Atlanta United’s sprint to playoffs: ‘Understand the importance of these three weeks’

Atlanta United has spent the past two weeks working on how it finishes plays and game management as part of its preparations for the sprint of its final six games in the next three weeks.

The first chance to see if its work will be rewarded comes Saturday, when the team plays at Toronto in a pivotal game in the playoff chase. Atlanta United is in eighth place, one point below the playoff line. Though featuring some talented players, Toronto is one of the worst teams in MLS this season. This is a game in which the Five Stripes need to get at least one point not to fall further behind the teams they are chasing.

“It’s just trying to manage the momentum, three weeks, six games, and try to make them understand the importance of these three weeks and why we need to fight, why we need to compete, why we need to fight for each other, and it’s just setting that mind-set so we’re successful,” manager Gonzalo Pineda said.

Because Pineda arrived at mid-season, and during a crunch of games, there were things that he hadn’t had time to work with the team as much as he would have liked. The team spent time working on different shapes, including playing with four at the back instead of five. They also spent time working on finishing their scoring chances. New drills were introduced, including one on Thursday, to try to fine-tune finishing skills. The team is 10th in expected goals (35.4) and eighth in goals scored (37). But on the road, the team has scored only16 goals in 14 games in going 2-5-7. Three of its six remaining games are away from Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

“We really need to pick up points and do everything we can to climb up the table,” fullback Brooks Lennon said.

Game management also was an important area of focus. The team missed out on three points against Montreal after going ahead 1-0 because it lost its composure for a few minutes. That loss, which happened in the game that led to the international break, dropped the team’s record to 2-3-2 in games on the road in which it scored first. It bucks a trend of the team being 23-7-7 when it scores first on the road. The team can’t afford to miss any more points from winning positions, particularly if hopes to climb into fourth place in the table so that it can host at least one playoff games.

To try to better handle the situations, the team has watched film, had discussions and worked on specific situations during training sessions. Within the training sessions, Pineda said they will add components to try to increase the pressure and focus, such as making one goal equal to two.

Pineda said because the team is young (the average age of the players is 25), some of the players don’t have the requisite experience to know what to do when it has a lead for example. Instead of pushing for another goal, sometimes it’s better to take possession of the ball, keep the formation and make the opponent continue to work.

“So that is how you start to mold your game, and you improve through bad experiences, good experiences,” Pineda said. “And that’s something that we don’t have at the moment, maybe we don’t have too much. But that doesn’t mean that we cannot get that out of film, out of conversations, out of you know, dealing with those things. Everybody’s on the same page, creating that environment, the training sessions. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

Against Montreal, Atlanta United gave up its lead two minutes after scoring, and then fell behind five minutes after that.

“Gonzalo has showed us that, and he’s harped on it, so we’re looking forward to Saturday in Toronto and going there for only three points,” Lennon 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,

May 15 Atlanta United 1, Montreal 0

May 23 Atlanta United 1, Seattle 1