Atlanta United stuck in repeat in another loss
Ronny Deila looked and sounded tired after explaining why Atlanta United lost 1-0 at LAFC on Sunday.
It’s hard to blame him. Everything he said he has said before. The team needed to create more chances. It needed to put in more crosses. A couple of mistakes on defense led to the deciding goal.
Those reasons are why the team has won once in its past 16 MLS matches. They are among the reasons why it has won one of its 16 matches away from Mercedes-Benz Stadium. They are why the team will finish with the fewest points in its nine-season history.
“I’m proud of the boys today,” Deila said. “We talked last time about being soft and all those different things, that we didn’t have the team spirit and discipline we wanted. Defensively, we were very solid, very organized with short distances between us. There was a mistake in the end that cost us. That’s sad because I think we should get something out of the game.”
The deciding goal came when fullback Pedro Amador failed to track Denis Bouanga’s run to the back post. A cross came in from LAFC’s left. Enea Mihaj headed it backward, which was all he could do. The header went toward Bouanga as if it were planned. He volleyed the shot from a few yards away through goalkeeper Jayden Hibbert’s legs in the 86th minute.
Deila said Mihaj did nothing wrong. He said Amador should have been running with Bouanga.
Hibbert, making his sixth consecutive start, said he possibly could have had better form on the shot.
“I should have stood up, maybe kicked it out, or maybe closed it out and get a starfish spread going,” he said. “But we will have to watch it back and talk to my coaches to see what we can do better as a team and myself personally.”
The defense played mostly solid until the goal. Operating out of a 5-4-1 formation that featured Stian Gregersen, Juan Berrocal and Mihaj playing together for the first time as central defenders, LAFC’s players appeared frustrated in the second half. The hosts were used to having their way, having scored 17 goals in their past six matches.
“As I said to the players, if you are going to get points away from home, this is what needs to be at the bottom,” Deila said. “Being organized, hard working and disciplined. And then with more confidence and belief after all the things we have been through, then we will see more quality in the next phase.”
Ah, the next phase, where Atlanta United produced a minuscule 0.07 expected goals from three shots, one on goal. LAFC produced 2.4 expected goals from 15 shots, four on goal.
The Five Stripes’ shots came from outside the 18-yard box, two by Bartosz Slisz. The offense created only three chances, hence Deila saying it needing to produce more crosses. Even if there were crosses, there was seldom any targets running into the 18-yard box. Those issues resulted in the team being shut out for the 11th time.
“We had some good opportunities to create more in and around the box,” Deila said. “I don’t know if it’s that they are protecting more toward the defense and think they have to be in a position to be balanced. That wasn’t what we talked about before. We have to let go there more. More crosses, more situations inside the box to get something out of some really good switch-up play. We want to improve in that area.”
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