Atlanta United’s communication issues contribute in loss to Orlando

Issues that have plagued Atlanta United going back to last season again caused the team to be ripped apart in the first half by Orlando in Saturday’s 3-1 loss at Mercedes-Benz Stadium: inability to counter an opponent’s tactics, lack of communication and not executing its tactics.

The Lions scored two goals — one a header on a corner kick and the other from a series of passes and runs into space — in the first half and should have scored more because Atlanta United’s compactness and tactics on defense were lacking, and it rarely threatened Orlando’s goal in open play.

Atlanta United interim manager Stephen Glass said Orlando’s midfield structure surprised his team and they couldn’t put changes into place until halftime.

“I think in the first half we were waiting to see how the game was going to pan out,” he said. “I think Orlando looked in the first half like they were up for the fight a touch more. It took until halftime and we got our pride knocked a little bit, and we came out fighting. I think overall, the first half performance is what cost us the victory tonight.”

An inability to cope with another team’s shape also was cited as a reason for a loss to Columbus in the team’s final game in Orlando, which turned out to be Frank de Boer’s last in charge. That was de Boer’s 39th league game with the club.

Like that Columbus game, Atlanta United’s midfield Saturday was composed of younger players with a choice to leave Jeff Larentowicz, 37, on the bench. Atlanta United’s starting lineup averaged 24.8 years old, the youngest it has fielded.

That inexperience may have resulted in a lack of communication on Orlando’s first two goals.

On the first, Orlando’s Junior Urso ran past Eric Remedi for an easy header.

On the second, no one filled in at right fullback for Brooks Lennon when he was forced off because of a possible injury just before Chris Mueller’s goal in the 35th minute. Mueller attacked the vacated space and, because of that lack of communication or execution by Atlanta United, the Lions had their winning goal. The play started with a goal kick to Pity Martinez, who didn’t win his header. Orlando City also won the subsequent second ball, which was in the space Lennon would have occupied.

“That was individual mistakes that occurred multiple times within that passage of play,” centerback Anton Walkes said. “So, if you look back at the goals, we’ve almost given them and just invited them to go an attack our goal which is something we should never do. It is too easy. We have to look at that and make sure we don’t do that again come Wednesday,”

Going back to last season, de Boer wanted the players to move the ball faster when in possession. It was one of many talking points during the team’s scoreless losing streak in Orlando.

Before Glass’ first game in charge against Nashville, he said that the team has been working on being more attacking, moving the ball faster and going forward. After the 2-0 win, Glass said the team could have done better.

Against Orlando, it was, again, totally lacking in the decisive first half.

“We came in with the game plan of trying to try to break them down by possessing the ball and finding gaps,” said Lennon, who scored his first goal to make the game interesting late in the second half. “Like I said, we were just moving the ball too slowly and unfortunately gave the ball away too many times and they capitalized.”

Atlanta United looked better in the second half, particularly when Larentowicz, Erick Torres and Jurgen Damm came on. They provided leadership and speed, which was also something lacking in the first half.

But it’s impossible to know if Atlanta United truly played better or if Orlando was simply playing with its lead because as soon as Atlanta United scored in the 83rd minute, the Lions got their third three minutes later on yet another goal that was helped by Atlanta United’s mistakes: this time a Martinez turnover.

Glass believes that if given more time to work the players they can train out some of the issues.

“I think it’s that we’ve had to limit the amount of time and game practice to actually move things around,” Glass said. “I think as the season progresses, hopefully you’re going to see a team that learns on the go. And if we’re not coping with a shape, or something like that, it will be easier to change it on the go. We have not had preseason games — us as a staff — to be able to fix problems and put two or three different things in place. So that’s been the difficulty, but you will see a group that gets better as the season goes.”