Liam Curran, Atlanta United’s goalkeepers coach, needs to play the lottery.
Curran’s collaborative work designing Atlanta United’s set-pieces has paid off over the past two matches. The first example was Daniel Rios’ goal from the opening kickoff against NYCFC. The other results came from Stian Gregersen’s two headers in Saturday’s 2-1 win against Columbus.
“Liam’s on fire right now,” interim manager Rob Valentino said.
Gregersen’s goals were the club’s first two scored from set-pieces this season. It was the last club in MLS to score from a dead-ball situation this season, according to whoscored.com.
“I feel it was a team goal,” Gregersen said. “Jay (Fortune) had amazing blocks for me, so I could get open and score, and it was a fantastic serve from Saba (Lobjanidze) also. We planned to score like that, so it’s good that it worked.”
Fortune smiled and acted like he didn’t know what was being talked about when asked about the blocks he made.
It was also the first time this season that Atlanta United rallied to win after giving up the first goal. It improved to 1-8-4 in that situation.
Valentino said he has spoken to the players about the need to stay emotionally level during matches, which may have helped the team after falling behind against Columbus. The team psychologist, Ben Freakley, spoke with the players during Friday’s training session and Valentino spoke to them about it again at halftime on Saturday.
“I love to talk about their mentality, where they are at as people and their perspective in that sense, I do touch on that a lot, but we touched on it at halftime because we were losing the game, but I thought we played really well,” Valentino said. “Call me crazy, but defensively we were really solid, only giving away one chance, and (Columbus) scored, which really sucks. But at the same time, I let [the players] speak and we touched on that and how it wasn’t great, but now we are down a goal, so what are we going to do, what is the rebound going to be like?”
Executing set-pieces and staying mentally level will be important because with last night’s win, combined with other results, Atlanta United enters the Leagues Cup portion of its schedule back above the playoff line in the ninth and final spot.
The Five Stripes are one point above 10th-place Philadelphia and two points behind eighth-place Toronto.
Atlanta United has nine matches remaining. Within those nine, six are against teams in one of the 18 playoff spots. Atlanta United is 4-9-3 against teams above the line this season.
Atlanta United’s next league game will be at L.A. Galaxy, which has 49 points and is competing for the Supporters’ Shield, on Aug. 24.
Atlanta United may have reinforcements by then.
The transfer window is open and Atlanta United has more than $50 million it can spend. Atlanta United has one signing, Pedro Amador, in. It is reportedly pursuing attacking midfielder Aleksei Miranchuk, currently with Atalanta in Italy’s Serie A, to replace Thiago Almada, who was sold for $21 million to Botafogo in Brazil. AS for who the club is pursuing to replace striker Giorgos Giakoumakis, sold to Celtic for $10 million, remains a mystery.
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Atlanta United’s 2024 schedule
Feb. 24 Columbus 1, Atlanta United 0
March 9 Atlanta United 4, New England 1
March 17 Atlanta United 2, Orlando 0
March 23 Toronto 2, Atlanta United 0
March 31 Atlanta United 3, Chicago 0
April 6 Atlanta United 1, NYCFC 1
April 14 Atlanta United 2, Philadelphia 2
April 20 Cincinnati 2, Atlanta United 1
April 27 Atlanta United 1, Chicago 1
May 4 Minnesota 2, Atlanta United 1
May 7 Atlanta United 3, Charlotte Independence 0 in U.S. Open Cup
May 11 D.C. United 3, Atlanta United 2
May 15 Cincinnati 1, Atlanta United 0
May 18 Atlanta United 1, Nashville 1
May 21 Atlanta United 0 (5), Charleston 0 (4) in U.S. Open Cup
May 25 LAFC 1, Atlanta United 0
May 29 Atlanta United 3, Miami 1
June 2 Charlotte 3, Atlanta United 2
June 15 Atlanta United 2, Houston 2
June 19 Atlanta United 1, D.C. United 0
June 22 Atlanta United 1, St. Louis 1
June 29 Atlanta United 2, Toronto 1
July 3 New England 2, Atlanta United 1
July 6 Real Salt Lake 5, Atlanta United 2
July 9 vs. Indy Eleven 2, Atlanta United 1
July 13 Montreal 1, Atlanta United 0
July 17 Atlanta United 2, NYCFC 2
July 20 Atlanta United 2, Columbus 1
July 26 vs. D.C. United in Leagues Cup, 7:30 p.m.
Aug. 4 vs. Santos Laguna in Leagues Cup, 4 p.m.
Aug. 24 at L.A. Galaxy, 10:30 p.m.
Aug. 31 at Charlotte, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 14 vs. Nashville, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 18 vs. Miami, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 21 at Red Bulls, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 28 at Philadelphia, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 2 vs. Montreal, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 5 vs. Red Bulls, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 19 at Orlando, 6 p.m.
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