel Almiron – Staff rating – 5.5; Community rating – 4.39
It’s a mixed bag when it comes to rating Miggy. Sure, he was the only Atlanta player to put the ball into the back of the net, and he did create the most chances of anyone on the field with 5, but man, he could’ve done so much better. The goal was a bit flukey, to put it kindly, and his inability to play a final pass to Embolo in an attacking scenario will be stuck in the mind of anyone who watched.
Breel Embolo – Staff rating – 5.0; Community rating – 4.61
Embolo gets the credit for assisting Miggy’s goal, his first for the club, even if it was just a simple (unintentional?) touch that was knocked in amidst the chaos in the middle of the 18 yard box. The Swiss DP striker was only able to find one shot all night, a mistouch of a pacey cross from Jacob that went out of play near the corner flag. While I don’t think you can give a concrete judgement on Embolo with this team at least until within the sprint season, it’s still not a great time at the moment.
Alexey Miranchuk (SUB 56′) – Staff rating – 4.5; Community rating – 4.17
Another player with a quiet night after coming in for the final half hour. Miranchuk hit a couple decent passes to progress the ball, but didn’t change the game the way you’d want a Designated Player to do coming off the bench down 1-0.
Cooper Sanchez (SUB 86′) – Staff rating – 5.0; Community rating – 4.29
Not a lot of time to impact the match here, Sanchez didn’t see much of the ball in his ten or so minutes on the field.
Fafa Picault (SUB 86′) – Staff rating – 5.0; Community rating – 5.00
Same goes for Fafa Picault, although he did do well to move the ball forward in transition during a last gasp attack in stoppage time.
Sergio Santos (SUB 92′) – Staff rating – 5.0; Community rating – 4.53
Santos looked to help do something in attack during the handful of minutes he got, but his late cross swung in from the right flank couldn’t find a red and black shirt against his former team.
Tata Martino – Staff rating – 3.5; Community rating – 2.68
A disappointing downturn for Tata Martino’s men saw them hand FC Cincinnati their second away win all year. Unfortunately, there’s not much change that can happen at this point in the year with the roster, but starting players like Adrian Gill or returning Sanchez and Fortune in midfield could be an actionable step. Either way, the team showed regression when it mattered here, and will soon find it no longer mattering in a few weeks’ time.