Atlanta United’s start, finish need to improve

When Atlanta United President Darren Eales fired Gabriel Heinze after 13 games, he did so with the belief that the roster was better than the results and that making the playoffs was still possible.

From the challenge of taking a team that had just 13 points from its first 13 games, interim manager Rob Valentino and then Gonzalo Pineda led the team to 38 points from its next 21 games. After Sunday’s 2-1 win at Cincinnati, the team secured a playoff berth.

So, Eales was correct.

In that regard, the season can be considered successful. Atlanta United will face host NYCFC in the first round of the playoffs. The dates and times haven’t yet been announced by the league.

Now that there is a second season, Atlanta United has two more challenges.

Pineda and his staff need to figure out how to motivate the players to start games with passion and to continue to help them end games with resolve.

The win against Cincinnati marked just the second time in 35 instances in franchise history that it rallied to win after conceding the first goal in a road game. It was lucky to not be down by more. And, based upon the difference in talent between the two rosters and what each had at stake -- Cincinnati had nothing but pride; Atlanta United had a home playoff game -- while the finish was great with two goals in the final 20 minutes the team’s start was inexcusable.

“That’s where I challenged them,” Pineda said regarding his halftime talk to the team. “I said yes, we’ll make adjustments from the first half but the attitude needs to change. And the attitude was I have to play faster, play simpler, try to play forward and the little things that make us a good team. And I think they did great. We overloaded the opposition and created many chances and we scored two goals that put us in a good position so that’s what changed the tactics and the mentality.”

Coming out flat is a recent troubling trend and one that can’t continue in the single-game playoff formats. In its past five games, it has scored just goals in the first halves. And one of those goals was the gift from Toronto goalkeeper Quentin Westberg to Luiz Araujo.

Not scoring is one thing, but the lack of intensity shown by the team in the first 45 minutes of games is one that goes back way before Valentino and Pineda.

But it came to a head on Sunday.

Brad Guzan said he went into the locker room and told his teammates that their mentality wasn’t going to work in the playoffs.

“From myself up to Josef (Martinez) and everyone in between – the guys on the bench, coaches, support staff, everybody – and when guys aren’t pulling their weight, especially their work rate and their attitude and their mentality, those are things that we can control,” Guzan said. “Those are things that we can change like that. Especially when they’re not good. It’s important that you have those real conversations. There were some choice words being said at halftime and I was pleased to be able to see the reaction, knowing that we’re going to need performances like that second half going forward into the playoffs.”

Martinez admitted that he didn’t start the game with the proper attitude. He said he listened to Guzan and agreed that improvements were needed.

“I don’t know why we were so relaxed, I imagine maybe because of the results that we had in our favor,” he said. “And in the second half we made a change that could help us, we had many players back where we didn’t need it and I think in the second half we went after the game which was what we needed to do from the first minute. We have to correct a lot and we need players who think because it’s not just about running but you have to think.”

No longer starting poorly is important because the team will play its first playoff game on the road. Should it win, it will then play at New England. With Sunday’s win, the team is 2-26-7 on the road when it concedes first.

Of course, no longer finishing poorly is also important. During the five-game stretch in which it has scored just two goals in the first half, it has allowed two goals in the final two minutes against NYCFC and Toronto at at Mercedes-Benz Stadium to turn two victories into draws. The team showed it can close out games by holding on for a 0-0 draw at Red Bulls on Wednesday, and then securing the three points against Cincinnati.

“I think if we would have had better results and not lost so many points during the year, the start was tough and then we had many games where we lost points at the end of games, I think then with the circumstances we wouldn’t have had to suffer but, well, that’s what happened,” Martinez said. “We’re happy but we’re worried about the errors that were made, not just against Red Bull but also against Toronto, that for us, soccer-wise wasn’t bad but personally a little worrying and today the first half.”

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