Atlanta United Finally Put Together a Half Worth Analyzing
- The Big Lewandowski
- 8 minutes ago
- 4 min read
It's been a hot minute since the Five Stripes managed to really do much of anything positive on the field so it was incredibly refreshing to watch the first half of the Nashville game and start to see good pieces. The team is attacking; we're playing through balls; we're setting up a double pivot; we're playing a low block. The first half was far from perfect but also looked miles better than the team in the past few utterly horrendous games. So what gives? I would love to know, but that's between the team and staff for now. So instead, let's break down what Atlanta did well and not so well against Nashville.
The Low Block
What of the most immediately obvious tactical choices in the game was that Atlanta was determined to play a low block. Setting up defensively in the 4-4-2, a classic defensive posture, it makes a ton of sense to get back to the basics and just try to smother anything when the opposition gets into their attacking third.
In the image below you can see some quite nice 4-4-2 lines in the same picture as one of the short comings of the style. While the tight lines are really hard to penetrate when set in the middle of the field, they leave the wings exposed. This is a tradeoff a lot of teams are comfortable with and one that I think I can stomach considering the aerial prowess healthy Stian Gregersen and Derrick Williams offer, but it is something to consider.
The other failure of this very basic approach to the 4-4-2 is that our tendency to play up the wings can be exposed quite dramatically in transition. This is a failure of many systems and a core reason why 47% of goals were found to be scored in transition but will be particularly prevalent if we don't know how to rotate guys wide to fill the gaps. One such solution has been to let the full backs run and have the two DMs fall back into the back four when necessary. Not necessarily the right choice for us and a minor issue to fix but something that is interesting to think about and is going to be a factor as seen below when Nashville cut right through a broke defensive line and really should have scored.
Transitions
Sticking with the importance of transitions thought, we get transition chances too and should use them. Just that simple. And I was pleased with our willingness to spring forward in the first half, the intensity fell off in the second half but it certainly felt like we were moving in the right direction from a team mentality standpoint. It is no fun to lack passion and aggression and the easiest outlet for that is quick breaks. We have some very fast and talented attackers that should do well when getting to attack defenses in space so we should do that. As will be addressed below, Miggy lined up as the second striker in the 4-4-2 and so he and Latte Lath are the natural outlets for the quick ball. This isn't a change with a lot of tactical minutiae to highlight it is really a mentality change more than anything. When you win the ball back you just have to get your head up and play balls forward and diagonally. We had some good transition plays but this is still something that would get a lot of focus in practice if it were up to me.
Is Miranchuk a DM?
One of the more interesting tactical decisions in my opinion was moving Miranchuk back in the setup. Coming into Atlanta as a 10/CF/RW, the Russian was billed as a technical attacker. Now he is lining up in the double pivot as a DM in the 4-2-3-1. I see the vision as the Serie A is known for its emphasis on technical play and operating the midfield in tight spaces but, in game one at least, it hasn't fit Aleksey perfectly. When in the attack, you can get a lot more license to push the tempo and look for incisive passes in tight windows because it's not disastrous if you fail. In the defensive third, it is disastrous to give the ball away routinely. I am intrigued by the move and believe that it could work with time but am dubious of the change and how it will be approached. Atlanta doesn't need to mimic Milan's mishandling of Musah with Miranchuk (not least of all because he is still a DP).
So...what position does Miggy play?
Lastly, we arrive on Miguel Almiron who will have the benefit of being one of if not the most talented player on the field for most of our MLS games but just hasn't been utilized effectively so far. I'm not a big fan of group think and questioning the manager but I will join the bandwagon on questioning why Miggy isn't playing as our 10. He already is being given free roam in the attack which is leading to all sorts of weird movement with Saba and ELL so clearly the issue isn't that we need a general of the attack that Miggy isn't able to fill. It seems to me like the logical answer is Almiron straddled by Saba and a vastly underrated Ajani Fortune. I find this to be especially reasonable considering that Almiron is no longer a speed demon that could tear up the left wing, he is now of far more use reading the attack and helping to pick apart the defense.
Unrelated but I had to say it, Brooks Lennon was not trying to cross it to Miggy. He got the ball, waited for the goalkeeper to get up and then did everything possible to waste the chance and put the shot wide if not for Miggy. (If you haven't notices, I'm not a Brooks Lennon fan.) Anyhoo.