Atlanta United must get strikers going

One glaring issue has appeared for the team through its first seven games this season, one that manager Gabriel Heinze needs to address to keep the anticipated improvement going after the team made numerous moves in the offseason to return to its high-scoring style.

The team needs to get the strikers going.

Josef Martinez, Lisandro Lopez and Erick Torres, who have combined to score 461 goals in their careers, have yet to score in either the four Champions League games or three MLS games this season. In league play, they have combined for only six shots, two on goal.

Against Philadelphia, neither Martinez nor Torres took a single shot in a game in which the team needed to score at least three goals. Martinez didn’t have a touch within 25 yards of Philadelphia’s goal.

Part of the issue in the game and this season is a lack of service.

It’s unrealistic to expect the strikers to score if they are not put into scoring positions. Philadelphia packed the middle of the field in both games, constricting the passing lanes and making it hard for Ezequiel Barco, Marcelino Moreno, Emerson Hyndman, Erik Lopez, George Bello and Brooks Lennon to find Martinez or Torres, who replaced him in the 78th minute.

In the game, the Five Stripes created only nine chances.

Part of the issue is physical.

Before his knee injury, Martinez was a threat to get behind centerbacks, even in the shortest of distances. In man-on-man battles, he could win balls in the air or on the ground. He hasn’t shown that yet. That’s a result of him still working his way back after last year’s surgery to repair a torn ACL in his right knee.

Lopez, who has been away from the team for the past week because of a death in his family, is 38 years old.

Torres hasn’t played regularly in more than a year. It takes time to find rhythms and chemistry.

Part of the issue is tactical.

Martinez was MLS MVP in 2018. Lopez has a European pedigree. Torres was once a Designated Player in MLS. But they are often being asked to drop back to the middle of the field to be an outlet to try to break an opponent’s pressure. It’s hard to score when you are 60 yards from goal.

Passing maps show that the average area of the field in which the Atlanta United strikers have received the ball this season is much closer to midfield than the goal. Against Philadelphia, Martinez on average received the ball only a couple of yards from midfield. Several teammates on average received the ball further down the field.

It’s also hard to score when the team doesn’t seem inclined to try to counterattack. It often holds the ball when it wins a turnover, giving defenses time to track back and get organized.

Part of the issue is service.

When they are in the penalty box, the crosses they are receiving often are either cleared or hit so hard they land on the opposite side of the penalty box. Against Philadelphia, Atlanta United completed 39.4 percent of its crosses.

Martinez and former teammate Julian Gressel became one of the league’s best tandems because the German midfielder was adept at hitting low, hard crosses into the spaces behind the centerbacks and in front of the goalkeeper. Martinez was frequently the first to get to the ball. None of the strikers is receiving those types of crosses.

“I thought we built up to the wide area well, we had quite a few crosses, got into some dangerous areas but the final product, the final ball wasn’t there,” Hyndman said. “It showed a little over both legs. Especially in the first half of first leg, we had all the chances, the build up was great, but couldn’t put the ball in the net. Tonight, it seemed like we would get up there and didn’t have the final ball which was unfortunate. We know it’s something we have to work on. We are just going to have to work on the training pitch and get better.”