Terrible display by every defensive player. Mears is proving to be a terrible right back and Parkhurst seems lost in this system. Not a good showing.
1 man's opinions... Defense is clearly the team's biggest issue, with mental toughness/focus being a very close #2. - The defense does not handle the press well at all, which is confounding considering they SURELY must practice against the offense that is trained to press! I get it that the difference between possession levels can have a great impact on in-game poise and actions, but there's no reason why after more than a dozen games together this crew of professionals cannot do better in managing the ball when the other team is pushing up high. How much of this is the midfield support or the direction from the field generals I can't say, but the bottom line is that it ain't working. - Kann. I realize this isn't the EPL or the Bundesliga, but he should still be MUCH better than to give away the ball so cheaply. I get it that last night the pass should never have come to him, but that's now 2 times this year his focus has been lack enough to give away such a cheap goal. You can't do that at this level, son, and expect to remain in business. I can't defend him the way I was before, sadly. - Asad. Love his vision and hustle but he needs to stay on his feet and quit looking to draw fouls. That, plus he needs to stay out wide more often. When he drift in side a) nothing really great comes of it, and b) Garza is left on an island for the inevitable counter. Stick with being a solid ballhandler and don't overthink. - Mears. See above. It did occur to me last night Mears is possibly stuck in a bad spot having to adjust between the changing styles of Gressel and Villalba in front of him. He can be much better if his accompanying midfielder is a better partner in attack, allowing Mears to traditionally stay deeper and have an immediate outlet when under pressure. To date that's been Tito. With Villalba up front yesterday Mears found himself searching too long and hard for every pass, regrettably, and the results were poor. - Carmona's absence proved costly last night, if only because the defensive roles were thrown askew. Larentowicz was tired from the full weekend match and ill equipped to play the part of the D-mid, so neither he nor Kratz sufficiently bogged down the DCU attack. With everyone else struggling in their own assignments that left Parkhurst and Pirez under too much pressure. If they were involved in a play it was usually a scramble to recover on D or being hurried when they had the ball. Not good, especially for this team. Carmona hasn't been aces but on this roster he's the hustling defender that allows Almiron to stay up front and give the back 4 enough cover. - - - - This is the point in our program where we learn about life as an expansion franchise. Especially one in a larger, deeper MLS. There's simply no practical way to expect a new roster to be deep enough and complete enough to avoid having these bad spells. There's a reason most of these players were available, after all. Time for Bocanegra and Martino to earn their pay by adapting to their strengths and balancing the depth as best as possible. The playoffs are still possible but certainly not a given, and a deep run in the USOC is also skeptical. Biggest objective for me would be to tune the lineups with an eye toward seeing who works for where you want to go next year, because some of these players may become much better in their roles if another player is swapped out. Such is the reason why only one team wins it all each season, while the rest have to accept their imperfections.
Agree with this all, with a couple of added thoughts. 1. Kann's error (on the goal) is indefensible really. There are times to build out of the back and times to just clear the damn ball. On the goal there Kann should never have been trying to pick a pass out. Having said that, his captain did him absolutely no favors with that backpass. Parkhurst essentially hung him out to dry. With Nyarko bearing down on him, Parkhurst should have cleared the ball being so close to goal but, instead, sends a lazy ball back which Nyarko tracks right along with and Kann immediately has a man in his face and little time to do something with the ball. This happened more than once. Kann should do better with the ball but, his captain owes him an apology. 2. The time to rotate was last night, away against a weak opponent. I don't think testing depth against Colorado will fair so well. That said, given our fixture congestion now and later in the season, I think rotation will be as important as working on our defensive fundamentals. We can't expect our starters to perform at the level necessary and play every match in these runs. IMHO, we can manage our season by picking the points we want to go for (prioritize home matches) and those we want to defend (draws on the road). I don't think Tata will change his approach though. 3. Ok. It's more than a couple. Our objective this season should absolutely be making the playoffs a deep Open Cup run as well. We should strive to be the standard for 1st year clubs in every aspect.
Yep. I think Tata was counting on DCU's poor form to be endemic and that ATL would simply be better, winning through talent alone. Conversely, with Colorado having a relatively anemic offense and that game at home he could get away with swapping some defensive players then. Well, the lineup didn't click as hoped, the pitch worked against AU, and once DCU was gifted the equalizer to lift their spirits momentum never returned. This penchant for giving up an equalizer after scoring first is really a bad problem. Agreed, but striving for something and achieving it are decidedly different things. This year the eastern conference looks tougher and thus far Atlanta cannot consistently play better than the sum of their parts. If that isn't resolved all the aspirations in the world won't push the team forward.
I get that wanting it is a far cry from getting it. I also get that this is a project that has far more than a one year timeline. I just believe that, with our talent and current depth, we can manage these congested periods in the season well enough to make ourselves a playoff team....if we are not hit with injuries. In this league, playoffs have to be a goal....with stretch goals built on top of that.
I'll also add that the supporter emotion is great.....highs and lows. It demonstrates real passion for the club and, if Atlanta is monitoring social media (incl forums), it puts pressure on them to perform. I hope that we get to the point, when the new wears off that players will get a little stick out in public when they underperform....Martino too. Our entire organization needs love and praise when it's appropriate but equally need a foot in their rear when that's appropriate. Ty sitting off Nyarko, admiring his half volley being the most recent "needs a foot in the rear" moment. Think he's tired and needs a spell on the bench. Bloom is plenty capable cover for this league.
I'd make a push to trade Jones (390k) & Mears (183k) for Keegan Rosenberry (104k) and Parkhurst (325k) for Jonathan Campbell (101k). Get rid of some other dead weight: McCann (540k), Rochez (200k), and Loyd (85k), and try to go in big for an all star quality center back... and maybe dumping Reynish (65k), Bloom (99k), Ambrose (65k), and Peterson (165k), we might have enough space to grab a legitimate strike partner for Martinez. That should give us close to a 1.8 million surplus to make that happen.
The squad definitely needs an overhaul in the offseason. I, for one, would be thrilled to see Parkhurst go. I've seen him get beat too many times. He's also the undisputed king of the back pass.
I don't mind Parkhurst selection for an expansion team, but it would be a real shame if he's still with the team next year. He's had a lot of good years but he's definitely on the downside of his career. Boca/Tito's test will be how well they can keep the attack together but repair the backline. On that note, I would push hard for Keegan Rosenberry as a replacement for Mears. It seems like he was frozen out with the Union; he has USMNT potential.
Not bad, though I'm keeping one of Bloom and Ambrose. For the money they've been quality back-ups. Particularly the former.
I like Bloom because he's local and was really solid FB a couple years back, but he's now pushing 30 and for 99k, it may be time to cut ties.