Atlanta United’s offense lacks spark against Philadelphia

Marcelino Moreno was open, 12 yards from Philadelphia’s goal near the penalty spot.

The pass found him.

Moreno swung his right leg ... and almost completely whiffed.

It was that kind of day for Atlanta United’s offense in Saturday’s 1-0 loss at Philadelphia. The team that scored 10 goals in its previous three games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium was shut out for the second time in five games under new manager Gonzalo Pineda.

“I have to go with my staff and reflect on what we did,” he said. “I agree ... that there was a complete lack of intensity on and off the ball in the first half. I felt that the second half was a little better. We were a little more intense and they wanted to attack more, but at the end of the day it wasn’t good enough and we lost a very very important game.”

With the loss, Atlanta United dropped from sixth to eighth place and below the playoff line in the East.

Pineda discussed on Thursday how the team didn’t have as good a training session on Wednesday as he hoped. It was a long session, Pineda said.

Looking lethargic and sloppy, Atlanta United was limited to two shots on goal and four chances created. Ezequiel Barco, so influential in the previous eight games with six goals and four assists, was limited to one shot on goal and didn’t create a scoring chance. Moreno put one shot on goal, a speculative effort from 30 yards that was easily saved. Luiz Araujo didn’t put any of his three shots on goal and didn’t create a chance in his least-effective performance with the club. Pineda said the attacking players weren’t close enough to each other to combine or create chances. They didn’t pass-and-move enough. Pineda said he needs to examine if its the tactics or something else.

There are two commonalities between this shutout and the previous one against Nashville. The first is Philadelphia, like Nashville, is very good defensively. Goalkeeper Andre Blake is among the league leaders in shutouts. The second is the absence of Atlanta United striker Josef Martinez, the team’s leading goal-scorer (9).

Pineda went with a formation called a “false nine” that didn’t se a striker and instead used Barco and Araujo as midfielders who try to play as strikers when there are opportunities. It worked against Orlando with three goals scored.

“We have to be better even without Josef,” Pineda said. “We have to create more chances and have to get better movement with the ball. We didn’t do that today. That’s it. Not too much drama, I understand the importance of this game but we need to regroup and reflect as a group what we can do better.

Goalkeeper Brad Guzan, who made eight saves, said Saturday’s loss was about much more than not having Martinez.

“We can talk about tactics, we can talk about the midfield, we can talk about whatever – for me it wasn’t about that, and that’s why it’s frustrating,” he said. “It’s down to us as players to make sure that we come in with the right mentality and the right energy that is needed for these games. We talked about this being a playoff game. You can tell I’m (upset) now. It’s frustrating because I know we have the quality; I know we have the ability to do this. And then we come out and think we’re untouchable and we’re playing at — generously — 50%. And that’s not going to cut it in this league.”

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