McCann starts over Bello, who is on the bench, and of course he has gotten eaten alive in the first half. Gave up a penalty and has been hopeless defending his side.
McCann was one of the worst players on the field today, and he got a yellow card which means he will be suspended due to accumulation for the next game at home vs New England. I'd wager there's a 75% chance Bello starts.
Tata Martino all but confirmed this morning that George Bello will once again start in the place of Chris McCann Saturday, who is suspended due to yellow card accumulation. #ATLUTD— Joe Patrick (@japatrick200) October 4, 2018 Just confirming the hunch that a few posters had
Starting: #ATLUTD's Starting XI against @NERevolution pic.twitter.com/XfvSXoB8hV— Atlanta United FC (@ATLUTD) October 6, 2018
This is my first time watching him play, and it seems very much like he's playing as an out-and-out winger here, not a traditional LB. Is that where he projects to play going forward, or is this a case of not quite trusting a young defender's defensive abilities (like how Klinsmann used Yedlin as a winger in 2014)? I guess it doesn't matter from a USYNT or USMNT point of view, because we need wide attacking players and LBs, but I'm just curious what others think.
It's a 3-5-2, with 2 wingbacks. It's not that Tata doesn't trust him on defense, he just wants him to be able to be dangerous going forward.
I don't want to be that guy but are we just gonna make threads for every prominent prospect now? The only reason Carleton has one is because some people get pissed off when the main MLS thread gets derailed by him. If we are, that's fine, but as a neat freak, Bello having his own thread is throwing me off.
Yeah, I don't really know. It seems a bit excessive at this point, but whatever. I made a post in the MLS Flavors of the Week thread, and no one seemed to be talking about the game there, so I headed over to this thread where people were posting.
Ehh who cares I'll post here. Bello has been good. Not anything to do defensively, but he's always in good space and makes great offensive runs. The only criticism I have of him today is that his decision making when playing the ball across reminds me of a rookie quarterback. He needs to keep his head up, evaluate the first, second, or third options, and play to the guy who's wide open because there usually is one. A couple of times he's tried to cut the ball back when he should be playing it to the back post, but he never saw the guy making that run. That'll obviously come with time and experience, and when it does, Atlanta will be incredibly hard to play against.
He's clearly superior to McCann, at the very least— Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) October 6, 2018 Have to agree with this. I'm not being a victim of the moment either when I say he's better than Garza at this point, too. 🔨 George Bello (16) vs New England Revolution:54 touches23/27 passes4/5 long balls2/5 aerial duels2/4 tackles2 interceptions1 key pass1 goalSecond career start, first career goal. pic.twitter.com/rod3Xi5kzV— SCOUTED (@scoutedftbl) October 6, 2018
Thread on Bello vs. New England: Bello did a lot more than just score a goal today. Let's take a look at some other noteworthy events. He was just offside on this near assist, but put in a great ball nonetheless. pic.twitter.com/75Wk6KICKL— Joseph Lowery (@joeclowery) October 6, 2018
Hard to know. Garza is available for selection, but hasn't played in months. McCann is terrible, but a terrible veteran, so that might get him the start. Its very low risk that Atlanta doesn't wrap up the Supporters Shield, so I think even if you thought Bello was the worst of those options (he isn't), it still makes sense to start him, but that might not happen. The team beat reporter at the Atlanta Journal Constitution didn't think he'd start. He reasoned that Bello only returned from international duty on Wednesday.
Has two good starts and then gets bumped out for reasons that aren't his form. Atlanta fans always say that McCann is terrible every time he plays, why was George benched?