RED, BLACK & BLOG: In big match, Atlanta United lay an egg against Mexican side

Jay Riddle and Tanner McLeod are both avid soccer fans and well-known supporters of Atlanta United. The duo, along with a couple of other surprise guests, will be writing a weekly (or whenever they feel like it) blog. Feel free to comment below. Thoughts on the match? Thoughts on the blog? Let us know.

By: Tanner McLeod

Well, that was pretty awful, wasn’t it? When the whistle went for full time in a 3-0 loss Wednesday night, it was probably welcomed by the Atlanta United faithful.

They had just watched their team get absolutely torn to pieces by a much more experienced and all around better Monterrey (Mexico) side. It was about as comprehensive a beating as the club has suffered in any match in its short history. The most frustrating bit of it all was that it wasn’t very surprising. After turning in a disappointing performance in their season opener, Atlanta United did something they haven’t done in what feels like an eternity: lose back-to-back matches.

For fans of the Five Stripes, the feelings and emotions that they are experiencing right now are both new and very familiar. For those who have only recently become fans of soccer since Atlanta United has taken the city, the league and the country by storm, the feelings of defeat sting like alcohol over an open cut. For the many who are Atlanta born and bred, this feeling hits a bit closer to home. They’ve seen teams from the city provide them with heartbreak, frustration and disappointment, just not from Atlanta United. Not until now.

In what was quite possibly the biggest match the club has played to date, the team laid an egg. There are many words you could use to describe the performance: abject, listless, hopeless, uninspiring (I could keep going here but you get the point). Not everything that happened was the team’s fault.

The pitch was a disgrace, with players constantly losing their footing. Monterrey refused to play the ball and mercilessly kicked United players without much recourse. Pity Martinez in particular was singled out and fouled 10 times himself. For a player of his quality, in a competition of this size, to be fouled that many times and the opposition to escape bookings as many times as they did is an absolute shambles. Add to that the 10 fouls committed by Carlos Rodriguez, who did not get booked for any of them, and you have the most CONCACAF of officiating performances. It’s hard for fans to take a competition seriously when this is the standard.

All that being said, it doesn’t excuse the performance by Atlanta United. Part of me actually feels really sorry for the players. Many of them are being asked to perform in roles and play in a system that simply doesn’t suit their talents. Josef Martinez cuts an extremely frustrated figure and I completely understand his sentiment. He’s one of the greatest goal scorers in MLS history and has just recently signed a lucrative, five-year contract, but he would likely receive the same amount of service he got on the pitch last night if he was sitting on his couch watching the match from home. Pity Martinez is the reigning South American player of the year and has no options ahead of him. The side looks completely bereft of ideas and is completely disjointed going forward. How is this possible for a team that won MLS Cup only three months ago?

It’s only four matches into Frank de Boer’s managerial tenure at Atlanta United, but he may very well be facing a key moment that will define his future with the club. When he was hired many pointed to his failed spells at Inter Milan and Crystal Palace as a warning of what he could bring. The club looked past those disasters and focused on his success at Ajax and hired him to replicate what he achieved there. His style of play was supposed to be an evolution on what Tata Martino had done in his two years in charge. So far with one match against a struggling Herediano (who parted ways with their manager after the match), Atlanta United has scored one goal from open play in three matches. All have been away from home but the performances themselves have left much to be desired.

The club is built on attacking and there is little to none of that happening at the moment. For as much as de Boer wants to play his desired 3-4-3 formation, the club does not currently have the players required to play it. Maybe one day they will, but Rome wasn’t built in a day. Pep Guardiola didn’t win the Premier League in his first season at Manchester City, but what he did do is adapt, change and slowly engrain his style of play in his players.

The best managers realize when something isn’t working and change. Tata Martino did this and won the first major sports championship this city has seen in 23 years. The ones who get sacked stick with a style even when it’s not yielding results. Atlanta United fans need to be patient with de Boer. He needs time to show who he is and what he is made of at Atlanta United. As fans, it’s not fair to judge him on his past failures but rather what he can accomplish in Atlanta. All that being said, things are looking a lot more Crystal Palace than Ajax at the moment. Here’s to hoping he can turn things around.