Atlanta United wants trophies. It hasn’t won anything since 2019, and it hasn’t played for a trophy since 2019.
These questions may determine if the MLS team will get to hang its fourth banner.
Ronny Deila’s decisions. Deila has a vision for the club that he is confident will be achieved. He wants to use a 4-2-3-1 formation. He wants to keep possession. When they don’t have the ball, he wants to feverishly press the opponent. He wants to hear the players talking to each other. He wants to see them learning and improving.
All of this may sound slightly familiar.
Gabriel Heinze and Gonzalo Pineda, who preceded Deila, had clear visions for how they wanted things to go. Heinze lasted 13 matches before his disdain for MLS rules, combined with his team scoring only 13 goals in 13 matches, forced his termination. Pineda had the longest tenure of any Atlanta United manager, 81 matches, with no trophies. His tenure was hurt by his insistence on using the same formation and similar tactics even when injuries depleted the roster. After his firing, President Garth Lagerwey said among the things he wanted in the next manager was flexibility.
This team has depth, so Deila may be able to keep a consistent formation and tactics should be there international call-ups or injuries.
If things aren’t working, will he make adjustments?
What will Emmanuel Latte Lath do? Because he wasn’t signed until early February, and then had to secure his visa, he played only 45 preseason minutes.
Fitness shouldn’t be an issue. He was in the middle of the Championship season in England when he was purchased from Middlesbrough for $22 million.
Knowledge, chemistry and confidence will be the things to overcome.
Latte Lath had never been in the U.S. and said he hadn’t watched MLS before he signed. He knows his teammates and manager only from a few training sessions and part of one friendly.
The positive for Latte Lath is he is fast. If Latte Lath can find spaces to run into, and his teammates can get the ball to him, what he doesn’t know won’t matter because he does know how to score.
Which Miguel Almiron will play? When Almiron was on the team in 2017-18, his game was built on speed and ferocity. He was a one-man counterattack. That was then. Now, he’s six years older at 31 and not quite as fast as he once was.
President Garth Lagerwey has tried to tell the team’s supporters that this version of Almiron won’t be able to make 60-yard sprints over and over. He will be a smarter player. That hasn’t stopped some followers from posting video of the old Almiron on social media, as if the expectation is that he will still be able to run full speed for 90 minutes.
There also is that Almiron won’t be the central playmaker as he was. Alexey Miranchuk has that job. Almiron will be more like Hector Villalba in ‘17 and ‘18: the runner on the wings who will stretch defenses and take advantage of one-on-one opportunities when he can to score and find a teammate.
Almiron has drifted inside to play beside Miranchuk during friendlies. Deila said he doesn’t mind because smart players look for spaces, and he knows that Almiron knows he has defensive responsibilities on the wing.
Speaking of Miranchuk. The Russian was purchased from Atalanta and after one appearance from the bench against L.A. Galaxy, was put right into the starting lineup. Despite not knowing his teammates, the manager or the league, he produced three goals and one assist in eight starts. He produced three more assists in five playoff matches.
This season’s offense has been built around his skill as a passer and ability to put the ball into spaces that stress defenders.
It should be expected that the 3:1 goals-to-assists ratio should be flipped this season.
Opponents still are going to try to collapse on him when he receives the ball. It will be important for Miranchuk to use Almiron and the midfielders underneath him, Bartosz Slisz, Mateusz Klich, Jay Fortune or Tristan Muyumba, as outlets to relieve the pressure, keep the ball and restart attacks.
Can Brad Guzan keep going? Guzan, who will be 41 years old by season’s end, played like a goalkeeper at least 10 years younger last season. He came up with important saves during the penalty-kick shootout at Montreal in the playoffs. He made an incredible, reflexive save in the decisive Game 3 win at Miami. His 113 saves during the regular season were a career high and almost were twice as many as the 61 he had in 2023, a year in which many people were calling for him to retire.
Guzan’s heroics prevented Atlanta United from giving up more than the 49 goals it allowed, which came on an expected goals against of 48.9.
