LAFC vs Atlanta United BMO Stadium, Los Angeles Sunday, Oct. 5, 9:00 PM Apple TV MLSsoccer.com preview here. AJC.com United coverage. AUFC home page. Black and Gold home page. Player Availability Reports Injury absences listed here. Recent Form Atlanta (5-12-14) NER 2-0 ATL ATL 1-1 SDFC ATL 4-5 CLB Los Angeles (15-8-7) STL 0-3 LAFC LAFC 4-1 RSL RSL 1-4 LAFC ~ Apparently the footie gods felt fit to punish Atlanta and neutrals the Apple TV + world over, because the Five Stripes get the national spotlight on Sunday evening. File this one under "The matchup looked great in the pre-season!" While Atlanta has yet to recover from Covid's disruption of their super club status, LAFC has kept rolling. Granted, the SoCal city has an easier time luring more assured talent for any of its sports teams, but they've done well to take advantage and make it work. At the least, they've sustained their lofty title challenges consistently since arriving on scene as the Galaxy's whiny stepbrother. The latest iteration saw them swap out Olivier Giroud for Son Hyung Min. On the face of it I'd assume switching from a former Gunner to a former Spur is a downgrade, but even I respect Son's abilities and he's done nothing but excel since arriving. The Korean has 8 goals in 9 appearances, which means he and all-star Denis Bouanga together have 31 goals, whereas the entire Stripes' lineup has 37! Coincidentally, 37 goals is how many LAFC have conceded, against the 60 total they've put in. Atlanta, meanwhile, has shipped in 57 on defense, and oddsmakers currently suggest LAFC and Miami (next week) will combine to add at least 7 more to that surrendered tally. Especially since both those sides are fighting for beneficial playoff seedings. As fate would have it, I'll be meeting someone near the airport tomorrow night as they pass through town, and if I'm lucky it won't be near a place showing the match, so no commentary from me during the sacrifice. I'll endure the highlights, however, just in case their insightful. Cheers, y'all.
I'll probably watch the first half, but it's a school night. So unless it's looking really competitive, I probably won't stay up
I keep thinking of the last starfighter 'It will be a slaughter!' 'That's the spirit!' 'No, my slaughter!'
35' in, and Atlanta has absolutely nothing. I would give Deila the winter window to right the ship. I'm not a fan of changing managers after only one season. But if he's had two windows and we are still just absolutely abominable after about three games next season, he's got to go. Garth, too.
$40M on this roster, and 0 shots in the first half. LAFC's goalkeeper is asking the fans behind him for help with his crossword puzzle. Taylor Twellman says Miguel Almiron has a -0.42 xG for the season. How do you get a negative xG? Is he more likely to have scored an own goal than an actual goal this year?
9 to 1 shots 1.18 to 0.02 expected goals. Still, I think we are playing relatively disciplined in the defense.
We lose 1-0 giving up a late goal. We played more disciplined defense but still very little to get excited about.
Part of it was MLS being a leaner league at that time, with fewer clubs pushing the financial limits of designated player salaries. Part of it was finding a great core of midfielders and defenders (Ruidiaz, Roldan, Alonzo ...) who were great fits for MLS and opted to stay rather than test free agency. (Especially pre AppleTV money.) It helped also that Seattle was THE place to be as far as home settings, now several other teams offer very strong facilities and crowds. So, it's possible what Garth did was as much circumstance as his own abilities.
As to the match, I saw the lowlights and read a pair of reports. MLS scribes said Atlanta did provide a very good defensive display, so I guess you take the good news wherever you can. (If we showed other how to beat this team, I'm all for helping a good cause.). If we're honest, Atlanta did better than expected on the scoreboard. That being said, clearly the expectations have to be higher. Losing at LAFC isn't a bad thing, but going there and playing not-to-lose, and looking near toothless while knowing you're in the race for the Wooden Spoon, is not where the team wants to be. (He preached to the choir.) So, yeah, change has to be coming.
My uneducated analysis: I think Garth inherited a really bad situation from Boca (remember Rossetto and Sejdic as our midfield pair) I think the weak roster is why Pineda got such a long tenure to prove himself and why Deila is getting his run. He missed on his coaching hire (I think Deila's tactics heavily benefited from Yankee stadium's small size.) He missed on all three DPs. (I think Thiare is currently a better striker than Latte) Also, I think we have a culture problem. The teams best recent form has been under both of Valentino's interims. I feel like Rob was much laxer on tactics and just let the players play. Which you can say is good on Valentino, but it means that any coach with a system is going to have a hard time implementing their tactics under this culture. Furthermore, I don't think we have seen Deila's tactics implemented.
Valentino was a good hype man. And "let the players play" is not a terrible strategy in itself, if the players are decent. Obviously that's not going to beat the best teams in the league, but picking a good lineup, practicing well, and then letting the players go do their thing without second guessing them is a very good managerial tactic if you've got the right pieces.
Coaches have to be tacticians, trainers, cheerleaders, and recruiters, but they rarely excel at more than two. Bobby Cremins was a prime example of a "let the players play" type, and so his teams rose and fell based on how well he recruited. I get the analogy for United in this sense, but I confess it feels tougher to confirm because the player recruitment landscape for pro footie is sooooo much more vast compared to most US sports. However, I also feel that at this level I expect more from both the players and the coaches in terms of development over the course of a season, so maybe the roster is that poor. There is no reason, for example, why at this stage of the season experienced players should still be making blatantly stupid passes, not play defense, etc. For me, the biggest things i want to see next season, regardless of whether they make the playoffs, are a team that 1) hustles all the time, 2) doesn't kill itself but makes other teams work to beat them, and 3) proof that the club is getting more bang for the buck from the roster. (Miggy excluded, because they're straddled with his contract.) Side Note: Noah Cobb scored for the US in the U20 World Cup the other day. Good for him!