Atlanta United traveled to Charlotte on Sunday and ended up losing 1-0 to Olympique, which is more than an embodiment of the luck that Five Stripes have suffered this week. It’s always been a chore away and trying to cash in decent Charlotte points with a great coach, but getting rid of injuries and frustrating the football gods was a bit overkill. With that said, this match has clearly upset the fan base and divided many people (more than usual). There were definitely bugs and things to work on across the field, but there were some glimmers of hope as well, and the second half consisted of an Atlanta side who were clearly better, but couldn’t open the door. They beat her on him for about 45 minutes.
Regardless of the outcome, Gonzalo Pineda, Brooks Lennon and Brad Guzan went to the microphone in the post-match press conference to give their thoughts on how the match would go. The Almada/Moreno connection was mentioned, as was Lennon’s desire to step forward as a leader during these injuries. Guzan also addressed the elephant in the room that includes the Olimpico, which will surely be the back of many of Charlotte’s digs for some time. But without further ado, here are all the things that were said after the match. Be sure to check out below, as we’d love for you to dive into the comments with your thoughts on this one.
On the difficulties faced by the crime
“We have to give them credit, they played well. Charlotte is a good team. They like to play from behind, they like to have good possession. We couldn’t find those opportunities to go behind, which was part of our plan. We tried to get Marcelino. [Moreno] and thiago [Almada] In good areas to provide balls to the attackers. Among these attackers are Andrew Guttman and Brooks Lennon. For many different reasons, especially the first half, we were unable to do this. In the first 20-30 minutes, it seemed like we couldn’t really find those spaces, so that was a battle. In the second half, I think we did a very good job at that. Trying to be better in front, better possession, trying to play more passes. For me too, we created better opportunities out of them. The crosses may not have been there, but we created very good chances. We could have scored some goals, and the story of the game might have been different. Happy with some parts of our game. I think once we start finding Thiago and Marcelino in good areas, we get creative and start to be late for something. But yeah, that’s something we need to improve, run behind us and try to stretch the back line.
About how Charlotte made finding space difficult
“I think they overload the middle. I saw what it looked like. They have four midfielders, very energetic and energetic midfielders which makes it difficult for our defenses to find those gaps. It’s not like it’s an easy game. We knew there were challenges. We knew we needed To a little more patience in our crowd, so we can really unbalance them. I think in the moments we did that, we worked here. But the moments where we were very direct, we tried to push the balls into the difficult areas and they were very good at pressing those half spaces. Which we want to conquer. That was the first half. The second half, I think it was a little different, but maybe it wasn’t enough in the end.”
On Ronaldo Cisneros’ debut with Atlanta United
“I felt it was very positive. You look a little bit at his speed and his willingness to do things at the back, to run back. He’s smart. He’s good at pressing. But as a striker, he needs to score. That’s how we can measure Ronaldo, but these stages Too early for him. He just arrived four or five days ago. He’s just blending into the team. But I think he’s doing the right things to integrate right into the team. I think he’s got good skills, I’ve seen a little bit of speed he has. The strength he has in those arenas. We couldn’t really get to those crosses, where he could shine a bit more. But I think she’s a very good addition to our team.”
On how he thinks the three defensive players have succeeded
“I think we weren’t bad defensively. I thought many of the chances they created came from giving us the ball away. Maybe that’s how I evaluated the defenders. Maybe we weren’t consistent enough to find the right passes, but defensively, I don’t think they were. They created enough chances from the playing track that at no point really balanced us. We weren’t solid in this part of the field. They did a good job. They had two very difficult strikers, Reus and Wiederski, it’s not easy. But I think overall they did a good job. We just need to improve our passing and play the building.”
About the play Thiago Almada, and how he merged with Marcelino Moreno
“I think he was very good. I think in Thiago you can see a little bit of that creativity he has on the ball. When he starts to make contact with Marcelino, they move the ball faster down the field. I think it’s a good balance because Marcelino is probably a better dribbler, A man who can compete with others and attract people and train.But Thiago is more than a bond.So I think it’s a very good balance there.I think they were very good,both.Offensive and defensive.Maybe they just need a little more running back to help them,once you break these lines, try to help them. I thought they were very good, very strong game.”
About what happened to Charlotte’s goal
“They took it well. I got caught in the wind. I got stuck on my front foot and went into the top corner. The way we defend corners makes sense. It’s no surprise teams put the goalkeeper in and turn him. I got stuck in the wind and took off and sailed to the top corner.”
About the challenges presented by Charlotte
“We changed the formations a little bit, in terms of how they wanted to press with two strikers. We’re going to three at the back, we play as a wing-back. They do a very good job pressing the ball on one side of the field and our job as a group is to try to play from the side. The other and attacking at a fast pace. Too often we got caught where our first ball probably didn’t break enough lines and didn’t make it go from one side of the court to the other side of the court. As usual, we’ll be back. We’ll review the tape as a group and talk about it and see how we can improve for the week next”.
About the way Ronaldo thought Cisneros
“He just arrived, so we try to get him to comfortably understand what we’re asking of our attackers, and the players around him. What they like and what he likes. It’s still early, but that’s what you just want. The one who’s going to put his body on the line, running around and chasing balls, is annoying. A bit. He definitely did that for us today. I think he’ll grow the more time he gets to spend with the group.”
On the difficulties the full-back faced in the first half
“I thought they did a really good job, in terms of when the ball came out wide for me or Andrew [Gutman]They were able to compress that space and not let us go out as easily as we did in the second half. They were very good at turning, at crowding one side and not letting us play forward and create offensive plays. We managed to get past that in the second half and created chances. But it’s very frustrating in the first half, as we couldn’t go as far as we’d like.”
On Charlotte pressing the midfield and the wings
“They matched really well. They had good tactics today, especially in the first half. We changed our approach in the second half and I thought that would give Andrew and me a little more room to go attacking wisely. Kind of a frustrating game in general. I thought we beat them in the half. The second. We created chances and had chances to score. I think this is a match you have to look at and think it could have been a draw, but it wasn’t. We have to move on to Saturday.”
If he’s trying to be more of a leader in the locker room
“Of course. You see a lot of guys coming down this week, unfortunately. This is the world of professional sports. It’s kind of a ‘next guy’ mentality and ever since I came to Atlanta United I’ve been proud to be one of the leaders in the locker room. Now is my chance to step up, And to be an honest captain and maybe help a guy who fills a role gain confidence and know he’s at Atlanta United for a reason.”
I usually don’t add this at the end of the quotes article, but I’m really curious about everyone’s thoughts on the match as a whole, the team as it is, Pineda’s training so far, overreacting just because she’s Charlotte, etc. . Audio below, there is always good discussion here and I think it would be helpful to direct these thoughts after 24 hours to a place where supporters can talk about their feelings.
