CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Atlanta United manager Ronny Deila said there were positives during Saturday’s preseason-opening 2-1 loss at Chattanooga.

He liked the play of the younger players. He liked the actions inside the opponent’s 18 yards. Though the hosts scored two goals, Deila liked that they created just three scoring chances.

“In the end, we lost because of details,” he said.

More about the positives:

The crosses. Deila liked the attacking threats created, one of which resulted in Ronan Wynne’s goal that gave Atlanta United a 1-0 lead.

“We need to get more out of — we had a big chance in the end there with Edwin (Mosquera) — but if you create a lot of opportunities inside the 18 … then it’s about timing in the last third. So that was good, but we need to do it more often.”

Scoring from a set piece. Wynne’s goal came from a corner kick taken by Saba Lobjanidze. It was at least the fourth good opportunity Atlanta United created from a corner kick or free kick in the game. Deila said if Atlanta United can succeed in set pieces more than it did last season, it will help it move up the standings.

Young or new players. Deila said he liked homegrown Luke Brennan’s play in the first half because he created some scoring chances. Cayman Togashi, signed in the offseason, worked hard and Deila said he likes the way that he understands the game. Midfielder Mateusz Klich, acquired in a trade with D.C. United, was calm on the ball. Homegrowns Noah Cobb and fullbacks Dominik Chong Qui and Matthew Edwards, who were three-fourths of the back four in the first half, also performed well. Now, they just more minutes with stakes.

“Here you play with pressure all the time, and that’s what they need in this kind of situation,” Deila said.

More about the negatives:

Passing backward. Deila wasn’t a fan of the number of times that an Atlanta United player passed the ball backward. It’s something he said he didn’t want to see when he took the job. During Saturday’s match, Deila said passing backward happened so frequently that he became bored.

“But at the same time, it’s a start,” he said. “I’ve also seen in training. I’ve seen it from last year. So we need to work on forward, breaking lines, playing forward.”

Giving up two late goals. Deila said Atlanta United should have killed the game after Wynne’s goal. Instead, it gave up two goals. One from a misunderstanding while defending a long back. The other from poor defending of a set piece.

Not attacking up the middle. Deila said he’d like to see the team try to attack up the middle more so that Alexey Miranchuk or Klich can get on the ball more. Deila said he would have also liked to see more switches of play of the ball from one side of the field to another.

“Just after getting ahead that I hope we meet them (Chattanooga) one more year on, one year and one year and then we see if we are going to have a different performance,” he said. “So it’s a start.