The best is yet to come for Atlanta United FC
Atlanta United FC may have been knocked out early in the Major League Soccer (MLS) playoff tournament, but new head coach Gonzalo Pineda sees the future brightly.
Since a 2-2 draw against CF Montreal on August 4, Georgia’s team has posted an impressive 11-3-3 regular season record. Pineda took office on August 28 after a short interim from Rob Valentino.
The streak ensured the club’s place in the playoff portrait, but were defeated by New York City FC 2-0 on Sunday. This loss is not, however, representative of the team’s play, in the eyes of goalkeeper Brad Guzan.
“In the end, it was two set pieces, he said sorry, according to comments reported by the official website of the MLS. You turn off in those moments, give them half a second and get punished. We were punished with two set pieces. ”
Change the mindset
In front of his net, Guzan had one of the best seats to analyze his team’s effort. And if he recognizes that individual talent is very present with players like Marcelino Moreno, Josef Martinez and Luiz Araujo, it seems obvious to him that cohesion is not yet ready.
“I think on paper, when you look at our team, we have fantastic players in terms of skills and individual brilliance; guys can create things in an instant from nothing, amazing things. That being said, we need to be able to do it in a more collective and coherent way, ”he explained.
« Understanding this, [vous savez] that it doesn’t always have to be Marcelino [Moreno] which must have a moment of brilliance, or [Ezequiel] Barco, or Josef [Martinez] who hits late in the game. There has to be more attack consistently. ”
Pineda had the same kind of reasoning when asked what needs to change in order to have a better fate next year. He certainly sees an improvement since his debut, but there is still work to be done.
« I would say the biggest challenge was to change the mentality a bit [lorsque je suis entré en poste], did he declare. They were a little depressed. Rob [Valentino] did a great job balancing that mindset and then I took over and tried to do the final push. I think we were successful with that. ”
“For next year, we just have to keep the momentum going. With a full training camp, with everyone in good shape, I think we can improve a lot. ”
