Atlanta United’s Rob Valentino hopes he’s doing enough to remove interim label

Rob Valentino wants to lead Atlanta United to its second MLS Cup.

That’s not surprising.

That Atlanta United is three wins away is very surprising to perhaps everyone other than those who work at 861 Franklin Gateway in Marietta.

Valentino was promoted to interim manager in June following the dismissal of Gonzalo Pineda.

It was Valentino’s second stint as interim. The first came after Gabriel Heinze was fired in 2021.

Despite the chaos from Pineda’s firing, the dismissal of Technical Director Carlos Bocanegra and the selling of Thiago Almada and Giorgos Giakoumakis, Valentino was able to successfully integrate new players Alexey Miranchuk and Pedro Amador and lead the team through the side door and into the playoffs, where they defeated Montreal in the wild-card round and shocked Cup-favorite Inter Miami in the next round.

Oh, and Valentino has done all this with the perceived pressure of impressing club President Garth Lagerwey enough to have the interim removed from his title.

If Valentino is feeling the weight of the playoffs, which will continue next week at Orlando in the Eastern Conference semifinals, or the job audition, he didn’t show it in an exclusive 21-minute conversation Wednesday.

Questions and answers have been edited for clarity and/or brevity:

Q: So you have preached staying in the moment and being where your feet are, but obviously you’re still a candidate for this full-time job. I’m curious, how much have you thought about that, and have you thought about your future if you’re not hired as the manager?

A: Yeah, I’ve been really just trying to practice what I preach, like staying in the moment. Staying focused on every game has been really important because you don’t know if you’ll have a next one.

Apart from that first game in Miami, I knew we had at least two, so I’ve really just been focused on that and not thinking about what’s going to happen in the future. Because I was thinking about this the other day, and I was talking to my wife, that not a lot of coaches get a chance to coach in a semifinal game. And like we’re at that moment, and I so desperately want to win MLS Cup. That’s really, really what I want to do, but I’m staying present in being in that semifinal game, and that’s good for everybody. It’s good for the club. It’s good for myself and our coaching staff.

If it’s not here, it’s somewhere else, hopefully, that there’s opportunity. I can’t control what decisions they make. I can hopefully make the decision really hard for them, or on the other side, really easy, whichever way they look at those things. Yeah, that’s that’s kind of where I’ve been with that.

Q: Do you think you’re making it hard for them?

A: I’m not sure. Like, it depends on what the criteria, what they really want. There’s certain aspects of what I think we do as a coaching staff, and what we can bring and what we can hopefully add more to and get better. And there can be things because we’ve taken over, it’s not that we’ve had a preseason that we’ve worked with the same team and had the players that we all thought we would have it this time. There’s been a lot of change.

So there was, it’s not like I look at this as we took, obviously, somebody else’s, and we’re trying to make things better, and it may not be exactly how we would do it, but we’re keeping it to a good place, and then trying to push it further.

So there’ll be a lot of things we change, and I think they need to look at what the criteria is for them and how I fit, or the next candidate might fit into that.

But yeah, I can’t control what they are looking for. If they think I’m making it difficult, that’s great. I know that the other coaches that they are looking at have impressive resumes, so it’s nice to be considered amongst them.

Q: When the move was made and you were promoted, a couple of the things that Garth told us, he talked about flexibility, I’m assuming technical, strategically, formationally, and I think he mentioned better communication. How would you say you’ve done in those areas? I know y’all broke out of back five against Miami with only a week to prepare for it when it didn’t really work in a previous game that you you tried?

A: I think in terms of the flexibility would be one of the strengths I have, flexibility or adaptability. I guess you could say I’m not married to a system. I try to always fit, and I don’t like to chop and change, I talk about consistency. But I also think that if there’s a game where I feel that these players have the best personnel for this shape, I’ll change it.

