Deila calls out Atlanta United players again after latest loss
Ronny Deila either feels like his time at Atlanta United may be nearing its end after one season, or he is totally safe after again questioning his player’s toughness after Saturday’s 2-0 loss at New England in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
Twice in postmatch comments made during a video interview, Deila talked about his players not making challenges, “That’s where it starts, and I think they wanted it more than us today. That’s very, very sad to say.”
A few minutes later, when discussing New England’s second goal, which started from an Atlanta United corner kick that was scouted and shown to the players before the match, Deila said, “… that’s what I said before with, ‘Do you want it enough?’ That was sad to see.”
The loss was Atlanta United’s 14th. It has won just one if its 15 league game since May 28.
Sporting Director Chris Henderson said in August that the team believed in Deila but that it needed wins in its final eight matches to show progress.
Atlanta United has one win in its past five with three matches remaining. Two of those are on the road, where Atlanta United has won one of its 15 matches and scored a meager nine goals.
Midfielder Steven Alzate, who was signed during the summer, agreed with Deila that the team needed to improve in “dirty work.”
“On the ball, we show our qualities,” he said. “You look at our team on paper, we got a very strong team. And we have showed it in parts of that game. But it’s just the little details like winning your duels, tracking your man, stuff like that. Because, nowadays, football is not just about the technical side, it’s about many things. I feel like we just need to stay switched on the whole game.”
Alzate played under Deila in Belgium at Standard Liege. He said the first half against New England is how the team should be playing when everything is working properly. Atlanta United outshot New England (8-7), put more shots on goal (4-3) and had a higher expected goals total (0.52-0.28).
The match remained tied at 0 at halftime because Atlanta United couldn’t take advantage of its opportunities.
“A little bit of confidence missing,” Deila said. “But we should go out and enjoy ourselves. We are creating in the last third of the pitch. The worst part is if you are not there. Earlier this season, we had some games where we weren’t getting there, now we are there all the time (in the final third of pitch). That’s in every game. Now it’s about timing, it’s about showing quality in those situations. It’s about teamwork.”
The match collapsed in the second half when New England scored two goals within three minutes. The first goal started with a turnover and ended with Stian Gregersen being beaten by Dor Turgeman in a one-on-one situation.
The second goal started with New England goalkeeper launching a long pass down the field, which is what Atlanta United had accurately scouted. It just failed to execute.
“We need to kill the game when we have those opportunities, but also the other way, we are too soft,” Deila said. “I’ve used that expression many times this year. Because you can’t go on the road and not dig in, fight and win.”
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