After three terrible games in Orlando and around the world from Atlanta United, blaming external forces for their control, someone finally admitted that the team’s play is not acceptable.
Brad Guzan is the hero of honesty that emerges in this time of need. After the third consecutive 1-0 loss in the MLS is Back is tournament, instead of blaming playing conditions or luck, Guzan finally spoke a refreshing truth.
There’s not a lot of narrative to add to these quotes that the team provided us with, so I’m going to put them all below and let them speak for themselves.
On how to change things before the next game
“There is no magic answer. We have to go back to the training ground. We have to work harder. At the same time, we need to have some real conversations. Some real conversations, because this is not something that just happened. Three games, six halves of football and we performed in the last half. The second half was better today. It is not good enough for what Atlanta United stands for and the club we have all known this club to be. We have to get back to work. It’s not even close to being good enough. “
What does work in the future consist of?
“You speak of identity. In these three games and we can even go back to the Club América game, that’s not what we are as a club. That’s not what it’s all about as a team. There has to be a change. There has to be some kind of change in the field. There has to be communication, conversations, but then there has to be an answer to that. It can’t just be talking, talking, talking, and then we go out in the field and do the same thing we’ve been doing. This didn’t just happen in one game. This has happened for four games. It is not good enough. It is not good enough as individuals or as a group. There has to be a change. There has to be conversations taking place. There has to be a different product shown in the field. ”
In the locker room mood after a third straight loss
“Disappointment. Frustration. After the first game, we talked about what it means to play for this club. When you step on the Atlanta United crest on your shirt, you are not only representing this club, you are representing the city of Atlanta and all of our Fans. We set the bar so high for the past few years. So, to see what we are going through right now, you can talk about experienced players. There are also inexperienced players on the field. The role of the experienced is to help the younger ones. The role of the younger guys is to collect information quickly and learn on the job, so to speak. We have to improve. There is a high level of frustration and disappointment. This is not what Atlanta United is all about. It is not a good feeling in the locker room. “
On if manager status is a distraction to fix current field problems
“Regardless of the coach, manager, players. In this business, players come and go. Managers come and go. It is our job as players that we are here to go out and act and act at a certain level. That is not a question for us as players. That is obviously for other people. Our job is to bring that information on board and try and execute what has been passed on to us as players. I don’t think that question is particularly for us as players. We have to take the information we are receiving and win victories. ”
When starting slow games and finishing stronger in the second halves
“They are at the top of the table and win the game 1-0. We have nothing to lose. We are throwing everything forward and of course they were not great in the second half. Our previous five halves of football were not enough “Good. Now you play 45 minutes of decent offensive football. That doesn’t suddenly make it great. That just lifts you up from where you were and the bar was low. It was better, but that’s not close to where we want to be as a team and as a club.” We can talk about it being a better second half. We had two or three decent chances where his keeper made some good stops. Other than that we didn’t cause them much trouble. We didn’t get behind them. It wasn’t like we were amazing and the Atlanta United of yesteryear. “