We started in a back four when I first started, then we went into a back five. We had some success. Then we went back to a back four. So we have jumped around in the shape. And it’s just been mainly the personnel we have of not putting square pegs in round holes. So, trying to put players in the best positions to succeed. And then, we obviously got rid of some players. We were trying to make shift a little bit, but keep it consistent. So I am very flexible in that. And then the second part you said was the communication.

Q: Players have mentioned that that’s something that they have appreciated from you.

A: That has been something that, I think, again, I’ve done a good job with. We as a staff, we are honest, 100% honest. We make sure that communication is really up front of, whether it’s a plan or it’s if there’s an issue that we have on the training ground or whatever, we go straight to it. Sometimes it’s in front of everyone. Sometimes it’s an individual conversation, cup of coffee or whatever. I always try to make sure that the communication is really up front. I think that’s the best way of like, getting everything out and open.

And then I also think that the personal touch. It’s not a fake thing. I don’t try to have a personal relationship with them because I want something out of them. It’s because I genuinely care. Like, I think that if you’re working with someone, like, why would you not want to know more about them? And then when the moments do come and you have a little bit of conflict, or if there is a little bit of a problem, like, you can lean on those things and it will make you want to give more for them, and vice versa, them more for me.

So I think that communication piece is the biggest one for me, is having some bit of personal information, or, like, having a little bit of ... that doesn’t mean it’s going to be great. It could be that we have back and forth that maybe we both don’t like, but ultimately, respect for the way we work together.

Q: Has that been a two-way street? Have you have the players come to you and said something that made you rethink a way you were doing something in training or in the game or communication or anything?

A: I think it’s hard for players to come and approach the head coach. I think sometimes they’ll go to the assistant, they might say something, and then it becomes a conversation. There’s been a few times where players have come up and, whether it’s asked why they’ve been subbed off because then you see their perspective. I can give them, ‘Hey, this is my feedback to you, right?’ But yeah, so there’s been a more of that part that’s pretty, I would say, relatively natural.

And then there has been with the guys that I’ve probably been with around longer, they are the ones that are apt to ask me more, like, ‘Hey, why did we do this? Or why were we doing this video session?’ That’s pretty normal, but it’s good information to have.

If I could get a group to be like that on a like, on a whole — it won’t be every player, right? — that would be awesome because then we’d be really holding each other accountable, and the group will be able to take care of itself, and then we can interject when we need to. So that collaboration would be awesome. Now that’s something I would aspire to get to. I didn’t expect to get there, and obviously in the short period of time we have now right?

Q: Garth was telling the radio partner yesterday that at some point he knew that this team wasn’t going to win trophies because a couple of the personalities in the locker room, I’m paraphrasing all this, didn’t seem to be bought into being in Atlanta, and those personalities had to go. I’m curious, because you’ve been in the locker room and you’ve been in the coaching staff, not that you didn’t believe in the team, but were there some issues in the locker room or issues with people not wanting to be here and that manifesting itself in some negative way?

A: I have been here the whole year, and I’ve seen a group that’s been committed. It’s not been easy. Obviously, it’s been up and down in that there were changes, turmoil in the season. I didn’t see anybody that wasn’t committed. I think it’s pretty natural that there’s players that left and they went on to other things. And I think that you see it throughout the season in different teams.

I never felt that there were guys that weren’t committed. There was also when they left, there were new guys that came in, and then they bought into the team. And I don’t know if that was an issue. I didn’t hear exactly Lagerwey talking about. I didn’t find that in the whole season that they weren’t committed.

Q: Turning to some of the faces that have joined, do you think that we’re starting to see how effective (Alexey) Miranchuk, for example, as a designated player, can be. He looks to me much more comfortable with the players around him, the passing and the movement than perhaps he did when y’all had to put him in the starting lineup because you were chasing the playoffs?

A: I think it’s natural like we never know how long it takes a player to come in and adapt. It’s such a different league. And especially when the league he was coming from, we touched on this a lot, it’s such a different league, and so he was gonna have to adapt to that.

I’ve said this time and time again, he is a different type of DP. He’s not probably the one that everyone has seen before on most teams where they have just one thing that they’re usually really, really good at, and they can change a game that way. I think he’s got multiple facets to him, and that’s where I look at how exciting of a player he can be with pieces around him.

