What was said: Columbus 1, Atlanta United 0

What was said after Atlanta United’s 1-0 loss to Columbus on Saturday at Mercedes-Benz Stadium:

Atlanta United Interim Head Coach Rob Valentino:

On the team creating a lot of chances but not finishing those opportunities:

“We created a good amount of chances. I think whether it is luck or not our day, I’m not sure.”

On if these offensive opportunities build the team’s confidence:

“I would hope so. I think the fact that they’re creating chances I’d hope they would just continue to fall. I mean to have that many shots and not have something fall, I’m gutted for them because I think they deserve something from that game. I think they deserve to win the game. I think they deserve more goals than we actually got. We didn’t get any so that’s frustrating for me.”

On the injuries to Jake Mulraney and Alan Franco:

“Nobody is 100% at this time. We knew we would go into this week going with guys with a little bit of a knock. At the moment, he didn’t have anything before the game. So, we thought we would push guys as best we could and keep rhythm with the team. But, Jake had something in his foot. Hopefully, it isn’t anything serious and he can continue on training. Alan Franco – I’m not sure what happened, but he played the whole game. I’ll find out later.”

On what needs to happen to produce goals:

“I think just putting it in the net. As simple as that sounds, they were there. Sometimes in this game and at this level, the margin of error or the margin of chance or not chance is so small. I think we saw that tonight because they did have some chances, but then they go and score off a set piece. That one issue is frustrating, but it’s like you create the chances and they were there and it’s not because they don’t want to. They wanted to do it and you can tell by the intent. Everyone can tell by the intent of the players and they’re getting in the right areas. So, I can’t fault their efforts. I can’t fault their intentions for creation.”

On the fanbase’s energy throughout the match:

“It’s fantastic. I feel bad for them because we talked a lot about them before the game. Putting on a performance that would make them proud. Talking about seeing them happy. No matter what you can hear them and the crowd drives us and they drive the players. Even just the small smiles you would see before. They’re such a huge part. I said this before when I first got in this position. They are the lifeblood of the club. They’re the heartbeat of what we want to do. I’m disappointed for them. As long as I’m up here or in the position to help, I will make sure that message is driven. I’m grateful for their support. I show a lot of gratitude to them because I understand they spend time out of their day to come watch us, whether they’re here or whether they’re watching on T.V. They spend their money to come and support us, so I’m appreciative of that. "

On Josef Martinez playing the full 90 minutes:

“You’re silly if want to make plans in this game and probably in life in general. My mom always said, ‘If you want to make God laugh, make plans.’ God was laughing tonight. I was checking on him and the medical staff making sure he felt good. Then later towards the second part of the second half, he came over to get some water, and I just went to check on him because I thought he still had something to give us. He’ s dangerous. I thought there was a goal in there for him. Just checked on how he was feeling and he told me, ‘I’m not coming out of this game.’ Ultimately, he would respect if I had to. But I was like, if you know what if you feel like that, let’s roll with it. Let’s go.”

On tactics with Santiago Sosa:

“I would have to watch it back completely from the first half of what you’re talking about. But I think we want to create more chances, so we want to push more numbers forward and take more risks and be more risky at the back, as you see as things open up. Santi puts in a serious shift. He’s an intelligent player, so you could start to see him problem solve at the beginning of the game on his own, so he pushed higher. Ultimately, I don’t want to take anything away from the players because if I try to tell them they can’t do this or they can’t do that, that takes away from them the ability to be who they are. He did what he felt in the game was right. I think he did a good job tonight, so maybe he was higher for whatever reason. For me, it was good.”

On controlling the tempo against Columbus:

“I think that’s them though. I think that is how they try to control the tempo of the game. They try to sit back at times. They can push forward, right. But I think they sit back at times though to pester you a little bit. When they’re on the ball though, they’ll control the tempo. They got number six who can do that with the ball. I think that the lineup they threw out was to be a little bit more defensive probably. I’m not their coach and they’re not my concern. But it seemed like they wanted to go and put two strikers up against us, to go a little more direct and put their second balls and catch us their.”

