Among Atlanta United’s issues vs. Red Bulls: No Miles Robinson

HARRISON, N.J. -- It shouldn’t have been surprising that Atlanta United was beaten by Red Bulls 4-0 on Saturday.

But it was.

The game was seemingly set up for Atlanta United to finally earn its first victory in a regular season match at Red Bull Arena.

Atlanta United was unbeaten in its past seven, though five of those were draws. It was benefiting from the return of striker Giorgos Giakoumakis and attacking midfielder Thiago Almada, two of the league’s best players.

The Red Bulls had scored just 13 goals in 18 matches. It had already fired one manager and didn’t have a single player that would be considered a consistent difference-maker.

But, the other team is trying to win, too.

The Red Bulls played with more aggressiveness and took advantage of several Atlanta United mistakes to run its unbeaten streak at home against Atlanta United to 4-0-2 in regular-season matches.

“I just don’t think we came in with the right mentality,” Atlanta United fullback Caleb Wiley said. “You could see it from the very start.”

The team put just three shots on goal. It created just five chances, none by the midfielders or wingers.

Manager Gonzalo Pineda said it seemed that every time Atlanta United would break Red Bulls’ pressure and start to attack, they would be fouled and momentum would end.

“I felt that they were better in the important moments, the transition moments,” he said. “The transition moments against those types of teams, physical, direct, they are always willing to do the effort, press, counter press, to cover for each other, they are all fast and strong, you have to be better on the ball. You have to be much better.”

It wasn’t a good performance.

Here are things learned:

No Robinson, lots of goals. Atlanta United played without Miles Robinson, who is with the U.S. team competing in the Gold Cup. In the games that Atlanta United has played without Robinson, it has been outscored 14-4. It will be without him for the rest of the Gold Cup, a stretch of four more MLS matches.

Luis Abram started and wasn’t at fault for any of the Red Bulls’ goals. He was replace by Noah Cobb after suffering either a cramp or an injury. But Robinson’s blend of speed, strength and intelligence is difficult to replicate.

“The more that they see the field, the more confidence they’re going to have within our system, within our group,” goalkeeper Brad Guzan said. “We believe in those guys to step on the field and do excellent.”

Almada’s influence. Almada didn’t play on Wednesday because he was traveling from Jakarta, where he was with Argentina’s national team. His influence on Saturday was minimal, at best. He failed to take a shot or create a chance. It was the first time this season that he recorded zeroes in both of those categories.

Almada has one goal and one assists in his past five matches. He has seven and nine this season. Almada is likely going to subject to intense speculation once the summer transfer window opens for leagues in Europe. The window for England’s Premier League and Italy’s Serie A opens July 1.

Asked if he was concerned about Almada’s lack of productivity, Pineda said he would keep discussions of individual performances within the locker room.

“I don’t think it’s about one player struggling or having a bad form,” he said.

Pineda said he did admire that Almada, Abram and Giakoumakis were able to play after travelling internationally during the past week because they were with their national teams.

Transfers in. Pineda said there will be transfers coming in when the MLS window opens on July 5. The team has three senior slots open, one of which can be a Designated Player from the sale of Luiz Araujo. Pineda declined to say at what positions.

Guzan said the competition will be good.

“We talked about being a big club, talk about wanting to be at the top and and part of that is bringing in fresh faces and competition for places on the field and that’s a daily battle,” he said.

Mistakes out. All four goals scored by Red Bulls were the result of individual mistakes, which is a theme for many of the league-high 35 goals allowed by Atlanta United this season.

The first two, both scored in the first half, were the most costly. The first came on a throw-in when two players didn’t communicate and a third failed to cover ground. The second came on a turnover.

“It’s too easy for a guy to run off our shoulder and get into the corner of the six-(yard box) on a post,” Guzan said of the first goal. “When we’re defending we need to be stronger, we need to be tighter, we need to be more resilient.”

Bouncing back. Guzan and Wiley said the key to bouncing back with Philadelphia upcoming is for the group to stay together.

“We have a full week until we play Philadelphia, and we bounce back,” Wiley said. “This is soccer. It happens. And it’s about how you bounce back and go again. This team is capable of doing that.”

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Atlanta United’s 2023 MLS schedule

Feb. 25 Atlanta United 2, San Jose Earthquakes 1

March 4 Atlanta United 1, Toronto FC 1

March 11 Atlanta United 3, Charlotte FC 0

March 18 Atlanta United 5, Portland 1

March 25 Columbus 6, Atlanta United 1

April 1 Atlanta United 1, New York Red Bulls 0

April 8 Atlanta United 1, New York City FC 1

April 15 Atlanta United 2, Toronto FC 2

April 23 Atlanta United 2, Chicago 1

April 29 Nashville SC 3, Atlanta United 1

May 6 Inter Miami CF 2, Atlanta United 1