Thoughts on Atlanta United’s rout of LAFC

The 5-0 score flattered Atlanta United, but Saturday's victory over LAFC at Mercedes-Benz Stadium provided plenty of examples of how Atlanta United is learning how to win in its second season in MLS.

Despite playing with three new starters on defense, including Miles Robinson making his league debut, Atlanta United posted its second consecutive shutout with a little bit of help from referee Ted Unkel and VAR.

Offensively, Atlanta United held on to a one-goal lead after a Julian Gressel goal for most of the game, absorbed pressure applied by LAFC. It then pounced when Josef Martinez added a second in the 67th minute, Miguel Almiron added two penalty kicks and Romario Williams scored his first MLS goal in stoppage time to complete the rout.

It wasn’t pretty -- Atlanta United manager Gerardo Martino said as much after the game -- but three points are three points and Atlanta United has taken 12 of those in its past four games. The Five Stripes are now second in the East with unbeaten NYCFC coming to Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday.

Here are five observations about the game:

VAR: Video Assistant Referee played a critical role in Saturday's game.

For the first time in MLS history, VAR overturned a red card. It happened in the first minute after Unkel gave a red card to Chris McCann after he tackled Benny Feilhaber near midfield.

Unkel didn’t hesitate to eject McCann.

A few seconds later, Unkel signaled that he was going to review the play.

The review didn’t last long.

Unkel came back onto the field, brought back McCann and changed the red to a yellow card.

“It’s a terrible way to start the game, psychologically for all the players,” LAFC coach Bob Bradley said. “The whole game is already out of whack. So, on that respect, starting a game in that way is like the referees couldn’t do a worse job of getting a game going and making sure everyone on the field feels like a real game’s going to take place. It’s a bad way to start a game.”

VAR was used again in the 88th minute to decide if Walker Zimmerman’s tackle of Almiron was actually a penalty. The decision again favored Atlanta United.

Martino, who has said many times that he’s not a fan of VAR, once again showed his exasperation with the process by complaining that it takes too long. He said soon an MLS game will take as long as a basketball game and that games are going to go until midnight.

Robinson's debut: Robinson, who was selected with the No. 2 pick in last year's SuperDraft, earned his first league minutes and was "excellent," according to Martino.

“I'm happy to get the debut, and I'm happy we won,” Robinson said, with a ball signed by his teammates resting behind him in his locker. “So, pretty good all around.”

Robinson’s start was deserved after performances in Atlanta United 2’s first two games, but was also necessary because of the one-game suspension of Leandro Gonzalez Pirez and that Franco Escobar has yet to recover from the concussion sustained three weeks ago in the win against Vancouver. Robinson was the last true centerback remaining.

He said he was nervous at the start, but settled down after he completed a pass.

He looked solid early. He got forward to head a corner kick across the bar on offense, and his speed enabled him to get back to prevent a one-on-one between Diego Rossi and goalkeeper Brad Guzan in the 24th minute. Jeff Larentowicz said he hasn’t seen speed like Robinson’s since Marvell Wynne.

“I just felt like that I’m trying to do what I can to stop the goal and that ended up happening so, I thought it was pretty good,” Robinson said.

Robinson later slid and blocked a point-blank shot. He then had presence of mind to kick the ball away.

“He was fantastic. I said to him, ‘You didn’t put a foot wrong,’” Guzan said. “I thought he was great. Probably, obviously, the play that stands out is in the first half when he makes a recovery run and gets on the other side of (Diego) Rossi. ... So, what can you say? For his debut, he was great.”

It wasn’t all gold stars for Robinson. He still needs to work on his passing, but that was known before Martino decided during the week that he should start.

“He did a great job defensively, but I think that today the game allowed him to be successful in a sense that we were playing farther back and forced to defend,” Martino said. “He is an excellent defender. The part of his game that we are still developing is when we have possession and are playing out the back. I think that today the game favored his strengths and gave us the chance to hide his weaknesses.”

The 3-5-2: It will be interesting to see what Martino may do with the formation next week when the team hosts NYCFC.

Should he decide to use the same 3-5-2 formation, and Escobar is still out, will he choose McCann or Robinson as the third centerback to play alongside Parkhurst and Gonzalez Pirez? McCann had a tough game on Saturday, but was still part of the group that has lodged back-to-back shutouts.

Either way, the results are there. Atlanta United is unbeaten using the formation and has outscored opponents 12-2. Really, the team could have four consecutive shutouts if not for short lapses of concentration late in the wins against D.C. United and Vancouver.

“It depends on the game,” Gressel said. “Last year we were comfortable in the 4-3-3 and worked on it in the preseason and offseason, the 3-5-2, to go from game to game and see how it goes. We will be comfortable in any given situation and what the game plan is.”

The style of play: Other than winning four consecutive games, the other interesting thing is how Atlanta United is earning those results within the 3-5-2.

Instead of the blitzing press that Atlanta United used last season to make the playoffs, it is now absorbing pressure and beating teams with counter-attacks.

The second goal scored Saturday was pure counter-attacking football with Kratz springing Gressel down the right, and him lifting a cross over goalkeeper Tyler Miller right to Martinez for the easy header at the back post.

The third goal -- Almiron’s first penalty kick -- was the result of a counter-attack.

The counter-attacks are there because Atlanta United’s midfielders and defenders are eliminating all the gaps that offenses try to exploit. Though playing a man down for most of the game against Minnesota, which finished with more than 70 percent of the possession, the Loons rarely tested Guzan, who finished with just three saves. The same proved true against LAFC because Guzan had just one save to make despite LAFC having almost 60 percent of the possession.

“It comes down to our organization,” Guzan said. “It comes down to our willingness to cut passes out, block crosses (and) block shots. It makes my life a little bit easier. You’re trying to organize things and put out fires before they become an issue.”

Martino said improvements need to be made.

“I thought it was a good job defensively, but for me, we played a little bit too far back,” Martino said. “We spent too much of the game in our half. With the scheme the way that we have it there were times where we weren’t able to stop their outside backs moving up the field.”

More firsts: In addition to Robinson making his league debut, Mikey Ambrose got his first start this season and Williams scored his first goal with Atlanta United.