So whether it’s improvement of the team moving forward or just highlighting the guys that are around him, Jamal (Thiare), I think, is starting to link up well with him. Saba (Lobjanidze), Bartosz (Slisz). I think you’re seeing a little bit of it.

I think he’s still got more in them that if other players around him, and he’s got a lot of quality, and he’s got different qualities, and like, I also would venture to guess that there’s not a lot of DPs that work the way he does. He doesn’t maybe have the most, he’s not the fastest, but he works consistently throughout all the games.

Q: You seem to have come into a playing style in these past few games that’s really, really working. I would describe it almost is a counterattacking. I know that the first two goals by Jamal in the last game maybe might not have been counterattacking, but they were explosive passes. Was that by design, or is that just kind of, fortunately, how it worked out?

A: I mean, that game by design for sure. There was different aspects of that worked out. Ultimately, I feel like there’s only so much progress we could make in the team, and so you can’t go at everything. You have to try to attack certain things. So, we have tried to focus on transition moments and capitalizing on those. I can think back to Montreal game when we go down a man, and we didn’t have a shot on goal, but we created counterattacking opportunities. If we can finalize plays like this, and you can do it in from a defending standpoint, to attack like that gives you a different way to score goals. Then you can talk about set pieces and then scoring when you’re in possession. So just gives you another facet to your team.

I put a lot of emphasis on transition moments, because I think that’s the best moments to go and attack teams. They’re unbalanced, they don’t know where their structure is. So it’s a good moment to capitalize on. And it’s been an emphasis.

But with this group, I think it fits. So if it could be a different group that maybe you don’t have a pace to get in behind — Jamaal’s got a lot of pace — it could work with this group, but maybe not a different one.

Q: Circling back a little bit, are you staying on your feet, staying in the moment? Is that something you preach to your family? Are they good at that?

A: Yes and no. I think you need reminders of that all the time, the “Be where your feet are.” That actually, those words came from my wife because of what I was saying to her and talking about being in the moment. She used that to me. And I was like, “that’s a great way to put it.” Legitimately looking down at your feet. So that actually came from her to me, and now me to the team, but it is something that we talk about as a family.

Being there, it’s not always easy for them, especially because there’s so much unknown for them, but they’re not in it every day, like I get to be in it every day, and it’s doesn’t worry me like that. Whereas for them, they’re looking at that like, “What are we doing? What’s going on?” So it’s more difficult for them than it is for me.

Q: When’s the last time you weren’t where your feet are? How do you stop, snap back?

A: That’s a good question. I don’t know. I can’t, like, pinpoint an actual time, but I always go back to like, it’s stupid, but breathing, a deep breath works. Getting back in a moment, or fixating on a certain word that might get my attention again. I’m not even talking about at work. Like it could be in a game, it could be at practice, but I usually really laser focus at that point. But if I’m driving home, if I’m somewhere else, I try to get back into like a meditation-type state, like thinking about my breath work and just trying to rely on those practices.

Q: In your second stint now as an interim manager here. Now that you’ve been in this for 22 games this stint, is there anything that you think back on from your first stint to now that you’re proud of yourself that, ‘Hey, I learned a lesson from there that I’m now applying, and it’s working here?’”

A: I’m proud of our staff and what we what we are doing. I wouldn’t, not going to say I’m proud of just myself because it takes all them, like adding a guy like Carl (Robinson). That has been massively helpful. And it was something that I would have loved to do the last time, but I knew what the situation was before. Being able to add someone like him has been really helpful. I just use him because he’s got ... more experience than what I had, so now he can bring a scenario that no one else can touch on in that room. So he helps us in all these different ways.

But other than that, like I’ve relied on just consistency, and honestly, there will be people that, and this goes for players or outside people that like what we’re doing or don’t like it, but I, as a coach, I’m going to try the best I can and with everything I got, and just stay consistent, honest with everything else.

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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