Atlanta United vs FC Dallas Mercedes Benz Stadium, Atlanta Sat. 04/20/19 4:00 PM ESPN MLSsoccer.com preview here. AJC.com United home page here. Dare we see a winning streak? Last weak the Five Stripes broke free from the rust and fatigue from the season's hectic start and showed their best form of the MLS season, winning in New England 2-0. They return to MBS for their first home game in a month and a chance to take their record to .500. Perhaps more importantly, we'll all see if the team is indeed rounding into the form expected and as hoped. The ol' Burn comes in at 4-2-1, but only 1-2-0 on the road. The past few years they've been known as a team with a strong development academy but, similar to RBNY, a good team that wasn't able to finish the drill come playoff time. Aspirations were that a new head coach, one promoted from their system, would provide some new motivation to match the talent. The roster revolves around attacking midfielder Michael Barrios and, this year, youngster Paxton Pomykal. They drive a team oriented around quick ball movement and fast attacks, often started by a harassing defense in midfield. US national player Matt Hedges and other seasoned MLS players like Dominique Badji and Ryan Hollingshead provide experience to go with the youth, meaning FCD is a good bet for the top half of the MLS western conference playoff table once again. Atlanta comes into this match still awaiting the fitness of George Bello and Kevin Kratz, and most importantly will also be without Eric Remedi due to a concussion sustained last week. AJC's Roberson expects to see a lineup similar to last week, with 4 at the back and Josef ahead of his supporting attackers. Franco Escobar may be considered healthy enough to start, possibly in place of Parkhurst or with the latter shifting inside and LGP outside in lieu of Brek Shea. If we assume Pity Martinez is still rounding into post-wedding shape then assume Barco and Tito play just behind Josef with the same directive as last week - Create as many opportunities as possible, and take them! If Atlanta is hungry and focused they see this match for what it is - A chance to reaffirm their status as an eastern contender and especially tough at home. Win Saturday and the spectre of the team is restored to normal compared to the early season woes. FCD is good for a goal in most games and should enjoy the pristine conditions at MBS. Atlanta should enjoy them even more. 3-1 to the good.
Atlanta has a ton of advantages in this game: 1. Crowd noise - Not only is FC Dallas not used to the hype, they're bringing a lot of youngsters. We, the crowd, can disrupt FCD's game plan almost as much as the 11 guys on the field wearing red and black (or King Peach, if they so desire). 2. Fake grass - Turf, even the good stuff, doesn't play exactly the same as regular grass. 3. Experienced players - Atlanta's got a bunch of dudes who just won MLS Cup, supplemented by a sprinkling of new-to-us players with experience, and one or two rookies. Dallas brings a whole bunch of young, inexperienced players with a handful of old-timers. 4. Blue blood - Almost the whole of Atlanta's roster has picked up an individual award at some point in his career. Atlanta has three starters who have NOT won a relatively major individual award in their career. Dallas has four players who HAVE won such awards. 5. Experienced coach - Dallas has a rookie coach. Our coach won the Eredivisie four times in a row, then coached Inter Milan (for a little while). If Atlanta can leverage all its advantages, this should be a handy win. Two wins in a row -- one on the road and one against a perennial playoff contender -- would be very nice indeed. Especially with hapless Colorado coming to town next weekend.
The interesting match up today is going to be Brek Shea at LB and Michael Barrios. Tall lanky back vs. short speedy trickster. Looking forward to seeing these Parley kits. Apparently it is impossible to buy one.
I'm giving FdB the coveted 'vote of confidence'. If he doesn't beat Colorado at home, I'm ready for him to go.
Glad I couldn't buy one of those parley "save the ocean" bullshit shirts, because if I did I'd be burning it and adding even more CO2 in the air. Seriously. I missed the entire first half thanks to ESPN, so I can't comment. In the second half we had chance after chance to tie the game up and change the entire dynamic of the afternoon and then LGP turns into LGP 2019 and we are FUBAR'ed again. This is so frustrating. Their GK made more greats save than our GK has made saves all season. Josef has been misfiring on everything that was sure money last year. Did I mention this is frustrating? I could go on but I am going to watch my recording of the Georgia G-Day game to relieve some of this tension.
Three shots off the frame, 2 others denied by excellent saves. It's not impossible to see a few inches turning that match into a 3-4 goal affair for Atlanta. That being said... This was a decidedly subpar performance and I'm blaming FdB. Yes, individual errors killed too many possessions and lead to FCD's first goal, but to come off of last week's win, get back to your home where you're typically dominating, and have a full week to prepare for Dallas only to come out and play a lethargic game that failed to put enough men into the attack early is just shameful. You know you need goals. You know your players are slumping. You know the crowd is antsy. You HAVE to push and push hard. You need more north-south movement. And especially against Dallas you cannot dally on the ball. Instead Atlanta played right into FCD's strategy and paid the price for their own profligacy. 3 of the next 4 are at home. Failure to secure 9 of the next 12 points means you're out of contention in the east and losing the locker room. Carlos and Co. will have to do something soon. At this rate the move to unload Garza and McCann for Shea looks a total bust cause the new guy fits neither Frank's system nor last year's run and gun. Would LOVE to know what the front office feel about this trade now. I've given de Boer time and know he's dealing with a lot, but this isn't a middling Palace he's inherited, either. He needs to find results and Darren needs to hold him and the players accountable. Grace period is over. Meanwhile, to all the players - Like hell this is all Frank's fault. You guys have played without an edge, and at times without any hustle. If you don't do your part to right the ship the legacy of last year may well be reduced to that of a fluke. Get sharp or ride pine.
