Atlanta United took on Inter Miami CF Wednesday night in Fort Lauderdale, Florida at the Lockhart Stadium. Two teams who were struggling as of late were looking to step up their play.
The first half was surprisingly a busy half of soccer. Coming into the game Miami hadn’t scored in 270+ minutes and Atlanta haven’t been great goal scorers as of late either. Even with this, there were three goals scored in the first 45 minutes. Two to Miami and one to Atlanta.
Atlanta started off the game with more possession but similar to their play as of late, they failed to create many clear-cut opportunities. Miami clearly were playing for the counterattack, which ended up working pretty well for them. They were the team getting the most dangerous chances and a few saves from birthday boy Brad Guzan made sure they didn’t take the lead earlier than they ended up doing so.
The first goal was a quick Miami counterattack from an Atlanta corner. Miami’s clearance fell kindly to Rodolfo Pizarro. Emerson Hyndman was probably at fault for the goal as he was caught on the wrong side of Pizarro. Once Pizarro was past him Hyndman couldn’t catch him and Miami were 3 on 2 versus Eric Remedi and George Bello. The two did their best but a perfectly timed pass from Pizarro found Lewis Morgan who finished well in the bottom left hand corner to put Miami ahead.
The lead didn’t last long as 5 minutes later Atlanta equalized through a play both started and finished by Remedi. The play started in Atlanta’s half with some good combination play out of the back by Remedi. He then drove past two or three Miami midfielders and found Ezequiel Barco in an advanced position. Barco then did well to play it out wide to a late arriving Jurgen Damm who crossed it low and hard towards Remedi. He attempted a cheeky backheel that was blocked by Andres Reyes, but the ball just kind of hit off of Reyes instead of being cleared and Remedi scrappily poked it home to make it 1-1.
Only another 5 minutes later, and Miami were in the lead again. Another counterattack saw Ben Sweat find his way into the left-hand side of the box. A little bit of trickery from him and rather light defending from Atlanta allowed him to cross to a wide-open Morgan who brilliantly flicked the ball up with his first touch, and then volleyed home into the top corner leaving Guzan with no chance. While it was a spectacular finish from Morgan, a lot of questions should be asked of Atlanta’s defense when an attacker gets that much time wide open in the box.
Just two minutes after Miami’s second, Atlanta was awarded a penalty. It seemed a pretty clear-cut penalty as Jorge Figal rather inexplicably elbowed Jon Gallagher in the head and was given a yellow card as well. What happened after the awarding of the penalty was definitely not clear-cut. Firstly, Barco and Erick “Cubo” Torres had an argument/fight over who would take the penalty. Then Barco’s penalty was saved by Luis Robles only to be followed and put into the back of the net by you guessed it, Cubo Torres. However, VAR spotted that Torres encroached into the penalty area before Barco took the penalty meaning the goal wouldn’t be awarded. But VAR also spotted that either Robles stepped off his line or a Miami player encroached into the penalty area before Barco kicked it. Therefore, since both teams were at fault the referee called for a re-kick, meaning Barco would get a second chance. Barco took the second penalty and it was saved by Robles again, keeping Miami in the lead. Both penalties weren’t necessarily bad penalties in my opinion, I just think Robles made two very good saves.
The first half ended with the score still at 2-1. Atlanta were left frustrated as the same problems came back to haunt them again. They once again had a large majority of the possession and failed to create many clear-cut chances. While on the other side of the field their defense struggled to cope with Miami’s counter attacks allowing Miami to get some pretty good chances, while also scoring two goals.
The second half was a lot different than the first. With the lead, Miami sat back even more than they did in the first half allowing Atlanta United to attack them. Atlanta outside of Ezequiel Barco never looked like creating anything that would end up in a goal. Because of this the second half was fairly dull. Atlanta created very few chances and Miami while creating some good chances on the counter, were more than happy to sit on their lead. This defensive tactic proved to be enough as the game ended with Miami winning 2-1.
This is a big win for Miami as it’s just their second of the season. They also broke a very large goal drought and look to be a strong team moving forward this season, especially if they can get their hands on a top-quality striker to help on the goals front.
Atlanta isn’t quite in the same boat. I think it’s fair to say they are now struggling, and if it’s not fixed soon it could be a problem in terms of where they finish this year. That’s the bad news. The good news is that I think it isn’t because of how talented the squad is which isn’t really a fixable problem. It’s more how the squad is playing at the moment. Which is why it’s good news, it is indeed very fixable.
