Atlanta United’s season drifts farther off course with loss to Charlotte

Rihanna’s “SOS” was played as soon as Atlanta United’s 3-2 loss to Charlotte was complete Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

It was a fitting song because Atlanta United, with the help of GPS, a compass, a sextant, a map … any direction-finding equipment ... can’t find its way from below average to anything better as it tries to save its metaphorical ship.

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Atlanta United hasn’t won in seven matches. Its playoff hopes are faint, manager Ronny Deila conceded.

“We need to win a lot of matches, and how we are playing now, it doesn’t necessarily look like we are going to do that, but at the same time, we are never going to give up,” he said. “We are going to go until the last minute, and if there is even a small amount of hope, we are going to go for it.”

Saturday’s loss was difficult to understand, midfielder Bartosz Slisz said.

Atlanta United scored first on Tristan Muyumba’s header. It was just the seventh time this season it took a 1-0 lead.

It controlled the first half.

The second half started and Charlotte scored an easy goal on a long cross that should have been cut out, centerback Derrick Williams said.

“I saw a one-two coming, so I kind of dropped off,” Williams said. “He turns, runs at me, he’s down the line, crosses it, taps it in. That is what I mean: One mistake goes to two mistakes goes into three mistakes.”

Charlotte scored another. This one came right down the middle of the pitch with Wilfried Zaha beating Williams and Matthew Edwards.

“I think it’s something we need to switch on from the beginning (of the second half), and it’s the way we have to be more compact from the beginning of the second half, and I think they scored those two goals just too easily,” Slisz said. “We have to work hard to score a goal, and we gave it to them. And if you want to make the playoffs, it cannot happen like that.”

Those two goals ran Atlanta United’s goal difference in minutes 46-60 of matches to minus-14.

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Why the poor play to start second halves keeps happening is a mystery.

“If I could answer that, I would do something to fix it,” Deila said. “I cannot answer that. The last thing we talked about before I sent the team out after halftime was, ‘I can tell you that they are going to come out with a different tempo, because they are not satisfied with the first half, so we have to be on top of our concentration and aggression when we go out onto that pitch.’”

Charlotte’s third goal to take a 3-1 lead was similar to the second in that it featured a pass into the middle of the pitch to an unmarked player, Pep Biel. He one-timed a shot into the right corner.

With the defeat, Atlanta United fell 13 points below the playoff line with 11 matches remaining.

“Maybe all is not lost yet, because anything is possible, so maybe some things happen in the end and we make it to the playoffs and have a good run there,” Deila said. “We will keep on fighting until the end, but we have put ourselves in a very difficult situation with this result today.”

Brennan’s debut. Winger Luke Brennan made his first start, replacing Saba Lobjanidze on the left.

Brennan created two chances and put his only shot on goal. It was Brennan’s sixth appearance.

“I thought I was all right,” Brennan said. “I thought I was good, but I mean, it just felt good to get some minutes. Obviously, I know I’m capable of more and I just want to continue to prove myself.”

The sub. Deila was forced to sub off Efrain Morales to start the second half because the centerback said he couldn’t sprint.

Instead of subbing on Luis Abram, a centerback, Deila subbed on fullback Pedro Amador and shifted Edwards from fullback, his natural position, to centerback.

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Deila said he made that decision because he wasn’t sure if Williams, who was making his first start since returning from injury, would be able to go 90 minutes so he wanted to save Abram, the only other centerback on the match roster, for that situation.

Plus, because Edwards played fullback in the first half, there was a chance that he might need to be subbed off in the second half. Edwards had played centerback many times this season, but usually when the team used three centerbacks. It used two against Charlotte.

Deila said it was a difficult decision.

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