@GunnerJacket No reason to hang our heads just yet. Finish this out for us! And edit my thread title to include the date!
Will miss this one. Not too optimistic; it is the Red Bulls after all. Wouldn't mind to be proven wrong, though.
It'll be ugly; Red Bull games are always ugly. They deliberately play an ugly game, like NYCFC. I'll watch, tho.
Atlanta United vs RB:NY Mercedes Benz Stadium, Atlanta Saturday, April 1, 7:30 PM Apple TV MLSsoccer.com preview here. AJC.com preview here. ATLUTD.com preview here. RB:NY preview here. Player Availability Atlanta OUT: Ozzie Alonso (ACL recovery) OUT: Matheus Rossetto (hamstring) RB:NY · OUT: Serge Ngoma (hamstring) Recent Results Atlanta (3-1-1) CLB 6-1 ATL ATL 5-1 POR CLT 0-3 ATL RB:NY (1-3-1) CLT 1-1 RB:NY RB:NY 2-1 CLB MNU 1-1 RB:NY
The good news is that it appears all the international players save Abram should be available to play. Having Almada, Giorgos, and Robinson in the lineup goes a long way to solving the woes from last weekend. Even if they don't go a full 90. Plus, it's clear Atlanta plays better ball at home. The bad news: Gutman is unlikely to play, and if Robinson is still weary after playing 90 on Tuesday then it likely means Noah Cobb gets another run at CB. Everybody has their bad days, so here's to hoping the team at least restores their grit and puts last week in the rear-view mirror. I'll be at this one doing my part. Vamos Atlanta!
Gutman is officially out, per the availability report. The lineups on DSS feature Atlanta wearing red and black stripes, and being an MLS fan from the '90s caused me to immediately think to myself, "What a strange coincidence that the MetroStars have a guy named Giakoumakis on their team, too!" My brain eventually sorted it out, but it took a sec. New Jersey likes to press and play possession, and I honestly think we play better on the counter than we do with a ton of possession. So, while I don't think we should park the bus, I do think we should look to transition instead of possess. We can effectively blow the game wide open with an early goal because they don't score much. So here's hoping the home crowd can fire them up from the first train whistle.
Etienne gets the start in front of Wiley, today, while all the other key players are in their usual roles.
Etienne has shown why he's been on he bench so far this season. Had a couple of opportunities to do something useful with the ball, and has managed not to look dangerous even 1v1 with their mediocre goalkeeper.
HT: 1-0 Giorgos with the goal, a poachers dream after the RB keeper dropped Almada's shot from outside of the box. Typical RB match, with a lot of physical play and at least 4 cards issued overall, 3 to RB players. Atlanta is good for their lead but the result is still in the balance.
We need more from Araujo and Etienne, and we need to bait Burke into a red card. New Jersey has 4 yellow cards right now, and a couple of them are exploitable positions on the field. Giakoumakis/Etienne/Araujo needs to just line up on their last defender and look for that ball over the top over and over again until they either back off the press or give up another goal.
Giakoumakis my MOTM. Miles and Purata did well. Ibarra too. I thought Almada was off tonight. He’s too good to be making those big mistakes. I like Wiley better as a winger. I think Araujo is utterly worthless. Lennon is good offensively, but a liability on defense. We need someone better than Sejdic.
And to do it by a goal is more satisfying. We did just enough and they just don't have anything much up front. That meathead Burke almost crippled Guzan.
Bad according to his standards. He doesn’t deserve a 7.3 considering that he had a few very bad giveaways that should have resulted in goals against.