Atlanta United mulling its options without Thiago Almada

On the same day it was announced that Thiago Almada is a finalist to be named MLS’ MVP, manager Gonzalo Pineda attempted to explain how his team can succeed without him in Game 1 of their playoff best-of-three series at Columbus.

Atlanta United will be without Almada, who finished the season with 11 goals and a league-leading 19 assists, because he received two yellow cards in regular-season finale at Cincinnati. Atlanta United will play at Columbus on Wednesday.

“We’re looking at two or three options to see what is the best thing for team,” Pineda said Thursday. “And yeah, we’ll we’ll be working on that.”

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There aren’t many teams in the league that are built around one player the way Atlanta United has been built around Almada. Among the reasons that Giorgos Giakoumakis and Saba Lobjanidze were signed, and Xande Silva brought in on loan, were because of perceived their abilities to combine with Almada.

Pineda said that he believes the quality of those players could be the key to overcoming Almada’s absence. Lobjanidze and Silva have shown they can play in space and beat defenders one-on-one. They have combined for five goals and seven assists in 19 appearances. Giakoumakis can score with one touch. He was named a finalist for MLS Newcomer of the Year after scoring 17 goals.

“He’s a great player, but Thiago is not Atlanta United,” centerback Luis Abram said. “We have 11 players, so that’s what we’ll try to do.”

Pineda has several options.

He can attempt to plug and play, inserting either Tyler Wolff or Amar Sejdic as the attacking midfielder and using the other 10 typical starters. Sejdic has started as the “10″ twice this season. Atlanta United scored three goals in those matches at Columbus and against Toronto.

Pineda said how the goals could be scored will be different. Almada is very good at finding pockets of space between defenders. Almada can see passes through the midfield and back lines that few others will attempt, much less see.

So, the tactics used will need to make sure that if the team uses an attacking midfielder that player has passing options, Pineda said.

“It will affect some parts of our game,” he said. “But I think we have also other players that can help us with that end product.”

Or, because of the odd format of the first-round series in which games can’t end in draws so they will go to penalty kicks if tied after 90 minutes, Pineda can choose a more defensive formation and play to win on a counterattack or set-piece goal during regulation, or penalty kicks.

Pineda implied the team won’t veer from the back four it has used most of the season. He said style will be more important.

“We’re evaluating multiple options, and we’ll see which one fits better the group of players, not just opponent, but the group of players we have,” Pineda said.

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Atlanta United’s 2023 MLS schedule

Feb. 25 Atlanta United 2, San Jose Earthquakes 1

March 4 Atlanta United 1, Toronto FC 1

March 11 Atlanta United 3, Charlotte FC 0

March 18 Atlanta United 5, Portland 1

March 25 Columbus 6, Atlanta United 1

April 1 Atlanta United 1, New York Red Bulls 0

April 8 Atlanta United 1, New York City FC 1

April 15 Atlanta United 2, Toronto FC 2

April 23 Atlanta United 2, Chicago 1

April 29 Nashville SC 3, Atlanta United 1

May 6 Inter Miami CF 2, Atlanta United 1