Our very own J. Sam Jones has done a great job this week, both for MLSsoccer.com and The Striker, ahead of the latest installment of the strangest ‘rivalry’ in MLS: Atlanta United versus the New York Red Bulls.
“Rivalry” is in air quotes because it really isn’t. Half a decade ago, when they both competed at the top of the Eastern Conference, there was legitimate bad blood between these two teams, but they’ve both fallen down a notch since then (RBNY still does the Audi MLS Cup playoffs every year, but that’s it es it) or another (Atlanta was something of a tire burn from 2020-2022 and is just coming out of it).
And what makes it weird is that 1) Atlanta literally never beat the Red Bulls in the regular MLS season and 2) everyone still remembers the one time Atlanta actually beat the Red Bulls – in the first leg of the finals of the 2018 Eastern Conference – because that was the only time RBNY decided not to press the Five Stripes, ending RBNY’s best season ever.
Literally every other time these two teams have met, RBNY has been doing Red Bull stuff and Atlanta trying to play it through, and it’s just Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner stuff at this point. In other words, these two teams have left a deep mark on each other.
Cue Sam’s very simple, very rational question to Atlanta head coach Gonzalo Pineda this week:
“Amer [Sejdic] said the goal was to play a bit through the Red Bulls’ press. Honestly, ‘why?’ is my question there It’s just… it never worked.”
Now, after Atlanta’s 1-0 win on Saturday, Pineda can claim that is the case. The hosts occasionally played through RBNY’s press – particularly in the second half – and while they didn’t always generate the kind of pace and control Pineda wanted in answer to Sam’s question, they limited their own mistakes, they did. They didn’t give up many set pieces, and they weren’t shaken by RBNY players pushing through the ball like Atlanta teams have historically.
Want to see how that looked best? Here are three minutes from the end of the second half where the Five Stripes knew exactly when to stretch into the channels, exactly when to find Thiago Almada in the pockets, and exactly how to force RBNY to cover touchline to touchline ( and thus limit the quantity). Pressure they could put on the centre-backs):
That wasn’t the only sequence where Atlanta nearly ended the game. Minutes earlier Red Bull had made it more of a head tennis match in central midfield – they live 50/50 in midfield so that’s all part of the plan. But look who comes out on top in this case:
Those missed opportunities didn’t return to haunt the Five Stripes that day. And over the long term to show the ability to keep doing stuff like that against what’s still the best and most powerful team in the league… I don’t know. Maybe it doesn’t mean anything, and maybe the next time Atlanta meets an energy drink football team, they’ll fall into the exact same pitfalls they’ve always found
But I do not think so. I think the monkey might actually fall off them now.
“The players showed who they are today. A team that always wants to play, that shows a lot of courage to play under pressure,” said Pineda in the aftermath. “I just told them 1-0 and my goalie dribbles a player in our own six-yard box. I don’t always like that, but the message is very good. We always want to play.”
As for the visitors, they have only one win and four goals in six games. The 4-2-2-2 has already been scrapped and brought back in the second half. New DP striker Dante Vanzeir has only played 120 minutes and scored just one shot on goal. And Carlos Coronel has yet to rediscover his elite stretch run form of 2021.
I don’t think now is the time to panic. But they are 12th in the East and some concerns are not unfounded.
Make it two weeks in a row now that the Rapids teams that led the Western Conference last year have far surpassed and come away with a believable tie. Last week it was a 1-1 in Austin; this week saw a 0-0 home draw against LAFC, with the hosts generating more possession, more shots, more shots on target and more xG than the still undefeated Black & Gold.
Key to the back-to-back points (which got Colorado out of a 0W-3L-1D swoop earlier in the season) was a switch to a 3-4-2-1, a formation that can morph fairly easily into a 5- 4-1 when things get tricky. Head coach Robin Fraser has always had that in his pocket – he had to lean heavily on that last year – so it makes sense that it’s going back to the old reserve with center fielder Jack Price, who is done for the year with a torn Achilles tendon.
The advantage of this formation is multiple, but let’s focus on two aspects of it:
Firstly, the game will play more to Colorado central defenders than central midfield.
“The characteristics of the three players currently playing the positions for us are a bit different, but it gives us different things in different parts of the field or at different stages of the game. Basically, Danny (Wilson)’s passing has long been an important part of this team and Lala’s (Abubakars) tenacity has long been an important part of this team,” explained head coach Robin Fraser afterwards after singing the praises of newcomer Andreas Maxsø. “And I think when you look at the three of them, how well they play together, it’s really about three good players learning to play together, having a good understanding of themselves and what’s asked of the team then they can transmit this information throughout the group.”
The second part is that having three centre-backs and two full-backs makes it easier for you to defend across the field against teams with dynamic wingers. And of course, even before day one, LAFC is all about their dynamic wingers.
But even that isn’t enough when you let opposing midfield set terms, and Colorado refused to let the LAFC triumvirate do so.
