Home or road, Atlanta United won’t stop winning.
The Five Stripes extended their unbeaten streak to eight games with a 2-1 win at Chicago on Saturday at Toyota Park.
It wasn’t easy. The Fire surprised most by switching their formation and instituting an aggressive press that gave Atlanta United fits in the first half. But a tactical adjustment made at halftime by Gerardo Martino eased that pressure.
Atlanta United continued the press it has used since last season and it was good enough to force the turnovers that led to goals from Ezequiel Barco, the first for the $15 million man, and the seventh this season from Josef Martinez just four minutes later.
The win moved Atlanta United (7-1-1) into first in the MLS Eastern Conference with 22 points, which are also the most in the league. The team leads all teams in points per game (2.44), goals scored (23) and goal difference (13).
"It's a very long season,” Martino said. “We realize we are in a good moment and what we have to do now is just prolong it. We want to be a consistent team, as we know in this league there are going to be games where we have to suffer, and tonight it was difficult in the second half, they put in a lot of balls into the box that we had to defend. We know we have a lot more to go."
Here are five observations about the game:
Barco's first goal: Barco's goal didn't involve a complicated multi-pass combo, or a strike from outside the penalty box.
It started with Miguel Almiron forcing a turnover near midfield, dribbling at Chicago’s defenders, causing two of them to hesitate by faking a shot, and then taking advantage of that hesitation by splitting them with a pass to Barco, who made a good run down the left channel.
Barco's finish was quality, a chipped shot over the goalkeeper and into the roof of the net in the 53rd minute. It was Almiron's fifth assist this season as he begins to put together an MVP campaign.
"It was a really quick play," Barco said. "We caught Chicago a little off guard, and Miguel made a great pass and I was lucky I was able to finish it."
It remains to be seen if one goal will lead to many goals, but Martino said the first goal should help the most expensive transfer in MLS history feel relaxed.
"You can see that this team does a lot, put a lot of money also in the squad,” Chicago’s Bastian Schweinsteiger said. “To buy a player like (Ezequiel Barco), I think this is unusual. You see they have a lot of good players, also regular players from the bench so they're one of the best teams from the league."
Barco’s goal was the result of a lot of hard work the past few weeks. Barco was again a dribbling machine, just as he was at the L.A. Galaxy and against Montreal. Though he didn’t create many chances against Chicago, he was able to use his ability to dribble to relieve pressure on the defense.
"The first half was tough, so in the second half I dropped back a little bit and Miguel moved up a little bit on the field we were able to get the goals,” Barco said.
Road record: Since losing 4-0 at Houston in Week 1, Atlanta United is unbeaten on the road with three consecutive wins.
Each has been different. Atlanta United had to grit out a 1-0 win at Minnesota in frigid temperatures and down to 10 men following a red card to Leandro Gonzalez Pirez. It dominated the Los Angeles Galaxy in a 2-0 win and then it could be argued was lucky to take all three points against Chicago.
The difference between last season, when it won four games away from home all season, and this season, is experience, according to Martino.
"It is what we always talked about, more time together as a team, overall improvement among the team, reinforcements on the roster, we have more depth this year, and I think all that combined is what has been different for us.”
Tough stretch: Getting three points at Chicago was important for a lot of reasons, including that it's the first of a tough stretch that includes hosting Sporting KC, which leads the Western Conference, on Wednesday, and playing at Orlando City, on May 13. The Lions were carrying a five-game winning streak into Sunday's game against Real Salt Lake.
Taking six points from those two games will turn the Five Stripes into the MLS Cup favorite, albeit early in the season.
“We've been on such a good run, we don't want to throw it away in one week,” Michael Parkhurst said. “If we started the week bad, it could go south pretty quick. Anytime you have that and a quick turnaround, now we get ready for Kansas City and it's going to be a tough one at home. It was a challenge against them last year and we kind of eeked out a result against them last year. So hopefully we will have a much better performance in front of the home crowd."
Chicago's press: There is thought that teams that press don't like to be pressed. Chicago broke form and successfully pressed the heck out of Atlanta United in the first half. With Schweinsteiger moving from sweeper in a 5-3-2 formation to an attacking midfielder in a 4-3-3, he conducted the press with hand gestures and commands to his teammates.
Atlanta United had difficulty playing out of the back, reminiscent of the game at Minnesota United when the Loons also aggressively pressed the team.
“They just made it difficult for us to play out, they took away some passing lanes,” Parkhurst said of Chicago. “We were not sharp enough. We did not take advantage of one-on-ones, when they did go one-on-one against us, we just didn't move the ball fast enough.”
The danger of opponents pressing Atlanta United is if that press is broken, the team has the speed with Darlington Nagbe, the team’s choice for man of the match on Saturday, Almiron, Martinez, Barco, Hector Villalba, Greg Garza and Julian Gressel, to break in numbers and create goal-scoring chances.
The tactical adjustment: Martino eased that pressure by re-positioning Jeff Larentowicz in the second half. Instead of dropping back to the same level as the centerbacks to receive passes, he was told to move higher up the field, behind Chicago's front three. That gave the defenders a much shorter outlet pass than they had in the first half when at times there was a 30- to 50-yard circle of open space between the Atlanta United's back line and its midfielders. Additionally, Barco dropped back to provide another shorter outlet.
Chicago’s press wasn’t as effective in the second half.
“We pressed on quite well, we won a lot of balls up front, we had very good chances in the first half to score a goal, we didn't score a goal, so that's a little bit disappointing,” Schweinsteiger said.
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