On Matheus Rossetto’s first start of the season:

“I thought he did pretty well. The first half he was able to get on the ball. There were certain spaces I thought he could attack a little bit more. He’s a good technical player. Obviously, for me putting a player out like that, the tough one was leaving Amar out because Amar, I think, has been fantastic since he’s come to join the club. My intent was, I think, Rossetto has some pace and aggressiveness to go forward. I wanted to show the intent of like we’re going to go on and attack this team. I didn’t know how long he would last but I told him to give me all you got for as long as you can, thinking that, ideally, we would have a goal or so to get in the first half. That was my thought with him.”

On when they will start to prepare for Orlando City SC later this week:

“We’ve talked about it as a staff, and we’ll meet here, right after I finish here, about what we want to do next week in training. The players will get tomorrow off, and I just want them to rest and recover. We’ll keep the spirit in the group that they’re together. Again, we’re going through a difficult time, and we want to keep pushing together, but we need start turning the results around.”

On how they reacted to the adjustments that Columbus made:

“When I saw (Lucas) Zelarayán and (Derrick) Etienne go warm up, I thought, alright, they’re going to look to change this here. They did cause us some problems, even, too, with the two strikers and the two wingers, putting them more invert. I thought they would make those changes, and they did. I don’t know what he was thinking. Again, it’s not something for my team to worry about, but I just prepare our team based off what they’ve done. In terms of the way they’ve defended and the way they acted, I thought it was very similar. My intent of going more direct was to get in behind them early, to take more risk, and to try to get ahead of the game. That was the idea.”

On Marcelino Moreno:

“I don’t want to landlock him. I don’t want to put him in shackles and say like you’ve got to stay in these positions. There are things we like to talk about like where can we control space, both in defending and attacking. Can he go and control space in the middle of the pitch and higher up or is he going to work more of the half-spaces? He’s a really talented player. I think you can see the freedom of him and more towards the second half, you could see he started to drift more out wide. There was a little combination with Ronald Hernández and Erik López, so I wouldn’t say I’ve had a ton of conversations about what he needs to be doing more, which is really just telling him, when you get in these areas – certain areas that will change on each team – I need him to go and drive, I need him to go and get shots off, create chances. Look, he’s doing everything he can. He’s working really, really hard. You can see it in his eyes at the end of the game. I can’t stress it enough. I’m devastated for the guys because I feel like they gave us everything they had, and it’s unfortunate.”

Atlanta United defender Brooks Lennon:

On if the team is feeling better about the way they are playing now:

“Definitely. We need to take the positives out of today’s game. I know how hard that is, coming off two losses at home. We are very disappointed in tonight’s result, but I think you can take positives out of tonight’s game. We moved the ball really well. Everyone gave their best effort. Just in that final third, we needed to be more clinical, especially in the first half, and we could have won this game.”

On creating a lot more chances the last two matches:

“I think Rob (Valentino) wants us to play very attacking minded football. When we create a turnover, he wants the first pass to be going forward and try and create an attack. We are going continue that mentality in each and every game going forward. You saw against Cincinnati in the end, we created tons of chances but were unfortunate to tie that game. It’s good to see us creating chances and guys looking to shoot on goal. I think the numbers speak for themselves.”

On how the team has responded to the coaching change:

“I think we’ve responded very well. That’s what you have to do in professional sports. Things happen. It’s a midseason change, which is not the best thing in the world for the team. You have to focus on moving forward and getting the best results. As I mentioned earlier, we were unfortunate tonight not to get the three points. I love to see the work ethic in the guys and how disappointed we are in the loss. We have to take the positives out of it and continue working, giving our best efforts for Rob and his staff.”

On him having any concerns of losing the momentum this franchise has built:

“No. I don’t think we will ever lose the support from our fans. Atlanta United has some of the best fans in the world. I believe they are with us through thick and thin. I don’t think we the players are worried about losing the support of the 17s. We are going to give everything for the club and push forward and get this team in the playoffs.”

On having any concern about the gap to playoff spots:

“No. It’s never too difficult. There are still tons of games remaining. We still have a chance to climb up the table and we will never give up.”

On if he looks at the standings:

“I think this is the time of year where teams start to separate. Some teams go up and some go down. We all check it. We are all informed with what teams are doing well. We have to focus on ourselves. I think our next game is Orlando away, and we will go down there looking to pick up three points.”

