Atlanta United 1-3 Colorado Rapids: Insanity is Doing the Same Thing Over Again and Expecting Different Results
If you’ve used ESPN’s new Misery Index to quantify your struggles of being an Atlanta United fan, you may be surprised to see that the club is ranked 24th in MLS with a relatively positive rating. If you choose only Atlanta for your rating calculation, you’ll be rewarded with a word in bold letters: ELATION.
Your surprise was warranted.
Atlanta United lost away, again, this time to the Colorado Rapids by a score of 1-3. The match somehow managed to summarize an entire season of misery, with so many perfect stereotypes to hammer in the golden spike of coaching malpractice and player apathy. Alexey Miranchuk scores again? Check. Miguel Almiron is off the pace and has a poor performance? Check. Saba Lobjanidze doesn’t play well at left wing? Check. Latte Lath is invisible up front? Check. Brooks Lennon lets an attacker behind his back? Check. Atlanta gives up a goal 20 minutes into the second half? Check. Lethargic defending puts Atlanta in a multi-goal hole? Check. Atlanta has over 60% possession in the first half, has nothing to show for it, and falls behind in the second half? Check. A young defender that you just recently loaned/sold shutting down your attack? Check. A mind-boggling substitution that leads to giving up a goal? Check. Three subs coming on at once in desperation? Check. The players seem lifeless like they don’t want to play under Ronny Deila? Check.
As that list was checked off throughout the match, Atlanta United fans began to relate to Edgar Allen Poe, who once said “I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity”. When the sanity is so horrible on its own, it’s best to review the match and jump into the comforting arms of insanity again.
The title of this post is a shortened quote from Albert Einstein describing not only lunacy, but the Atlanta United starting 11. After the late draw with CF Montreal last week extended Atlanta’s winless run in league play to 9 matches, Ronny Deila made only one change, with Will Reilly entering the midfield for Tristan Muyumba. This on its own is an unbelievable decision. Deila has seen the struggles of Brad Guzan and the success of Jayden Hibbert, Brooks Lennon’s irrelevance at left back, Saba uncomfortably playing on the left but being a difference maker on the right, Almiron’s below-par performances, Latte Lath’s impression of Sue Storm, and the recent promising performances from Luke Brennan, Nyk Sessock, and Jamal Thiare, but decided to make no other changes. Why expect the results to change if the players you field week in and week out aren’t meeting your standards? Why impersonate the MLS playoff system and reward them for mediocrity? You’re in 13th place and the season is lost, so field the players with potential and you may find some tools to save your job next season.
Four minutes from kickoff, Colorado were quickly able to drive the ball forward into United’s final third. The ball was passed to the left side to Sam Vines, who played it first time across goal. Calvin Harris and Rafael Navarro both slid towards the ball, but couldn’t get a touch that would’ve scored a certain goal. It was really poor defending from Atlanta, as both players were able to run into the 6-yard box unmarked.
Fourteen minutes later, the Rapids would find that final touch. Cole Bassett chipped a ball from the midfield towards Navarro, who had snuck behind Lennon in the right side of the box. He headed it forward and centrally towards Darren Yapi, who hit the ball first time with his left foot. It bounced into the ground and then past Guzan inside the right post to give Colorado the 1-0 advantage.
The advantage would not last for long. In the 20th minute, Ronald Hernandez played the ball from the right side of the pitch towards Alexey Miranchuk. The Russian saw that no defenders were closing in on him, so he took a touch and from 20 yards out curled his strike into the bottom left corner. Out of seemingly nothing, Atlanta had a quick equalizer, the first away goal in the first half all season for the club, believe it or not.
That would be the last major play of the first half. When each team tried to move into the final third, there were too many defensive bodies in their way. Atlanta also struggled due to a poor performance by their front three. Miguel Almiron had lost the ball multiple times taking players on, had been caught for pace, and was seemingly an attack killer. Emmanuel Latte Lath barely touched the ball. Saba Lobjanidze, not on his natural right side, performed poorly with deflected crosses and shaky passes.
Once the second half kicked off, Colorado had an early chance just like the first half. A long ball bounced over Gregersen’s head near midfield after Yapi faked going up for a header, and Calvin Harris picked it up on the break. Gregersen got back in front of of the ball, forced Harris to the right, but was about to be beat before a last-ditch sliding tackle that got only the ball and ended the threat.
Then, in the 58th minute, Deila made an unusual substitution. He brought on Juan Berrocal for Saba, changing to a back five and temporarily putting Alexey Miranchuk at left wing/forward. Berrocal immediately shoved a Colorado player and gave away a dangerous free kick twenty yards out, but the wall blocked the shot. Lucky for the Rapids, Berrocal would give up a penalty two minutes later, overcommitting and catching Rafael Navarro after he dribbled into the box with fancy footwork on the left side. He would take the penalty he earned and score, even though Brad Guzan got a touch diving to his left. Navarro’s celebration would be to smash the ball back into the net, subtle foreshadowing for the third goal of the match.
That goal came nine minutes later. Calvin Harris performed a 1-2 to get the ball inside the box. As he shaped to shoot, he went down, and as Atlanta players froze up seemingly expecting a whistle, Navarro drove a shot towards goal with pace. Guzan dropped to his left and got to the ball, but it went under him and in. Jayden Hibbert watched from the bench.
The two goal and one assist performance from Navarro showed how he is the archetype of a player Atlanta United needs to fit their current tactical setup. He’s great with his feet and can drive at players, can pull out wide to stretch the defense, is good in the air, and combines well with the midfield. Have we seen anything like that from Latte Lath other than being an aerial threat? Fittingly, Navarro is Brazilian and was bought from Palmerias, a South American market Atlanta United has sworn to never explore again.
Ignore the stereotypical Atlanta United checklist for a moment. The 75th minute of this game produced something we have never seen before. It was the perfect touch of a curse to remind us that United is an Atlanta sports team, and Atlanta sports teams can rarely have nice things.
Luke Brennan, part of a triple sub after the third goal, had received a ball from Miranchuk, sent a defender by faking a shot, and played the ball across goal. The sequence that followed is above. Miranchuk accidentally blocked Muyumba’s tap-in.
If we choose to ignore that event, the only meaningful chance after Colorado’s third goal came for the home side. Calvin Harris drove the ball down the right in the 80th minute after some great build up play from the Rapids. His cross led to a shot by Yapi, who would’ve had his second if not for Stian Gregersen sliding in late to block the attempt. It was offside, but to Gregersen’s credit, it was a good effort in a strong game for him. Atlanta had no major chances thanks to a stout Rapids defense led by current United loanee Noah Cobb.
Now what? Well, Atlanta’s winless streak in the MLS has been extended to 10 games. Their last win was on May 28. They’ll try(?) to change that next Sunday at 4:00pm, facing Toronto FC at home. In the meantime, we’ll keep doing the same thing we always do, watching Atlanta United play. Fans do the same thing every week and don’t expect different results anymore, but we’re here to support if they do or don’t change.
Our club was so scared to make a quick firing due to the struggles at the start of the decade that they kept Gonzalo Pineda for far too long. With their commitment to Ronny Deila for next season, they’re committed to doing the same thing again, as well. So if you’re not feeling very ecstatic about Atlanta United’s current direction like ESPN says you should, don’t worry! It can probably get worse.