To start this off we have to be honest, the loss of Josef Martinez is huge. A reigning MVP who can score goals out of nothing and gives you something no other player on the roster can. The loss of Pity Martinez, while not as big, is also a loss. Mainly because that now leaves one Designated Player (DP) on the field. Almost any team in MLS would struggle with the loss of two DPs. However, this isn’t the problem I’m addressing. The problem with Atlanta is that even without those two DPs they should be playing a whole lot better than they are. Barco is arguably Atlanta’s best player with or without Josef and Pity on the field. Add onto that new signings Brooks Lennon, Matheus Rossetto, Jurgen Damm, Anton Walkes, and Jake Mulraney, as well as all of the players that are still on the roster including Eric Remedi, Miles Robinson, Brad Guzan and Emerson Hyndman to name a few. And you have a very talented team, with only one DP on the field. That’s a team that should be performing better than they are.
In my latest article and video, I talked about a couple problems that Atlanta seem to have. I talked about the problem of a shaky defense that can’t seem to cope with counter attacks, the lack of any midfield presence, and an attack that seems to lack any sort of creativity. All of these are big problems in their own right, but after watching this Miami game I feel fairly comfortable in saying all of these problems are caused by one larger problem. Which is, the lack of any cohesion in the team’s play.
The team is anything but one combined unit. When the team attacks it’s just the front four, and when they defend it’s just the back four, with the two midfielders running helplessly in between trying to do both, leaving them in a no man’s land where they’re doing neither. In shorter terms the team fails to attack and defend as one unit. The attackers should be helping in defense and the defenders should at least be an option on offense. This doesn’t come from the player’s not wanting to defend or attack, it more comes from their positioning. The attackers are so high up the pitch at all times that they can’t really help on defense or even support the defense when they’re trying to pass out of the back. And the defenders are so deep they can’t really help support on attack.
This problem I think leads to all of the problems I listed above. The first and most important thing that happens is the midfield looks like they aren’t even existent. They are trying to cover an absurd amount of ground in between the attackers and defenders that is way too much to ask, especially for just two midfielders. So, they end up not really helping. Remedi ended up scoring today because he dribbled from the defense to the attack, forcing that connection that wasn’t there until he made it. The poor giveaways that the team continues to make might partially be down to their decision making, but on the other hand the attackers and defenders don’t have as many options as they should, so their decisions get a lot harder. The defense is also struggling to deal with the counter attacks because they are left so isolated by the lack of cohesion. Lewis Morgan’s first goal today was just a well-run 3 on 2 by Pizarro and Miami. The offense is expected to come out on top on a 3 on 2 opportunity. This opportunity came about because Hyndman stepped so high, there was no cohesion and he was unable to get back to help the defense. And last but not least the lack of creativity up top might be more down to the players than how they’ve been positioned. However, the real problem is the lack of runs being made off of the ball. And one could argue that the less people in the attack that there are, the less of those runs would be made.
This is a pretty big problem that tactically needs to be fixed, but the good news is it definitely can be fixed. If the team played more as a unit with the whole team attacking and the whole team defending, I truly believe this team has the talent to hold their own as a top team in Major League Soccer. And when you remember there is only one DP on the field and the team is being coached by an interim manager, you start to feel pretty good about the team’s possibilities. We’ll have to wait and see if a new coach, an at some point fit Josef, and a new DP can make the difference for Atlanta and their recent struggles.
There probably won’t be many changes until Atlanta’s next game. A quick turnaround sees them face off against Nashville on Saturday. Nashville is one of two MLS teams Atlanta have been able to beat this season. The other is another struggling team in FC Cincinnati. This upcoming game away in Nashville is quickly becoming a very important game. If Atlanta can’t find a way to beat Nashville, the team might start seriously doubting their capabilities. However, as crazy as it sounds, Atlanta are only 2 points off of 7th place NYCFC and 3 points off of 5th place New England. It’s still early and it’s all up for grabs. The next few games could play a huge part in where Atlanta end up come the end of the season. A continued fun of poor form could see then drop out of the playoff hunt. But, a step up in play and a run of positive performances could see them back where they’re used to, challenging for the top spots in the Eastern Conference.