Atlanta United FC defender Anton Walkes

On the confidence level of the team:

“Firstly, it is kind of heartbreaking really. Even though the group had to adjust to a few changes last week, I feel like we have come along well in the few days we have had together to start again. If you look at the chances, I think I saw a stat that said 19 shots or attempts, which is a lot more than we have been putting up in previous games. I feel like we are getting there slowly, but again, I think today there was an opportunity there for us to take it with both hands and find some momentum.”

On the goal by Columbus Crew SC:

“We know they like to attack the front post, after that, if they can’t get an attempt on they tend to go back post, and again, they got the first contact and the ball fell perfectly at the back post where I kind of got around but just could not get close enough to the ball. I had a few guys there at the back post, but if one guy misses then someone is going to get there eventually, so I think we have to look at that and see how guys lost their man, did they get picked off or was it a lack of concentration? Again, we just have to find a way to do better, because ultimately it cost us the game.”

On the ability of the team to create more chances recently:

“Tactics, what [Rob Valentino] expects of us, what he demands from us, how we feel we should play, how the Club has played in the past, what the Club’s identity is, we need to get back to that since that is where the success came, and we are trying to follow in those footsteps again. We need to be more of a front-foot team. We need to be the ones who impose on the game and take it to people, especially here at home. I don’t know the exact number of fans that were in here, but I’m guessing close to seventy thousand, so with all our fans here, we need to make sure that we are going after teams and killing them off.”

On the defensive tactics of the team and man-marking defensively:

“I don’t mind being in those situations. You have to be comfortable feeling [isolated] if we want to impose our style, otherwise there is no point in playing our … I think all of the defenders have figured out a way to manage it. Under Tata [Martino] especially, regardless of what type of … they have, [Michael Parkhurst] for example, was one of the best defenders I think we have seen and he did not have to rely on speed because he … very well. It is one of those things where it comes from experience as well, and again, it is a … We want the same goal here, so we are going to work towards it.”

On the performance of Alan Franco recently:

“Of course, [Alan Franco] has stepped up. Guys are away internationally, we have had injuries, he had injuries, and again, everybody wants to be out there and do their part for the team, and he has done that. All due credit to him, and I get to see him day in and day out, so I know he is not finished in terms of what he has got to offer us, so hopefully going into our next game he can take another step in the right direction because he can certainly help the team out if he can do that.”

On the concern level being outside of the playoff spots now:

“When you look at the standings, it looks bad. Part of football is that every team is going to go through a spell where they feel the pressure, and we are going through it now. There’s now denying that. Again, I think it’s easy to keep speaking about. I know what we are capable of. All it takes is one or two wins and the momentum will shift very quickly. Especially with Rob being here and how open and demanding he is of us. Guys have a smile on their fce every day now. Everyone is re-energized because of Rob, even more than what they were under our previous manager. That mutual respect we have for him. We want to fight for him more. He’s just a great guy. That’s what I’ll say about him. Great person, great human being. We owe it to him.”

On Josef Martinez going 90 minutes and how encouraging that is:

“It’s a good sign. It’s a step in the right direction. He’s not back where he was. That’s a high level to get back to. But we are going to make sure that we help him get there. We know that once he’s firing on all cylinders, he’s an important player and one of the best in the league.”

On the playing style and coming through these last two games:

“I just don’t think it was coming through as quick. I’m not going to critique Gabi for his tactics, because I learned a lot under him. I’m going to give him credit where it’s due. Rob has been here and seen what’s it like to work under other coaches. He knows the philosophy and blueprint that worked here. The relationships he has with players I think, like when I’ve gone through spells of not playing well, he’s been there for me. Same with most these other guys. The young guys, he’s helped them turn from boys to men. You have to have respect for him. He knows what he’s doing. I’ve seen the amount of time he’s put in, I’ve honestly not seen anyone at the club put the amount of time he’s put in. He knows what he’s doing. I’m going to believe in him. He believes in us. He just wants us to go out and express ourselves. We have the capabilities to do it.”

Southern Fried Soccer

For more content about Atlanta United

Follow me on Twitter @DougRobersonAJC

On Facebook at Atlanta United News Now

On Instagram at DouglasDavidRoberson

Atlanta United coverage on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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