This is Ilie Sánchez’s passport card, courtesy of Opta – green is complete, red is incomplete. And that’s a lot fewer touches and a lot more sideways and back passes than usual from the guy who’s arguably LAFC’s most important player. If he doesn’t gain momentum, the champions probably won’t look like the champions.
“We’ve talked so much about dealing with pivots, who are the guys who can get on the ball and turn and make the play,” right-back Keegan Rosenberry said. “[Ilie] is such an important player to them and our ability to limit the time he has on the ball and the time he can look ahead and choose passes to their most dangerous players behind us. Even with a concept as small as this, the defense starts with the guys at the front and I think they did a really good job and certainly kept a complete team clean sheet.”
The Rapids are still winless this season, only scored two goals all year and remain bottom of the West, so I’m not going to put them in the playoffs or anything. But they’ve taken a few steps in the past few weeks, and we’ve seen Fraser turn that kind of incremental improvement into something more substantial in the past.
12. FC Cincinnati is undefeated and at the top of the Eastern Conference after Saturday’s 1-0 home win over Miami – the only goal came when Yerson Mosquera headed home an Álvaro Barreal inswinger – but head coach Pat Noonan isn’t too happy with his team’s play .
The ability to get results when you’re not doing your best remains the hallmark of teams fighting for trophies. But we’re almost 20% into the season and the Garys have yet to put in an attacking performance that looks anything like the second half of 2022.
11. Same goes for Philly, who have now picked up just one point from their last nine after a goalless home draw against a Sporting KC side who hadn’t kept a clean sheet against anyone.
Sporting did a good job of confining Union to set pieces and not giving them breakaways in the transition phase. And so far this year, if the Union doesn’t do any of those things, they won’t score.
Good news for both teams on the injury front: Andre Blake returned for Philly while Alan Pulido came on for Sporting.
10. Carles Gil rejoined the XI, went 90 and scored New England’s only goal in a fairly contained and tactical 1-1 draw against NYCFC at Foxborough. Be sure to watch Instant Replay to check out Bruce Arena’s thoughts on a Pigeons VAR own goal that would have made it 2-0 (and probably ended it).
Talles Magno scored NYCFC’s only goal, rising and heading home from a set piece. More interesting than that, however, is the fact that he spent most of that game on the left wing rather than as a false 9.
A note: Thiago Andrade was not in the squad of pigeons on the match day. Nick Cushing was asked why after the game – twice – and dodged the question both times.
9th RSL could not avoid anything the crew threw them on in Ohio on Saturday night, when a fairly experimental Claret-and-Cobalt XI was dead buried. The final was 4-0 and it didn’t feel that close because that was the level of defensive pressure RSL was able to get to the ball as the crew smashed it around:
Yes, I give Lucas Zelarayán our pass of the week for this heel break right in Aidan Morris’ crotch.
Columbus is cooking, now with 10 goals in the last two weeks. They face another struggling team next time they travel to DC United.
8. Yes, DC has problems. This tweet from their goalless tie in Chicago pretty much sums it up:
A road point isn’t a bad result in and of itself, but United are 13th in the East and haven’t won since February.
The Fire are now three games unbeaten and probably should have taken the full number of points from that game, but what would have been a second straight winner in Kei Kamara’s injury time was thwarted by a spectacular save from Tyler Miller in the 91st minute .
7. Orlando City is in the same boat like the Red Bulls: It’s not panic time yet, but I think it’s fair to be a little worried about this strikeless attack – they’ve only scored five goals in six games.
While RBNY is all about not converting his pressing into clear chances, Orlando feels like too many of his attackers are touching the ball. No matter who they’re playing against, they always seem to slow down their own sequences, giving the muddled defense time to recover.
Against a team as good at coming in groups of four as Nashville, that’s death. And so the Lions died over the course of 90 minutes as first Fafà Picault and then Hany Mukhtar came into the room and met the break to make it 2-0.
6. I’ve spent a lot of time on this this year Writing about how the complexities of Christian Lattanzio’s 4-3-3 morphing into a 3-2-2-3, with the left-back underlapping to become an ad hoc second central midfielder in possession seemed his to overwhelm the Charlotte FC team. So it’s only fair that I show you a clip of exactly what it’s supposed to look like when it works:
Harrison Afful moved into central midfield and joined Kerwin Vargas to equalize through Kamil Jozwiak (yes folks, Kamil Jozwiak scored!). DeAndre Kerr did the right thing by taking easy distribution from Derrick Jones, but Federico Bernardeschi just wasn’t at all interested in pursuing Afful from the flank into central midfield.
It was a good thing from the Crown, who absolutely deserved their point in the 2-2 draw after going 2-0.
TFC, for what it’s worth, is unbeaten in five games. But I don’t think anyone celebrates after this one.