He isn't going anywhere. Not his fault Josef and company aren't aren't finishing. The squad he put out this afternoon was solid and in the formation what everyone has been clamoring for (the irony is FdB got beat by a manager deploying 3 at the back). Is Escobar hurt again? If not then I'd ask Frank why he didn't play today.
This is a good post and I agree whole heartedly. I will say this, McCann was an expensive cog and while we all loved Garza he always seemed hurt. The decision to move them was a front office decision and had nothing to do with the coach, as was the decision the bring in Shea, who I think has been just as useful (if not more). We need Bello healthy to see what he can do.
At this point the only team I'd feel confident saying Atlanta will beat is Colorado. Winning at SKC is always a tough ask. Toronto has figured themselves out after crashing out of CCL. Nani has looked really good since coming in, and you know Orlando really wants to finally beat Atlanta. If I'm a betting man, I'm putting the over/under on 4 points. I agree that FdB is not going anywhere. FdB doesn't get fired until Atlanta is mathematically out of the playoffs. Just that I'll stop believing he can fix this at that point. I'm not sure how much I would blame this result on finishing. The players (Josef in particular) are not getting the ball in good spots to score. On both Dallas goals my buddy and I both turned to each other and said "goal" about 5 seconds before Dallas scored, because we could see how the play would develop and where the shot would come for an easy score. Not once did we feel like there was a play where Atlanta was in a position where they should score. If Atlanta did score a goal, it was going to be because of a moment of individual brilliance, not because the system put the players in a position to score. The slow and methodical buildup allowed Dallas to pack a lot of bodies in the box, and when Gressel or Shea finally put in a cross, it was to a Josef all alone with about 3 or 4 bodies around him. Josef ain't exactly a big guy. I would say the projected success rate for those crosses are pretty low. But they just kept coming. The radio guys harp that they're seeing progress. I'm not. They still dominate possession (which I'm beginning to feel more and more is a useless statistic), they can't get the ball with the right people into dangerous areas, and they keep giving up easy goals on the counter. There's a lot of really good players on this squad. But right now they're an awful team.
Well Mach1, I wasn't at today's match and missed the first half thanks to ESPN, but I thought we looked good in that second half and tons of chances with DFC having only a couple.
LGP is officially the worst player on this team. He let Barrios run free down the right side on the first goal after weirdly and needlessly diving in at midfield, he picked up a yellow card (and frankly, should have had a red), and he just lollygagged and failed to even attempt to mark Acosta on the second goal. He should ride pine against Colorado, at the very least. I'm really not sure what anybody's complaining about from a coaching perspective from this game. Sitting in the stands, an Atlanta goal felt nearly inevitable. Atlanta was better than Dallas at every point on the field except goalkeeper. Josef and Tito both missed opportunities which, for the amount of money we're paying them, are sitters. Barco missed at least one clear opportunity that I recall. Gressel shot one right at Gonzalez. The chances were there. I do think Parkhurst's talents are wasted on the wing. He's much more of a field general and tactical player rather than a straight-up athlete. Move him back to central defense with Robinson and put a real winger in the game.
Does anyone ever watch Josef’s runs and think, do you even want the ball? The team just seems disinterested.. especially, in the attacking third. Barco has improved but he has nobody to link with. Gonzalo Martinez is a complete waste of money.
I thought Dallas played the right system against Atlanta. It's tried and true; it worked against Tata as well. I fully expect Colorado to play the exact same way. I disagree that the Atlanta goal felt inevitable. The shots that were most dangerous were at distance or from FKs. Kevin Kratz aside, you don't expect them to go in on a routine basis. Josef's attempt late in the game was from close range, but I think that one was harder than people are giving it credit for. He had the GK in his face. He didn't exactly have a whole lot of angle to work with. I'll admit, it didn't feel like quite as much wasted possession like the Philly or Cincinnati games. But the system seemed to put Parkhurst or Gressel in the most dangerous positions, not Josef. Doesn't make any sense to me.
Well played. You searched through another team's match thread, plucked out one hyperbolic comment from a three-paragraph post, employed it to make a clever signature line, and then let the poster know you had done so. You win --- uh something, I guess.
Aw, don't be such a sorehead. First, let's not make it out to be any great search. Second, it was a comment that went a little beyond hyperbolic and into the realm of ridiculousness. Third, @SabreKhan is a frequent poster in the FCD forum, and I'm having a little fun with him. The irony about his statement is that I would take y'all's keeper over ours nine times out of ten.
Really? That seems a high % for a keeper that, based on y'all's records, has done well for you the past couple seasons and has strong upside potential.