Important things to watch in Atlanta United’s final 5 matches
Though Atlanta United’s remaining five matches don’t mean anything because it was eliminated from playoff scenarios last week, they could set the course for next season’s success.
Sporting Director Chris Henderson said in August that the team, then below the playoff line, needed to win some of its eight remaining matches to show the team is “going in the right direction.”
It is 1-1-1 since with two shutouts, five goals scored and five allowed, making things as clear as stained glass and putting more pressure on the final five matches to help Henderson and President Garth Lagerwey, who remains on a leave of absence, make decisions about next season.
Here are things to watch:
Manager Ronny Deila’s future
Lagerwey said in May that neither Deila nor Henderson would be fired during the season. Both are in their first seasons with the club.
“We brought Ronny in for the long term,” Lagerwey said then. “He’s our third coach in three years. The solution to our issues is not to have four coaches in four years.”
Lagerwey took his leave in July to deal with a medical issue.
Henderson wasn’t as emphatic about Deila’s future in August, which is when he discussed the need to perform better. The team was winless in its previous 10 despite having the third most-expensive roster in the league.
“There’s been a lot of change,” Henderson said. “But, as I said before, it comes down to winning games. That’s where we’re at right now is can we collect points? Can we show that we’re going in the right direction?”
Saturday’s loss to Columbus showed the good and bad of Deila so far. Needing a win to stay alive in the chase for the playoffs, Atlanta United looked unprepared and uninterested in the first half. It tied a franchise record by surrendering five goals. Instead of giving up, Atlanta United scored four goals and had several chances to get the tying goal — including a missed header in the final minute.
Deila knows how to manage. He’s won trophies at several clubs. For lots of reasons, including injuries and bad luck, this team hasn’t responded to his tactics or motivations.
The injuries across the back line have contributed to it surrendering 54 goals. Its expected goals allowed is 41.7. The injuries at striker and Deila’s inability to find an effective front quartet have resulted in it scoring 36 goals. Its expected goals scored is 39.5.
The added differences in those expected goals is 16 goals, an impactful total.
Contract options
The following players have contracts that are expiring or have options for next year at season’s end: fullbacks Brooks Lennon, Pedro Amador and Matthew Edwards; strikers Jamal Thiare and Cayman Togashi; goalkeepers Brad Guzan, Jayden Hibbert and Josh Cohen; and midfielder Will Reilly.
Hibbert, a draft pick, has started the past three matches, signaling that Guzan, at 41 years old, might not be at the club next season. Henderson said the club has had conversations with Guzan but that they are looking for a No. 1 goalkeeper for next season.
Hernandez has replaced Lennon as the starter at right fullback. Hernandez is cheaper ($290,750 guaranteed compensation) than Lennon ($740,000) and arguably is better defensively.
Unless Thiare — who has five scored goals in 680 minutes — wants to leave for more playing time, it seems improbable that Atlanta United won’t pick up his option. He has scored almost as many goals as Emmanuel Latte Lath (7 goals) in less than 50% of the playing time.
Central defenders
The club added Enea Mihaj and Juan Berrocal during the summer window, and shipped out Derrick Williams and Efrain Morales, in an attempt to improve the defense.
Mihaj and Stian Gregersen looked good for four matches before last week’s implosion against Columbus in their third start together.
Are they, with Berrocal and perhaps on-loan Noah Cobb pushing both, an anchor pairing for next year?
The Designated Players
It’s easier to write than do, but Atlanta United needs to know that its DPs — Miguel Almirón, Latte Lath and Alexey Miranchuk — are the difference-makers required in a salary-capped league.
So far, only Miranchuk, with six goals and four assists, has shown this season that he is possibly worthy of the big contract he carries.
Almirón, the fourth-highest paid player in MLS ($7.9 million), has four goals and four primary assists. Two of those goals came from penalty kicks. He is third on the team in key passes (34).
Latte Lath ($4 million) scored five goals in the first six matches. He has two since.
Almirón and Latte Lath might be worn out. They came to Atlanta United in the January window after already putting in six months in the Premier League and Championship in England.
Deila implied after the Columbus match that he will not be resting players in the final five matches. It will be more opportunities to show what Atlanta United’s future might hold.
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