Atlanta United isn’t winning.
The MLS team has two victories. One came against Chicago, arguably the league’s worst team, and the other came in the final seconds against Montreal.
But Atlanta United isn’t losing, either.
It was beaten by New England on the road in a contest that came between Champions League games, and at NYCFC in one of its worst performances in five years.
Atlanta United is drawing, a lot.
It has six ties, including Sunday’s 0-0 match with New York Red Bulls at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
It keeps drawing because it has great difficulty scoring. It has scored 11 goals in 10 games.
Many reasons have been offered by the team’s supporters for the franchise’s slow start.
I thought I would take a look at a few of the theories and compare them with the situations of few other teams.
The theories are that Atlanta United has a new manager, lots of turnover on roster and the youthfulness of the roster.
Are those ideas supported?
If so, it would seem that a majority of teams with new managers would be making similar progress compared to last year, if at all.
So, I looked at each team that has a new manager, along with a few basic metrics.
Atlanta United, Gabriel Heinze
2020 points: 22 (0.96 points per game), minus-7 goal difference
Players in/out ahead of 2021 season: 14/17.
Average of roster 2020-21: 24.4.
2021 points per game: 1.2 points per game, plus-1 goal difference.
As you can see, Atlanta United is slightly better in terms of points per game, Atlanta United is slightly better. Offensively, it’s slightly better.
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Austin, Josh Wolff
2020 points: N/A
Players in/out ahead of 2021 season: N/A.
Average of roster 2020-21: 25.4.
2021 points per game: 0.91 points per game, minus-5 goal difference.
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D.C. United, Hernan Losada
2020 points: 21 (0.91 points per game), minus-16 goal difference.
Players in/out ahead of 2021 season: 11/7.
Average of roster 2020-21: 26.4
2021 points per game: 1.18 points per game, minus-3 goal difference.
As with Atlanta United, there are incremental improvements in points per game and scoring.
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Inter Miami, Phil Neville
2020 points: 24 (1.04 points per game), minus-10 goal difference.
Players in/out ahead of 2021 season: 13/13.
Average of roster 2020-21: 28.1.
2021 points per game: 0.8 points per game, minus-7 goal difference.
Inter Miami seems to have taken a step backward in points per game and there’s not much of a chance on offense.
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L.A. Galaxy, Greg Vanney
2020 points: 22 (1 point per game), minus-19 goal difference.
Players in/out ahead of 2021 season: 14/10.
Average of roster 2020-21: 26.1.
2021 points per game: 2.1 points per game, plus-2 goal difference.
A vast improvement in points per game and with its scoring, which makes sense.
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Montreal, Wilfried Nancy
2020 points: 26 (1.13 points per game), minus-10 goal difference.
Players in/out ahead of 2021 season: 9/11.
Average of roster 2020-21: 25.1.
2021 points per game: 1.3 points per game, plus-1 goal difference.
Slight improvements in points game and on offense.
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Red Bulls, Gerhard Struber* (Coached his first game in playoffs last year)
2020 points: 32 (1.39 points per game), minus-2 goal difference.
Players in/out ahead of 2021 season: 12/8.
Average of roster 2020-21: 23.2.
2021 points per game: 1.3 points per game, plus-1 goal difference.
Holding steady, which may as well be Red Bulls’ motto.
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Toronto, Chris Armas
2020 points: 44 (1.91 points per game), plus-7 goal difference.
Players in/out ahead of 2021 season: 4/4.
Average of roster 2020-21: 26.7
2021 points per game: 0.5, minus-8 goal difference.
Armas has been a disaster for Toronto.
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Looking at these teams, what stands out to me is that the Galaxy have a bona fide goal-scorer in Javier Hernandez, who struggled last season.
Atlanta United is waiting for Josef Martinez to find his form, or for manager Gabriel Heinze to figure out how to get other players such as Ezequiel Barco, Marcelino Moreno and Jake Mulraney, etc. to pick up the slack.
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