Atlanta United, a team that scored 70 goals each of last two seasons, is a deflected goal away from being shut out in its first three road games after last night's 3-0 loss at Monterrey in the quarterfinals in the Champions League.
It’s hard to score if there are no shots.
A game after putting just two on target in a 2-0 loss at D.C. United in its MLS opener, the team managed just one against Rayados. All three shots came from well outside the box. None were taken by Josef Martinez, who set a single-season scoring record with 31 goals in league play last year. The one shot, which came from a free kick in the first half, against Monterrey tied a team-record for fewest in a game.
“We need to work on it, we need to get better, we need to find our flow,” Atlanta United captain Michael Parkhurst said. “We need to understand how we want to attack, where we want guys to go, where we are going to get service to Josef. How we are going to get behind defenses. None of it has been good enough outside of Herediano at home.
“We have to make adjustments. We have to get better. We’re not going to win games that way.”
The problem is more than just that three of the games were on the road, albeit in very tough environments, or that the team badly misses Miguel Almiron, who was sold to Newcastle in January, or that the chemistry isn’t fully developed between the front three.
Atlanta United has scored on the road in the past. Almiron was replaced by Pity Martinez, the reigning South American Player of the Year.
But there are problems.
Issues with offensive production were an issue for manager Frank de Boer at his previous job at Crystal Palace, which opened the season going scoreless in four of five games to start the 2017 season. He was fired.
Atlanta United has scored five goals in its first three games, but four came in one game, the lone home game the team has played, a 4-0 win over Herediano in the clinching match of the opening Champions League series.
Pity Martinez and Ezequiel Barco, who was also assumed to help offset the sale of Almiron, have combined to score zero goals despite carrying combined transfer fees of more than $22 million. Barco has two assists. Pity Martinez has one, which came on the deflected goal.
Another reason for their lack of scoring can be traced to the fact that there is no flow from defense to offense. Often, as was the case at Herediano, Atlanta United attacked with fewer players than there were defenders. It frequently was Josef Martinez trying to occupy at least two defenders with Pity Martinez and Barco trying to dribble around or pass their way around at least three more defenders. The remaining midfielders and wingbacks were rarely joining that trio in the attack at the same time.
De Boer wants the team not to press until everyone is in the formation or behind the ball. Once that happens, when Atlanta United creates a turnover and has time to attack, it can take a precious few seconds for the players to get forward. By the time they do, the opponents often have enough time to get enough players behind the ball.
Or, if Atlanta United has broken free and has numbers it can work with, the opponents commit fouls to stop plays.
Atlanta United players were fouled 25 times last night. Pity Martinez was fouled 10 times. Two Monterrey players received yellow cards, neither of whom were Carlos Rodriguez, who committed 10 fouls but never received as much as a yellow card. Pity Martinez has been fouled 16 times in 266 minutes across four games.
De Boer said they spoke with the fourth official throughout the game about the fouls.
Atlanta United goalkeeper Brad Guzan said it was clear that fouling Pity Martinez, who got on the bus before he could be interviewed, was part of Monterrey’s tactics to slow down the Five Stripes.
“The amount of fouls he suffered alone without them being booked, that’s part of CONCACAF,” he said. “Gotta accept it.”
Parkhurst also brought up CONCACAF in his comments about the officiating.
“It was tough for Pity tonight, I mean they hacked him every time he got the ball,” he said. “You hope the refereeing takes care of your players like that because persistent infringement was on display tonight but apparently that’s not a case in CONCACAF.”
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