Atlanta United vs Montreal Impact April 28 1 pm ET Mercedes-Benz Stadium Fox SportSouth MLSsoccer.com preview here. AJC "3 Questions" for the match here. A rare day game in Atlanta as the Impact come to town having lost their past 3 matches. Montreal is currently below the playoff line sitting on 6 points from 7 games. Piatti remains a threat while Vargas and Mancosu also provide viable threats, but the latter is listed as questionable and injuries throughout the side have interfered with the Impact's Plan A this season. But if you're like many Five Stripes fans none of that matters 'cause you're still wanting to punish Montreal for stealing the game up north last season! Atlanta still has a few injury notes to consider as Villalba remains questionable with his strain and Escobar remains in limbo. This hasn't slowed down the side, though, and Atlanta looks to retain their imperious form and secure a 6th win in 7 games. Barco made his debut as a starter in place of Villalba last week and is expected to do the same this week. The only questions that stand out for this game to me are "Will Tata use this as an opportunity to rest anyone else?" and "If so who gets the nod to come in?" I'm expecting to see Williams get some PT today and either of Parkhurst or Larentowisz get some rest if possible. I'm all in today, and I want a cheap burrito tomorrow. 4-0
I have a newfound sympathy for how Minnesota felt when we played then. That is the most frustrating possible way to spend an hour, just banging on an eleven man back line. I knew were eventually knock the door down, but, man, it sure was stressful. We've got weapons coming off the bench, and are spoiled for options. What a season this is going to be!!
The curve on the second Kratz goal is insane. It's better on replay than it was in person. The thing practically travels the length of the goal.
Well, that was... a game. As I said multiple times yesterday it wasn't pretty but it was a case of "job done." Can't expect every match to be a ATL vs NYC thriller. The early goal and Montreal's gameplan contrived to render Atlanta's Plan A useless, and with it Martinez became a marginal player. Crosses into the box don't work well when its 1 v 3, and a speedy vertical attack doesn't do much when the other team is already sitting with 9 men in their defensive 3rd. Atlanta needed the half time break to allow Tata to adjust, and adjust he did. I was thrilled to see something I suggested to friends (dropping Nagbe back and taking Larentowicz out) actually found support from the real manager: Jeff's defensive verve wasn't needed and pulling Nagbe deeper would aid in speeding up the transition game. I didn't expect to see Villalba play but am thankful for his addition as that altered the dynamics of Atlanta's attack. Gressel was having a sub-par (for him) performance, so setting him more centrally and positioning Tito on one side and Almiron/Barco trading off on the other meant more ball carriers able to penetrate the defense from all sides. Taider and others had a MUCH harder time marking men in the 2nd half, and while the play of the game became more up-and-down as Montreal looked for more breaks it also meant Atlanta's threats were more prominent. Compared to the first half this is where it truly felt like an Atlanta goal was simply a matter of time. Defensively it's tough to grade the side since the nature of the contest was so unusual. The boys did fine apart from the goal (Nagbe and LGP failing to communicate) and 1-2 other attacks. As the game wore on, though, Montreal's assault was reduced to Piatti and this allowed the outside backs more chances to try their hands going forward. This just in: Pirez is not the one we want sending crosses into the box! Barco looked real good again and it's a matter of time (days?) until he truly settles in. Time to really get into the discussion about the lineup and making this work, though I would not be surprised if against some teams we see more of the same as yesterday's second half: Put all those great ball-handlers out there and trust it will work. Meanwhile, I stood still for a good 2 minutes after Kratz's 2nd free kick and simply kept saying "Wow." To get that bend with that pace is phenomenal. Take a bow, Kevin.
Its weird when a 4-1 scoreline fails to impress you. Good lord I've been spoiled by this team. As far as aesthetics go this was not a pretty match. Credit to Montreal for choking the life out of any flow. Well bunkered and organized I was sweating this one out until the penalty. It appeared that the PK broke their spirit as the spaces seemed to open soon after. Good on the stripes to stick with the gameplan and finish the deal. May is setting up to be a bear. Heavy east opposition with the only team under the red line being our next opponent, Chicago, and they're sitting 7th. The lone western team we face happens to be sitting on top of that pile. With 6 pointers galore and mid-week matches it'll be interesting to see if Tata starts a more robust rotation or does he grind through it and hope the mini world cup break provides enough down time for his favored XI?
Call me crazy, but this was another incredibly outstanding performance. We created offensive chances early and often, but were caught by one brain fart. Credit the team for trusting the game plan and letting their talent win out.