Q&A with Atlanta United’s Garth Lagerwey: Defining the success of the season

Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a five-part series of interviews with Atlanta United President Garth Lagerwey.

Atlanta United President Garth Lagerwey spent almost an hour talking exclusively to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution last weekend before the team’s Decision Day match in Cincinnati.

As hotel staff scurried about preparing for a wedding in an adjacent room, Lagerwey, wearing shorts and an Atlanta United jacket, Lagerwey covered a range of topics, from the MLS rules changes, to if the team is considering starting a women’s franchise, to the futures of key members of the team.

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Questions and answers have been paraphrased for clarity and/or brevity.

Q: I know that it’s still ongoing. But is this a season of success for you?

A: We don’t know yet. And that’s, that’s also normal, Doug. When it gets to the nitty gritty and they get to the games that really matter, you’ve got to see how your team does when the games really matter.

I think this is the classic kind of glass-half full, glass-half empty part of the season where you could say, whatever happens today, and since you’ve had three measuring-stick games, Philly, Columbus, Cincinnati on the way in, if you’re learning from that, you’ve grown from that, you know what to expect, the players that could put you in a really good position.

Now, do we wish we would have won all those games, like sure that we have momentum and stuff like that, right? You know, the team feels better, right? Changed five out of 10 field players, feels like we are 4-2-3 since we made this shift. It’s a really solid playoff team pace.

If you want to be glass-half empty, we’ve got one win against the top five teams above us in the conference. So how do you sort those two things? Let’s go play some playoff games. Like that’s where we are, right? That’s the answer to your question: Let’s go play some playoff games, and let’s see if we get it done when it matters the most. And then I can answer your question, right?

Q: Piggybacking off that first question, considering the impact of the summer window, during which you’ve gotten two starters, and (Xande) Silva is still yet to be determined, but does it feel like the rebuild is a little bit ahead of where you anticipated?

Q: Again, what I would tell you, Doug, is we don’t know yet. And I don’t mean to be frustrating or evasive. What I would say is, you are what your record is, right? And we’ve been 4-2-3 since we made those group changes. I think it is more than two (starters) in the sense I think we put Caleb Wiley in the right spot as the starting left back. So he’s a starter, but that was a surgery, right? We had to trade (Andrew) Gutman, we had to put Caleb back there, like that was a risk. And I think that one has worked.

(Luis) Abram has come in as the left center back and done well. So I think in that sense, you’ve added two starters on the backline. And what was previous to that was (we were) tied for the worst defense in the league. We’ve made a step forward since then. So I’ve got to give those guys some credit in terms of how Tristan’s (Muyumba) been able to come in as a starter and help that, and I think he’s made (Matheus) Rossetto better. That combination has been really effective for us, right? And then as you said, Saba (Lobjanidze) and Xande.

Xande is a starter for us. He’s started every game, when he has been available since he joined us. And so, you know, what I would say is, we’ve made forward progress.

And I’m really happy with everyone, the (Jamal) Thiare role that he’s played, he’s really come on for us as well. So, you know, when you look at the hit rate for the guys we signed in the summer, that looks pretty good. But again, are those guys going to be impactful in the games that mean the most, right? And that is to be determined, right?

THE SERIES

The first part: Rules changes

The second part: Will club start a women’s team?

The third part: Offseason moves

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Atlanta United’s 2023 MLS schedule

Feb. 25 Atlanta United 2, San Jose Earthquakes 1

March 4 Atlanta United 1, Toronto FC 1

March 11 Atlanta United 3, Charlotte FC 0

March 18 Atlanta United 5, Portland 1

March 25 Columbus 6, Atlanta United 1

April 1 Atlanta United 1, New York Red Bulls 0

April 8 Atlanta United 1, New York City FC 1

April 15 Atlanta United 2, Toronto FC 2

April 23 Atlanta United 2, Chicago 1

April 29 Nashville SC 3, Atlanta United 1

May 6 Inter Miami CF 2, Atlanta United 1