5. The Timbers took advantage the #TacticsFreeZone to level new signing Franck Boli late in the 92nd minute in Saturday night’s 1-1 draw in Frisco. I was surprised Aljaz Ivacic was in goal for Portland after the dramatic press abuse last weekend, but there he was.
Dallas’ inability to turn near dominance into clear chances and a multi-goal lead in most facets of the game was very, very reminiscent of last season’s summer misery. The difference right now is that they could turn back after plays like that and throw a shutout next time in 2022. So far in 2023, they haven’t kept a zero in six games.
4. Minnesota had retained a zero On Saturday in St. Louis they went unbeaten – back then on opening day against Dallas – and they picked up another one and eventually spoiled the new children’s party with a 1-0 win by Luis Amarilla PK in the 78th minute at City Park .
The game went as we all expected: the Loons defended deep, kept the game in front of them, were picky when it came to breaks, and even pickier when it came to gaining possession (although they definitely had some spells, like start of second half). And consistently, they managed to avoid the kinds of self-inflicted scares that have powered St. Louis from Day One.
“It’s not luck,” said head coach Adrian Heath afterwards. “We’re better than people think.”
And hey, if you’re 3W-0L-2D, fourth in the West with just three goals conceded all season, despite missing your No. 10 star — the guy this whole thing is built around — you’re entitled to one little bit to crow. This team has faced real adversity and Heath bought in.
Bradley Carnell has also evidently bought in, although that loss is the first moment that can be remotely viewed as “adversity”.
For what it’s worth, I think this is the right message for the guys in the dressing room from goalkeeper Roman Bürki:
“We didn’t have the energy that we usually have,” Burki said. “I would say everyone was missing a bit, including me and everyone. It wasn’t enough. … To be honest, when you’re 5-and-0, it’s hard to just keep going and have the same level of energy on the field every day. We did our best to keep it that way, but at the end of the day it wasn’t enough. We must fight back.
“Now everyone is back on the ground, if we weren’t before. We have to bring the same energy, we have to be aware that it only works if we give 100 percent, not only qualitatively or mentally, but also energetically.”
3. Even before Rudy Camacho earned it Red card 23 minutes Vancouver were visiting CF Montréal but things quickly got out of hand as the visitors went down to 10. The 5-0 final and this shot chart don’t tell stories, they tell the truth:
That’s a paddle, and that’s Vancouver’s first win of the season after two losses, followed by three straight draws.
“The difference between today and the other games is that we scored the goals,” Vancouver head coach Vanni Sartini said afterwards, and while it sounds a bit odd and reductive, he’s not wrong. His ‘Caps had really good streaks – between 30 and 70 minutes – in each of their five games, but were bitten by a snake outside goal.
That has obviously changed a lot. Young Simon Becher, the sophomore who fielded 2g/1a in his first start and has now scored in each of his four first-team appearances (5g/1a in 132 minutes) was key to bringing Brian tee off White up on the first and then Wondo-style Boxing Instinct on the second and fifth.
He and White seemed to have some pretty incredible chemistry in the 4-3-1-2, which was a change from the usual 4-3-2-1. I’ll be surprised if we don’t see more of this in the coming weeks.
Montréal lost four of its top five players from last year’s team and possibly the league’s best coach. And they look like this.
2. San Jose looks like a determined side to put the recent past behind them by earning their third win of the season by beating Houston 2-1 on Saturday night. All three goals came from PKs.
It’s early days, but the underlying metrics pretty much like the Quakes (and judging by the eye test, so do I – they’ve played well in five of their six games so far). Their better ball security and passing through central midfield gets the full-backs – mainly Carlos Akapo and Paul Marie – on the ball in good places and these guys give the attackers a hell of a platform to work from.
This attack doesn’t really click yet, but the pieces seem like they’re coming together.
Same goes for Houston, by the way, although I’d say they’re a few more senior chunks away than the Quakes.
1. And finally, LA Galaxy coach Greg Vanney was unhappy with some of the officials following his team’s 2-1 home loss to the Sounders. He gave us our face of the week in post-game press:
There were two big notes to take away from this one (one for each team):
– Even with Raúl Ruidíaz’s return, Brian Schmetzer kept Jordan Morris in the center and Léo Chú on the left wing, and lo and behold Chú assisted Morris (again) on the first goal and then scored on the second goal himself.
Chú on the left solves the “how do we get width on this side?” problem Seattle has been staring at earlier this season and Morris leads the MLS Golden Boot presented by Audi Race. Ruidíaz is a legend but I’m not sure if Schmetzer can change that starting line-up at the moment.
– LA went 3-5-2 in the second half and were just way better than the Sounders. Granted, some of that had to do with Seattle taking their foot off the gas when they were 2-0, but a big, big part of it has to do with the Galaxy staff being much better suited to a 3-5-2 is as for a 3-5-2 the 4-3-3 Vanney was dying to play.
That’s it man. That performance must be the breaking point for his intransigence.