I don't have all the fancy stuff to lead the thread as I'm home without power right now. Suffice to say it's a home match @ 3:30 today, presumably on Spanish TV. The touring version of Shrek: The Musical comes to town, with Atlanta's former winger Ymil Asad in a feature role for the villains. Still appreciate the guy I just hope his team sucks today. After dropping points at home vs SEA last week the Stripes need to show more resolution in attack. Coach Martino said they need to get more men in the box, they need Barco to shoot more, and we need the defense to be more efficient in starting transitions. If they do that they win comfortably, but then again we said generally the same last week. On Sirius XM yesterday AJC's Doug Roberson offered that Eric Remedi may feature in the 18 today but unlikely. Instead look for the current starting XI to remain intact but play with more resolve. 3-1 to the good today, cause SURELY they can't tank 2 in a row at home vs weak opposition, can they?
Why didn't Barco play? Is he hurt? Carleton looked "scared" in the first half. Too many negative passes and not enough desire to go forward. Looked much better in the second half, but he looks and plays small. DC's Durkin is also an 18 year and he looks and plays like a man. AUFC need to get Carleton in the weight room and to a couple of all you can eat buffets. PS on Carleton: In the first half he and Miggy were occupying the same space a lot. This was fixed in the second so the field opened up a bit more. Team played blah to me again. I think they have lost the verticallity and speed in the attack. The only player trying to get into the space behind the fullbacks is Miggy and when he is doing that no one is in the middle. Tito's biggest asset is (was?) his speed and he doesn't use it anymore.
Apparently Barco violated a team rule and will likely miss the next match, as well. No other news Ive seen. On the whole I'm pleased. I appreciated the more aggressive attacking from Miggy and others, but felt it could still have been stronger. They have to find a way to get Gressel and Tito together in more advanced position instead of forcing Julian to sit so deep whenever Tito plays. Also, LGP does NOT do well as the central defender in a 3 back set. Chases too many balls out of position and still pushes too far up at the expense of defensive assignments. Drop Larentowicz there and put Remedi in front of him, moving LGP out wide instead of McCann. I feel, anyway.
My TV setup doesn't speak Univision, so I missed the broadcast. I did listen to the radio, though. Soccer on the radio is an odd thing. Next week, back on board. Martinez is fabulous, probably the best professional player of any sport we've ever had in Atlanta. (A large part of Aaron's greatness came in Milwaukee). For his sake, I hope some club comes along in the winter transfer window and offers $40 million, as is rumored. Only to have the club hold out for $75M. That will be a great day. Until, of course, somebody puts up the money.
So, are we going to be knocked off our perch? Red Bulls, NYCFC, and Dallas all have two games to spare and could pass us.
For my money the edge goes to NYRB as they have a points per game advantage over us already and can control their destiny. They still have matches against us (in NJ) and NYCFC (Bronx). We both have San Jose on the road but their remaining western conference games (LAFC and Houston) are at home.
Red Bulls have been outstanding this year. It seems like no one can stop them, whereas, we’ve dropped too many points because we struggle to break up the counter.
I suspect Red Bull: New York Edition will win the conference based not only on quality but also experience. But I don't think that will dictate playoff potential. IMHO Atlanta at their best is as good as anyone else in MLS. The issue has simply been consistency in keeping both facets of the team operating at that highest level for every match. NY (and FCD and CFG:NY) have been really good at time but Atlanta is right there in the mix, all the while we know the degree to which they're underperforming. So hope remains.