In Atlanta United’s short but wonderful history, many descriptive words have been used to let people know what this team is about. We’ve all seen the positives: things like dynamic, electric, bright, exciting, and ambitious. There are even some of the negatives you generally hear from opponent fans, ranging from just being annoying to whatever you hear from New York and Orlando when they tell you to talk about our team.
Regardless of what happened on the field, you hardly ever heard any of the following adjectives in the past when it came to Atlanta United: boring, boring, mediocre, and undisciplined. Those are the precise words you could have used to describe the game Atlanta United played Thursday morning against FC Cincinnati. If you missed the game due to the early start time, then I envy you that you’ve only heard of it instead of watching it. Let me tell you, you didn’t miss out on anything good from Atlanta United in that game. If you don’t believe me, a glance at this chart should be enough proof.
Wow. Now, you can make as many snipers in Frank de Boer and his decisions as you like. This was a poor game for everyone involved with Atlanta United and ultimately the manager should be the one to get the most criticism at the end of the day. The team never seemed really threatening during an extended run, and the only glimpses of hope in the attack came from a few glimpses of potential from time to time. George Bello’s downfall seemed like a strange move from the start. Although the substitutions during the game were the product of an extremely adverse tactical situation, those particular decisions also felt a little strange and the logic was difficult to follow. It seemed that Atlanta United was never really ready for the races and this small embarrassment of embarrassment for Pity Martinez was a bad omen for what was to come.
With that said, Atlanta United basically cooked up the moment Jake Mulraney took two indescribably bad yellows in just 26 minutes. That moment changed the game and basically ruined any game plan De Boer might have had for this one. Both fouls were silly and frustratingly avoidable. It could be argued that Mulraney was simply stagnating and setting the tone for a physical game from the start. It was still a dangerous challenge that deserved a yellow, but you could at least defend it there.
The second yellow in particular was simply indefensible. The bottom line was back to defending what Joe Gyau was going to do with the ball if he had taken possession at the time. There was no reason for Mulraney to commit a professional foul there, and poor decision-making on his part ended up costing Atlanta United in a major way.
From then on, Atlanta would have been lucky enough to have a point with the way things were going. For better or for worse, Frank de Boer’s strategy seemed to be akin to playing a patient game where they would eventually begin to wear down Cincinnati’s defensive strategy both tactically and physically due to Florida’s oppressive heat. Instead, the game became a survival mission and was shown in the way both teams played throughout the rest of the game. Atlanta fell into a 4-4-1 formation while Cincinnati (oddly enough) still seemed content just grabbing a point and heading back to the hotel – that is, until Frankie Amaya unleashed lightning for what turned out to be the winner.
The rest of the game was a far cry from what we are used to seeing in Five Stripes. The club has built a reputation for playing entertaining soccer, even when things go wrong. There really was nothing to entertain the boys in red and black, as this was a true decay of a game from start to finish. It’s hard not to feel depressed when you wait four months to see your favorite team return to the field and score a total of zero goals in their first two games back in action, especially with the injury of Josef Martínez looming over the club. It’s a huge bummer and it’s definitely understandable to be frustrated by what we’ve seen from Atlanta United here in the restart tournament.
The good news is that it is still fairly early in the grand scheme of things. Although the game against the Red Bulls was not great, it was at least a loss that you could attribute to the Red Bulls as the Red Bulls. This game looks like a wash and the manager’s comments after the game reflect that. If that’s really the case, the best the team can do is erase it from memory and focus on crafting a consistent game plan for what appears to be a very tough Columbus Crew team.
Now Atlanta will have to play better and tactics will also have to be better in the next match for Atlanta United to have a chance to win their last game of the group stage in this tournament. Even if things get better and we see the MLS craze lead Atlanta United to bounce back significantly against the Crew, it’s pretty clear that the team will have to return to the drawing board in the future. There’s still plenty of time to turn things around and hopefully we won’t see Atlanta United throw more games in less than half an hour.
