Atlanta United, Pineda go back to work to keep momentum

Part of the being-solved puzzle that is new Atlanta United manager Gonzalo Pineda is his willingness to base formations upon game plans.

The striker-less “False Nine” formation that he used to demolish Orlando 3-0 on Friday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium was necessitated by the absence of Josef Martinez.

Martinez should be back for Wednesday’s game against Cincinnati, also at home. What formation will Pineda use? Though Atlanta United looked better than it has in years against Orlando without Martinez, Pineda said you can count on him being in Wednesday’s lineup because he is excited about the potential of the attack.

“There is no reason not to put him on the field,” Pineda said. “We must create the tactics seeing what we have on the field, and then try to make the next plan.”

The stakes are growing increasingly high for Pineda to keep bamboozling opponents, as he did Orlando, with his ideas.

After Saturday’s games, Atlanta United sits just one point from the seventh and final playoff spot, two points from fifth and four from fourth. Pineda said he wants to lead the club to at least one home playoff game this season. To do that, the club needs to finish as high as fourth.

In two games, Pineda has already used three formations: a 3-4-2-1/5-3-2 that switched to a 4-2-3-1 in a 2-0 loss to Nashville, and then the “false nine” with Ezequiel Barco and Luiz Araujo taking turns as strikers, which Pineda described as actually two “false nines” — (so either it was a “false 81″ or two “false 4 1/2s?” let’s just call it a Pineda) — against Orlando.

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

No matter the formation, what Pineda likes to see, and hopes he will again on Wednesday, is the players taking ownership of problems during training and games when the formation or tactics can’t solve what the opponent is doing. Pineda said there was a lot of that by Atlanta United’s players in their training prep for Orlando and then during the game.

“Sometimes, we as coaches can really pay attention to the solutions that the players provide to us, not us always providing the solutions,” he said. “I love to analyze the training sessions because we can see certain behaviors from them that we can continue in the game plan, and they did it fantastically today.”

One difference between the game against Orlando and the pending game against Cincinnati is that Pineda will have just a few days, not two weeks, to decide on and install a game plan. The team was off Saturday and was scheduled to be back at work on Sunday.

Another difference is in addition to Martinez being back, Pineda also will have available centerback Miles Robinson, who wasn’t on the game day roster having played three consecutive full games for the U.S. in its World Cup qualifying campaign. Additionally, he will have a rested George Bello, who came on in the second half against Orlando.

Atlanta United can’t slip against Cincinnati.

“We are planning everything — every little last thing — as if we have to win this game as if its life or death against Cincinnati,” he said.

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Atlanta United’s 2021 MLS schedule

April 17 Atlanta United 0, Orlando 0

April 24 Atlanta United 3, Chicago 1

May 1 New England 2, Atlanta United 1

May 9 Atlanta United 1, Inter Miami 1,