Dressed like a Nordic Johnny Cash with black pants, black shoes and back sweater, his black hair combed back, and perhaps slightly tired from a day of rolling through interview after interview, Atlanta United manager Ronny Deila boiled down what he wants to see from his team during its first preseason under his watch.
Deila wants players fit, focused and treating every session like it’s a Cup final, starting Monday. Deila wants to teach. With Cash-like stoicism, Deila said the players that don’t learn and implement may not play.
“I have a clear picture in my head how we were going to look, and that’s what I sold to Atlanta when I got the job,” he said.
Atlanta United President Garth Lagerwey, who hired Deila based upon his success with clubs in Norway, Scotland, MLS and Belgium, also was able to boil down to a few words his expectations for the second manager he has hired to lead the club.
“I want Ronny to be Ronny, meaning he is a proven winner, right?” he said. “I want him to put his structure, his style of play, into place, and then I want to match the players to that. If you look at his teams, they played in different ways. Were there similarities? Were there common threads? Absolutely yes. But he wasn’t dogmatic about we have to do this one way, and I think that lends itself very much to success in MLS because we need to be pragmatic given travel, altitude, temperature, all the things.”
Progress won’t necessarily be measured by results in the preseason. Lagerwey said that at season’s end, no matter the results, no one is going to remember what happened in friendlies in February.
But progress will be measured by points won. Atlanta United finished in ninth last season after Lagerwey fired manager Gonzalo Pineda and technical director Carlos Bocanegra. It made it into the playoffs by an unlikely combination of events going its way on the season’s final match day.
Lagerwey is hoping for less-stressful finish this season after an offseason of continuing to make over the front office with new positions and new hires for just about every position title and acronym imaginable.
“Now we focus on cohesion, like, let’s take these smart people, these experienced people, these proven winners … and let them cook,” Lagerwey said. “I don’t need to see something in four weeks to be like, ‘Oh, we believe in those guys, we think we got the right team in.’ We think that we fundamentally changed the culture and the level of experience we have in terms of decision making, and now we’re going to give those guys time, and we’re going to give them patience.”
The goals remain the same as last season: finish in the top four of the standings, advance out of the Leagues Cup group stage and win a playoff series. The team accomplished one of those last season by defeating Montreal and Inter Miami in the playoffs.
“We think we can make material progress above and beyond that this year,” Lagerwey.
Deila will be charged with making that happen, and he shared how he will try in a 13-minute interview Wednesday at the team’s training ground. Questions and answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Q: What are your expectations for this preseason?
A: Our expectation is to get to know the players well, so that everybody understands what kind of direction we’ll go, culture-wise, also as a team on the pitch. So the expectation both ways is clear, because then we can start to work on specific tasks and direction in our play. That’s the most important thing. And of course, get them fit and injury free.
Q: How much do you spend in the preseason working on specific tactics, and how much of it is kind of a feel for this guy can do this, this guy can’t do that, and then you start to establish the tactics and the formation?
A: I think it’s both things.
So, my biggest thing is development, improvement. I get energy by improving people, building teams, creating things. I don’t have problems with mistakes, as long as you learn over time, right?
So, for me, everything is about experiences. So you do things in training, you do things in the training matches, and then we have to learn, give feedback, evaluate and then improve.
Q: You said you had a clear picture. Can you share that picture?
A: The picture is that we are going to be energetic. We want to have intensity in our pressure, being aggressive.
I’m not a guy that sits back, waiting for counterattacks, at least not at home. Then in the offensive play, I’m very into overload, of course, but I want to be forward-minded. I want them to play forward. I want to break lines as much as possible. I want them to ask questions of this defender, the goalkeeper, with crosses and good situations.
And then it’s about reactions, instant reactions. So when you lose the ball, it’s the next situation. So we can drive intensity, and then in the end, also get the game into the way that we want to play time after time. And then also get the supporters with you.
Q: Do you have a formation in mind?
A: I played many formations, but I prefer to play a back four in between a 4-2-3-1, or 4-3-3, but we need to be adaptable to also play with a five. So you need to have a plan A and a plan B.
It’s not about formation. It’s more about principles, but when you have three centerbacks, of course, will be a different team than if you have an extra attacker. But I believe that when I see around the world, more teams win with a back four than with a back five. I think you play back five, you get all games even. So that can be a good thing when you are a relegation team or whatever, but when you’re going to win something, it’s more difficult to be bit dominant.
Q: It’s interesting to hear that because the team did use a back five to get through Miami.
A: (With a five) you have to just be more efficient than the other team. But if you’re gonna win, then you get three chances for 3-3, 2-2, you know?
But if you play with a four, you can maybe lose eight to 10 good chances, but you can also win eight to 10. If you play for the three to four good chances, you will win, draw, lose every second time, every third time. That’s so-so.
