Atlanta United is winless in its past five matches.
With Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Minnesota United, it has lost consecutive matches at home for the first time since the 2021 season.
Manager Gonzalo Pineda said he thinks his team has outperformed their opponents in the past five matches, but certain “behaviors” have led to a streak that has some supporters calling for his termination.
“It has been self-inflicted most of the time, so that is what I mean when I say we need to correct certain behaviors,” he said. “Overall, in the last four games, aside from Cincinnati where we were more even, we have been superior to most of those teams, but we didn’t win in the last four games, especially two at home, where we lost two, so we must correct something.”
What has been going wrong? Let’s catalog:
Three DPS not producing. The success of most MLS teams depends upon the results of its Designated Players.
Atlanta United’s three DPs, Giorgos Giakoumakis, Thiago Almada and Stian Gregersen, have one goal and two assists in the past five matches.
Giakoumakis has played in three of the past five, producing only an assist on Saba Lobjanidze’s goal against Minnesota.
Almada has one goal and one assist in the past five. He has created 19 scoring opportunities for his teammates.
Gregersen has one appearance in the past five. He came off the bench against Minnesota in his first action since undergoing meniscus surgery in late March.
“When you are not clinical in the boxes, commit mistakes in the back, and commit some mistakes in front of the goal that led to us not scoring, it is difficult to win games like that,” Pineda said. “We need to fix that, but I think performance-wise, in many parts of the game, we were the better team.”
Wingers not producing, either. The wingers, Lobjanidze, Tyler Wolff, Edwin Mosquera and Xande Silva, have combined for one goal and one assist in the past five matches. Silva has just one appearance during that stretch because of various injuries.
Last season, the wingers combined for 16 goals and 14 assists. This season, they have two goals and three traditional assists, seven if you count secondary assists.
“We have to be better in finishing and honestly, I also had a lot of opportunities in the last four games, so we have to work on that,” Lobjanidze said. “Because otherwise you can’t win the game if you don’t score.”
Being half-asleep. That’s how Pineda described the play of some players in moments during Atlanta United’s match against Minnesota that resulted in goals.
The Loons’ first goal came when one of the shortest players on the field, Tristan Muyumba, tried to defend one of the tallest, Kervin Arriaga, on a corner kick. Pineda seemed more disappointed in how the team defended a Minnesota throw-in that resulted in the corner kick.
The second goal scored by Minnesota came from a giveaway by Caleb Wiley in Atlanta United’s defensive third.
The mistakes were similar to those against Philadelphia and Cincinnati that turned potential wins into a draw against the Union and a loss to Cincinnati.
Curiously, in a sign of the switching off mentally, the two goals surrendered in each of the past three home matches were all scored within 6 minutes of each other.
“On set pieces, we should be more dominant on those, and (Minnesota) has put a lot of thought into those,” Pineda said. “They have scored three or four goals since (Eric Ramsay) arrived on set pieces alone, so we need to do better on those. Another one is the mistakes in the build-up. Again, it feels like we are not allowing our opponents to just build from the back or create good combination play to score goals, it seems to be more self-inflicted. We are either losing balls in areas where we shouldn’t, and it’s not like the opponents are pressing great, we just seem to be missing passes, or it comes on a set piece, or it’s a lack of concentration, but I haven’t seen a goal in a while where the opponent just makes a good play, good counterattack, or a good combination play to hurt us.”
That was a long quote, but it summarizes very well what happens when the team loses focus for just a few seconds.
The tactics. Atlanta United didn’t play attacking football in its past two matches. It looked slow. It looked reactive.
The optics tell one story. The stats tell another, and support Pineda.
In the past five matches, playing how Pineda has instructed the team to play, Atlanta United has 7.8 expected goals compared to opponents’ 7.0, according to fbref.com. It has also totaled more chances created than its opponents, 65-57.
The only stat that matters, though, is wins and losses.
Pineda obviously knows that.
“...When you lose 2-1, none of that matters,” he said.
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Atlanta United’s 2024 schedule
Feb. 24 Columbus 1, Atlanta United 0
March 9 Atlanta United 4, New England 1
March 17 Atlanta United 2, Orlando 0
March 23 Toronto 2, Atlanta United 0
March 31 Atlanta United 3, Chicago 0
April 6 Atlanta United 1, NYCFC 1
April 14 Atlanta United 2, Philadelphia 2
April 20 Cincinnati 2, Atlanta United 1
April 27 Atlanta United 1, Chicago 1
May 4 Minnesota 2, Atlanta United 1
May 7 vs. Charlotte Independence in U.S. Open Cup, 7:30 p.m.
May 11 vs. D.C. United, 7:30 p.m.
May 15 at Cincinnati, 7:30 p.m.
May 18 at Nashville, 1:30 p.m.
May 25 vs. LAFC, 7:30 p.m.
May 29 at Miami, 7:30 p.m.
June 2 vs Charlotte, 4:30 p.m., FOX
June 15 vs. Houston, 7:30 p.m.
June 19 at D.C. United, 7:30 p.m.
June 22 at St. Louis, 8:30 p.m.
June 29 vs. Toronto, 7:30 p.m.
July 3 at New England, 7:30 p.m.
July 6 at Real Salt Lake, 9:30 p.m.
July 13 at Montreal, 7:30 p.m.
July 17 vs. NYCFC, 7:30 p.m.
July 20 vs. Columbus, 7:30 p.m.
July 26 vs. D.C. United in Leagues Cup, 7:30 p.m.
Aug. 4 vs. Santos Laguna in Leagues Cup, 4 p.m.
Aug. 24 at L.A. Galaxy, 10:30 p.m.
Aug. 31 at Charlotte, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 14 vs. Nashville, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 18 vs. Miami, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 21 at Red Bulls, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 28 at Philadelphia, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 2 vs. Montreal, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 5 vs. Red Bulls, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 19 at Orlando, 6 p.m.
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