Things learned in Atlanta United’s 3-2 win against Montreal

Ronny Deila wasn’t with Atlanta United last season. Brad Guzan was but didn’t want to compare Saturday’s 3-2 win against Montreal with anything that happened last season other than to say the resilience shown against Montreal was good to see.

Atlanta United twice gave up leads but pulled out the win with a goal from Edwin Mosquera in the 85th minute. Emmanuel Latte Lath scored twice. His first gave Atlanta United a 1-0 lead in the 14th minute and his second gave it a 2-1 lead in the 63rd minute. Montreal had tied the match with goals in the 47th and 71st minutes.

“…To be able to come out on top is a fantastic sign of where we’re at in terms of our mentality, in terms of our resiliency, and that part’s huge,” Guzan said.

Overcoming self-inflicted mistakes, something that resulted in Montreal’s two goals, is not something the team has handled well the past few seasons. The team was 11-3-14 in its history when tied at home in the 75th minute, including 2-1-0 last season. In all matches, the team was 17-12-36 when tied at the 75th minute.

Atlanta United got off to 3-2-1 start last season until Philadelphia rallied from two goals down, and had a third wiped away because of offside, in the seventh match. It resulted in a spiral that eventually saw Gonzalo Pineda fired. Interim manager Rob Valentino admitted later in the season that the draw “broke” the team for a while.

So, that Atlanta United kept itself together after twice giving away leads may be a positive sign for what’s next, starting in next week’s second match at Charlotte.

“It’s learning from experience, and we learned with winning and I think that’s more fun,” Deila said.

A few more things learned

Latte Lath goes and goes. Latte Lath said on Wednesday that he wasn’t sure he was fit enough to start because it had been a couple of weeks since he last played for previous club Middlesbrough. He said he didn’t feel great.

Latte Lath played 90 minutes, which even surprised him.

“Honestly, to start the game, after my first run I said ‘OK, maybe I’m going to play five minutes today’ but then after I did so I’m really happy for this,” he said.

Latte Lath finished with an expected goals of 0.82, putting all four shots on target. He created one chance, Mosquera’s winner in the 85th minute.

“He’s quick,” midfielder Mateusz Klich said. “He’s dangerous and he scores goals. That’s exactly what the team needs in a striker, and he could have scored three goals or more. Maybe four today. So, it’s good to have him there. He’s hungry. He’s electric.”

Chemistry. There were moments that it was clear that Latte Lath, Miguel Almiron, Saba Lobjanidze and Alexey Miranchuk were unfamiliar with playing alongside each other.

A pass not made when a run was made. A pass made when no run was made. But there were few signs of frustration with each other. The quartet still combined for two goals, two assists and eight chances created.

“It was really good because we had a good connection even though we didn’t play too many times together,” Latte Lath said.

The defense. The attack wasn’t the only under-construction element within the starting lineup.

Atlanta United’s backline featured three players, Ronald Hernandez, Matthew Edwards and Luis Abram, who weren’t among the presumed starters before the season. Fullback Pedro Amador is expected to resume training with the team next week. Fullback Brooks Lennon is still weeks away, President Garth Lagerwey said last week. Centerback Derrick Williams was fit enough to come on in the final minutes, which is a positive sign for next week.

All four starters shared responsibility for the first goal allowed. The second goal came from a set-piece. Montreal finished with 13 shots, including two in the final seconds that were misses from point-blank range, and an expected goals of 3.5.

Deila said the team’s defensive struggles in the second half were more about the team’s lack of patience when it had the ball. He said players were taking too many touches, which resulted in the game becoming too frantic.

“I was not as happy with it because we lost momentum in the match, lost too many balls, were not able to collect passes, and we were very, very open when attacking,” he said. “When you get too open, anything can happen, so we have to take the first half and do that period longer to be a really, really good team.”

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Atlanta United’s 2025 schedule

Feb. 22 Atlanta United 3, Montreal 2

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