Can Guzan do it again?
The more-pointed question may be will he have do it again?
Deila wants to limit the opponent’s big chances by keeping them out of the middle of the field when they have the ball. It’s worked fairly well during the preseason. He noted after defeating New England that it was another match in which the opponents didn’t threaten too much.
If it can work during the season, Guzan may be able to post more shutouts than last season (6), while making far fewer saves.
If Guzan does show signs of decline, and he hasn’t during the preseason, the team has Josh Cohen. He looks more comfortable with the ball at his feet during this preseason than he did last preseason.
Depth deep enough. Deila said during the preseason that he learned the team has 22-23 players who can play.
There will be injuries. Every team suffers injuries. What has hurt Atlanta United in previous seasons is that sometimes there wasn’t enough depth to keep the machine running when a key part broke.
This year’s team, so far, seems deep enough. If Latte Lath can’t play, Jamal Thiare showed last year that he can pull a shift with eight goals. Cayman Togashi, a veteran in Japan, was signed to compete at striker. Fortune and Muyumba started multiple games in the midfield. Xande Silva is a European veteran who can play on either wing. At centerback, Luis Abram is a veteran, and Noah Cobb and Efrain Morales are Homegrown signees who had key starts last season. Ronald Hernandez likely will start the season at right fullback. When Brooks Lennon returns from his offseason shoulder surgery, Hernandez will have those minutes already logged.
The only soft spot-on the roster is at left fullback. Pedro Amador missed most of the preseason because of a hamstring injury. Dominik Chong Qui, who will become a Homegrown signee next season, played a lot of minutes in his place because the team doesn’t have another natural left back.
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Atlanta United’s 2025 schedule
Feb. 22 vs. Montreal, 7:30 p.m., Apple
March 1 at Charlotte, 2 p.m., Apple, Fox
March 8 vs. New York Red Bulls, 7:30 p.m., Apple
March 16 vs. Miami, 7 p.m., Apple
March 22 at Cincinnati, 2:30 p.m., Apple
March 29 vs. NYCFC, 7:30 p.m., Apple
April 5 vs. Dallas, 7:30 p.m., Apple
April 12 vs. New England, 2:30 p.m., Apple, Fox
April 19 at Philadelphia, 7:30 p.m., Apple
April 26 at Orlando, 7 p.m., Apple, Fox
May 3 vs. Nashville, 2:30 p.m., Apple, Fox
May 10 at Chicago, 2:30 p.m., Apple
May 14 at Austin, 8:30 p.m., Apple
May 17 vs. Philadelphia, 7:30 p.m., Apple
May 25 vs. Cincinnati, 7 p.m., Apple
May 28 vs. Orlando, 7:30 p.m., Apple
May 31 at Red Bulls, 7:30 p.m., Apple
June 12 at NYCFC, 7:30 p.m., Apple
June 25 at Columbus, 7:30 p.m., Apple
June 28 at Miami, 7:30 p.m., Apple
July 5 at D.C. United, 7:30 p.m., Apple
July 12 at Toronto, 7:30 p.m., Apple
July 16 vs. Chicago, 7:30 p.m., Apple, FS1
July 19 vs. Charlotte, 7:30 p.m., Apple
July 26 vs. Seattle, 7:30 p.m., Apple
July 30 vs. Necaxa, Leagues Cup
Aug. 2. vs. Pumas in Orlando, Leagues Cup
Aug. 6 vs. Atlas, Leagues Cup
Aug. 9 at Montreal, 7:30 p.m., Apple
Aug. 16 at Colorado, 9:30 p.m., Apple
Aug. 24 vs. Toronto, 5 p.m., Apple
Aug. 30 at Nashville, 8:30 p.m. Apple
Sept. 13 vs. Columbus, 7:30 p.m., Apple
Sept. 20 vs. San Diego, 4:30 p.m., Apple
Sept. 27 at New England, 7:30 p.m., Apple
Oct. 5 at LAFC, 10:30 p.m., Apple
Oct. 18 vs. D.C. United, 6 p.m., Apple
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