Atlanta United’s struggles in it past two games, both 3-1 losses, can be traced to the team no longer using the tactics that helped it win two of its first three games, according to two of the veteran players.
“Last two games we’ve gone away from how we want to play,” fullback Tyrone Mears said. “We started this season with an emphasis of playing out of the back and trying to control the games.
“The last two games we’ve changed our style a little bit. It’s not something that’s come from the training ground or anything like that.”
Instead of keeping possession and developing attacks that start with passes from the back, as the team did when Josef Martinez was at striker, Atlanta United has played more and more longer passes to Kenwyne Jones, who has started the past three games while Martinez recovers from a thigh injury sustained in March.
Partially as a result, Atlanta United had just four shots on goal (less than its season average of 4.9) in Sunday’s loss to NYCFC, and seven in the previous week’s loss at home to D.C. United. But most of those shots came in the game’s first 20 minutes.
Playing long balls is not a bad tactic, especially to a target as big as Jones, who can occupy as many as three defenders. It’s a tried-and-true formula for some teams.
But the problem for Atlanta United is teams are starting to press the defenders when they have the ball, which makes the long ball an attractive outlet, and the players aren’t always on the same page when the tactic is used.
So, there have been times when some of the midfielders have hung back preparing to play a short passing game, when the player with the ball launches it forward to Jones, who no longer has enough support to win the second ball after he battles to try to win the first.
Or, some of the midfielders move up to try to help win that second ball, only they don’t win it. Suddenly, the other team not only has the ball, but there also are acres of space to exploit between the midfielders and the defense. None of NYCFC’s goals came as a result of that issue, but they did start several attacks.
“We get into problems if the field is stretched,” captain Michael Parkhurst said. “They win the second ball and come straight us. It’s a tough job for Carlos (Carmona) and Jeff (Larentowicz) if they are on top of our box trying to play short and suddenly the ball is at midfield, a 50-50, there’s just a lot of space in there.
“Want to make sure we are all on the same page.”
So, Parkhurst and Mears said during a tactics meeting Tuesday that the coaches stressed the need to get back to what was working. Manager Gerardo Martino said the team reviewed film and images of different moments.
The long ball should still be used, but only if Jones is being marked by one man, not two.
Though Jones has been blamed for the team’s issues on offense, neither Mears nor Parkhurst indicated that was fair.
Mears said the long ball is the easiest to play because Jones is a weapon who has scored two goals. It’s an easier tactic than trying to combine passes to get out of tough situations, which is the preferred style and one that is difficult to learn. Mears is 34 years old and a veteran of the leagues in England, and he said he’s still learning new things under Martino.
“Against Salt Lake we didn’t play long,” Mears said. “Kenwyne was in the team. When you have a big guy like that it’s natural to want to play long. That’s not the way we want to play
“It doesn’t matter who is in that central role, whether he’s small or big, we are still going to play the same way. We have to do that.”
Parkhurst seemed confident the team will get back to what has worked for Sunday’s game at Portland.
“We think we can go out there and impose our style of play,” he said. “If we are able to do that, I think we can put some pressure on them.”
SCOUTING PORTLAND
Coach: Caleb Porter.
Record: 5-3-2.
Previous game: 3-0 loss at San Jose.
Last five: W-L-W-D-L.
Three players to watch:
Fanendo Adi: The 26-year-old is big (6-foot-4) and quick, with six goals in nine games this season and 47 goals in 99 MLS regular season games.
Diego Valeri: The Argentinian midfielder has five goals and four assists in only eight games this season and 42 goals and 46 assists since joining Portland in 2013.
Darlington Nagbe: He has two goals and three assists in eight games this season. He's one of the better two-way players in MLS.