If you are a team, and you play a much bigger team, you think, we cannot win with our style, yeah, then you go to that (back five). We played Al-Ahli (UAE team), the champions, we played a 5-3-2, we won 2-1, but we had the ball 31% of the game. You don’t win leagues with that, right? Again, you can win a game. Can win a Cup. You can win a game.
Q: How many hours of film have you watched of Atlanta United?
A: I’ve watched 15 hours. My staff now is sitting and going through every goal chance and every goal from this year. So I want to see who’s involved in goal chances against, who is involved in goal chances for. How many goal chances do we get or concede? Is it in transition? Is it in set play? So I have a clear view of the team.
Stats are very important to benchmark things because you can put, “Who is No. 1 in the league? Miami. What are they compared to us? Right?” So, find out what exactly what we need to do to improve the different phases of the game.
Q: Of the film you’ve watched, what was the best thing you saw, and what was the thing that you’re like, “We’ve got a lot of work to do in preseason”?
A: I think the best thing I saw was the discipline and the organization defensively. When (interim manager) Rob (Valentino) had the team, I think there were was a good united way. The team felt together. I think in the last game, they were like, like, ‘OK, we have nothing to lose. We go for it.’ And then they enjoyed playing. And I see then a more competitive team. I think that is the best thing.
And the things that we have to work on is, I think it’s to have offensive patterns that open the opponents, and also much more aggression in the offense. I think the reactions in the team need to be much better. When you lose the ball inside 16 meters, or on the sides, everybody has to react, right?
So, so that’s another, play more forward. I don’t want Brad (Guzan) to be the playmaker.
The aggregation is about instant reactions. It’s about discipline and hunger. And also, I feel, I think the group is too nice. When I see it, it’s like, soft. This is not a winning mentality, They don’t look that they want to step on the foots of the others. We need to be like Brad. He has personality. We need more of that.
Q: I’ve been saying that for four or five years now.
You’ve won trophies at a lot of different clubs. This is a club that, for the past five years, has either played up to or down to the opponent. It’s weird. If it’s a great opponent, they’ll play well, and if it’s a bad opponent, they typically play poorly. How do you break that cycle?
A: Every day in training is a Cup final. So if you train inconsistently, you play inconsistently. It’s about demands. It’s about standards. So I don’t want any players on that pitch if they’re not 100%, and I’d stop the training if it’s not in the intensity that I want.
That’s easy to say, of course. In the beginning, you have to take step by step, but the players have to prepare as a game every day to be able to give 100%. And then it’s about what is 100%? Maybe they think they’re 100%, but maybe I have different standards because I’ve seen other things that has to get them to open their eyes, to say, you can do more, right? We can do it better. We need more.
And then it’s about conversations. It’s about being close to the players. It’s about driving the processes all the time. I’m tough. I can make hard decisions, but this process, you need to drive with the player. I’m a coach, and it’s about asking questions, about getting them to commit to what they want to do, and through that, hopefully they also have a coach from here that they want to do something. And if you don’t have it all the time, they have to go right?
Q: What will you say on Monday when you are on the field, before you start training?
A: I will have a meeting first, and I will not say so much, but I will talk about what I expect and the two things will be (fitness) and (that) every day is a Cup final. So that’s the two main messages. And then, of course, it’s easy to say, but difficult to do.
Q: This is going to be kind of an abstract question, but why are you a winner?
A: Because I don’t focus on the result. I focus on getting better. I’m hungry, and because I want to learn. I’m also humble. I know that I always need to improve, and football goes forward all the time. And I think I’m good with people. I work together with people. I’m not into hierarchy. I empower people, and I’m close to people, support them when they need to, and also kick their ass when I need to do that, as well.
I always want to get better. I think that is the main thing that is getting me to win. And also I have good people around me, and I choose clubs that I know that I have the right things around me.
Q: From the film that you’ve watched, which player or player, do you think you can connect with, you can really make this guy better than he is now?
A: I think I can do with everybody.
Q: Is there anyone in particular?
A: I think, I think it’s wrong to say one. I don’t know anybody now. If they have the growth mindset, or they have the mindset of just thinking about results, is like everything is about winning? Yes, it is, but you cannot know or control if you win, lose or draw. It’s impossible, right? Because you don’t know what the opponent is.
What you can control is your performance, and if your performance is as good as possible every time you have the best chance to win. But it can be that somebody is even better, and then we have to learn and get better. So it’s a mindset.
Q: Which player from your past are you most proud of what you were able to help them become?
A: Difficult to pick one. Taty Castellanos was a big player at NYCFC. And I think Santi Rodriguez also developed a lot when I was there. James Sands was developing a lot. We had a lot of young players there. But I think when I see what Taty has become … he was a wild horse when I met him. I love the Argentines because they believe that they are best in the world, and they have an unbelievable belief in the self and attitude and that goes to everyone on the whole team.
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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
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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