Four Matches and just Four Points...
Early season thoughts about the Five Stripes in 2025
After four matches and just four points, here are some thoughts about Atlanta United early in the 2025 season.
Things look great most times in the run of play, so why is the team only sitting on four goals scored and mired at a spot sitting deeply in the loaded Eastern Conference. These are a few areas that could really make a difference over the next few matches.
A defined playmaker role must emerge.
It is great to have so much creativity in the attack with multiple players that feel confident in their play-making abilities, but are there simply “too many cooks in the kitchen” when it comes to attacking patterns coming out of the Atlanta formation? A defined playmaker role must emerge and that player is Alexi Miranchuk operating out of central midfield spaces. Slisz is maybe trying to do too much and several times Miggy and Alexi seem to be playing in the same spaces. The lack of clearly defined roles extends to the forwards as well. There was possibly a game-tying goal on the foot of Latte Lath versus Miami but Saba arrived at the same spot at the exact moment to throw off the timing of the shot. In years past with a weaker lineup, players were pushed outside of their boundaries to do more for the team, Sosa comes to mind. But this is 2025, and there needs to be a clear playmaker playing a central role in the midfield that constantly has connections within the passing circulation and that keeps the attack running on schedule.
Set Pieces must be better.
Both ends of the park need attention. Better organized defensive free kicks should happen naturally as the trio of injured defenders (Williams, Lennon, Amador) have returned to the lineup. The attacking side of the field has been a struggle for years and with a few exceptions you have to go back to Barco, Kratz, and the 2018 era to find a real danger in set pieces. One of the mainstays of the championship team was winning penalty kicks with the dangerous dribbling and play of Josef Martinez inside the box. Teams don’t fear giving away a corner or free kick in the attacking third to Atlanta due to the poor conversion rate of the team. Converting just a few more free kicks gives the team some distance from their opponents and allows Atlanta to approach each game in a totally different fashion.
Can we just try to flip Saba and Miggy in the midfield? Please?
We all get the idea, keep Saba and Miggy inverted so that they can cut inside onto their strong foot to shoot and score. But maybe, just for the sake of trying it, can we put Saba on the right flank and Miggy on the left flank and see what happens? What if these two just constantly supply Latte Lath with the ball and he scores a ton of goals? Would we take Saba and Miggy dishing out assists instead of hoping for that goal that happens from them playing as inverted wingers? Yes and Yes.
Those are the thoughts based on the early-season matches so far.
How soon can all these changes happen? Is one of these suggestions what takes the team to the top of the East? Only time will tell as the ball rolls this season in each upcoming Atlanta United match.