Atlanta United named Gonzalo Pineda as its fourth manager Thursday.
Pineda, formerly an assistant at Seattle, will be introduced at 1 p.m.
Listening to him while watching videos, Pineda comes across as thoughtful, intelligent and humble.
He will need all of those qualities because Atlanta United is in a bit of a rough spot.
The team has fired its previous two full-time managers, Frank de Boer and Gabriel Heinze, after horrible starts to seasons.
Though the team has started to resemble its 2017 and ‘18 self under Valentino, who was named interim manager following the sacking of Heinze in July, it has taken just five points from its past five games and is in 10th place in the East. It trails Columbus by six points in the race of the final playoff spot with 16 games remaining. Pineda will be in charge for the final 14 games. Valentino will continue to lead the team in its next two games against LAFC on Sunday and Toronto on August 18.
Here are a few of Pineda’s challenges in the stretch.
Make the playoffs. That’s why he was hired now instead of letting Valentino stay as interim for the remainder of the season. When Heinze was let go, club President Darren Eales and Vice President Carlos Bocanegra said they made the decision then in part because they believed the season could be saved. That’s also what they said last year when de Boer was fired in July and the team missed the playoffs for the first time. The team likely will need around 45 points. It has 18.
Understand Valentino’s influence. The players are happy. They like playing for Valentino. You can see it in the efforts and results on the field. Valentino has simplified tactics, which has allowed the players to go instead of having to think before they go. Should the team continue to gain positive results from the next two games, Pineda would be wise to continue to let Valentino do his thing until it starts to run out of steam.
Connect with the players. One of the reasons that the players like Valentino is so much is he has worked very hard in the past years to find a connection with each of them. They are professionals, but they are also humans. Valentino has done a tremendous job remembering that. Some coaches don’t need to do that. Gerardo Martino, the team’s first manager, was beloved, but he also was sometimes standoffish with the players. De Boer tried to connect with the players. It worked with some and not with others. Heinze worked to connect with the players and nobody else. A good start will be with those who have been the team’s captains, Brad Guzan, Anton Walkes and Josef Martinez.
Trust himself. Pineda helped Seattle become the model franchise in MLS with three appearances in the MLS Cup in the past few years. The team has had to overcome numerous injuries, surprise retirements, suspensions, etc. along the way. It’s easy, sometimes, for first-time managers to take what they’ve learned or what has worked and take it up to 11. Or they go into “head ball coach” mode and start doing what the popular trends in the sport even when the personnel aren’t a good match. Pineda has done well to fit tactics to players. Keep doing that. The tactics that seem to be working for Atlanta United are to attack. Always go forward.
Connect with the supporters. Winning is a good start. Martino learned that. But being friendly also helps. Heinze didn’t seem to care too much about that. De Boer got off to a bad start when he described the team’s supporters as spoiled, not realizing that the phrase in English means something different than it does in Dutch. He apologized but the damage was done.
