Atlanta United FC Scouting Report: Dueling Works in Progress

Tough bunch to impress, too.

Week 5 feels as good a week as any for FC Cincinnati to get back on the right side of the results ledger. More to the point, starting 2025 with three straight losses on the road will hurt prospects and reputation…so, let’s not do that, yes? Let’s get into it.

Atlanta United FC
1-2-1, 4 pts., 4 gf, 6 ga (-2); home 1-1-1, away 0-1-0
Last Results: WLDL
Strength/Location of Schedule
v MTL (3-2 W); @ CLT (0-2 L); v RBNY (0-0 D), v MIA (1-2 L);

Broad Strokes
The furious, hydra-headed attack that MLS Wrap Up’s hype merchants tried to sell after Week 1 hasn’t survived opposition stiffer than Club du Foot Montreal. Then again, goals do tend to dry up against strong defensive teams – e.g., Charlotte FC and Red Bull New York (Inter Miami CF ain’t bad either) – so it’ll be interesting to see how FC Cincinnati holds up against what Atlanta throws at them. Because I’d already watched Atlanta’s one road game of 2025 (at Charlotte, bit of a blur by now), I split 90 minutes between their two most recent games, both played in Atlanta. They approached each team differently – i.e., they ran at the Red Bulls in waves reckless enough to make a World War I general say “goddamn!” versus a more measured, even tentative posture versus Miami – but I can’t say whether new head coach Ronny Deila’s adjustments followed from a general change in plan, or just fear of getting countered to death by Miami. The latter strikes me as plausible enough that I wonder whether Atlanta won’t go closer to broke versus Cincinnati. If they do go that route, Cincy will need their heads and swivels and their boots strapped right, because the Five Stripes can kick up a frenzy.

Personnel
Brad Guzan will start in goal (until the seas consume us, maybe even after), so let’s look at the rest of Atlanta’s likely line-up. Even if he tweaked the formation last week, Deila has called most of the same numbers so far: a back four with Pedro Amador at left back (know jack about him, fwiw), Derrick Williams and Stian Gregersen as (slightly shaky) center backs, and, after a couple of starts for Matthew Edwards, I expect to see Brooks Lennon at right back; because I think last Sunday’s 4-2-3-1 makes most sense from what I know of the players, I see Bartosz Slisz and Tristan Muyumba as “the 2,” Saba Lobjanidze, Aleksey Miranchuk, and Miguel Almiron stretched left to right across “the 3,” and big, new signing (or new, big signing) Emmanuel Latte Lath running wild, free and alone up top. (It could, on the other hand, look like this 4-3-3.)

Like a lot of teams in mid-2020s MLS, Atlanta defends from the front line, sometimes aggressively – though, again, this happened more against the Red Bulls than Miami – and the shape of that high defensive line was interesting: a 2-2-2 hexagon, with the players wider in that middle line. Whatever it looked like, it in pinned the visitors into their own half over the opening 30 minutes, something that continued even after I fast-forwarded to the 70th minute. Atlanta's collective legs did peter out by the end, with the line of confrontation receding and players slower to commence the chasing. The gently-constipated passing from New Jersey’s finest probably contributed to both the tactical choice and its success, but fair play to Atlanta because they can really get a hold of a game for as long they can dictate the terms. They seem to advance the ball through Almiron – who, apart from being a quality passer, can dribble out of the back a la Darlington Nagbe – but Slisz and Muyumba (but especially Muyumba) have their own tricks for getting their heads turned the right way when they get on the ball. All that creates forward momentum and that a talent allows Atlanta to spend a truly impressive amount of time on the edge of a breakthrough. Sadly, the sum of it has yet to produce much in terms of goals (i.e., just one goal in three games since they ran up the score versus Montreal) and results. Even with Almiron having your defense falling back at a sprint or Saba tirelessly (seriously, the man has a Kenyan marathoner's endurance) tormenting your local team’s right back, Atlanta presents as a work-in-progress. Lath looks fine (especially if you let Lennon do this), without looking dialed in and, even as I saw Miranchuk serve a flawless cross in the run of play, he seems caught in two minds more often.

As for the defense, I’ve heard and read people call the defense as a weak spot and I’m still a bit agnostic on that. One vague impression I caught: the intensity of Atlanta’s defending seems to fall off as the ball gets closer to their goal, as if defending passively makes them uncomfortable; probably related, I have my doubts about every player involved in Atlanta’s defensive scheme. I get a kick out of Muyumba every time I see him play (dude is fun), but he also looks more like an attacking No. 8 than anything like a No. 6. Get on the front foot against them, in other words, and I think a team can push them around…which brings me to…

If Miazga and Robinson can't go...maybe?

What Does Cincy Do About All of That?
Treat it as the early-season equivalent of a must-win for starters; as noted above, a loss will see the patterns align in all the wrong ways.. A full week’s rest and some time to shake out any bad memories from the unwelcome CCC exit should help with that, of course, though I have heard talk of worrying absences (e.g., something about Teenage Hadebe and a hamstring?), particularly with Gilberto Flores suspended. So long as either Miles Robinson or Matt Miazga (getting closer, right?) can show up, they can throw Alvas Powell in there and…probably do all right. On the attacking side, man, what I’d give for a better sense of how to tweak the line up. Maybe try Corey Baird over Yuya Kubo? Has Pat Noonan fully internalized the fact that his new No. 10 (Evander) likes to play as a No. 8? If so, how does he arrange the pieces around that reality? Would starting Obinna Nwobodo and Pavel Bucha at “the 2” in a 4-2-3-1 encourage Evander to stay higher? How do people feel about the (alleged) 5-3-2 formations that Noonan tried versus Toronto FC and at the Philadelphia Union (if disastrously)? I feel like the latter will give Luca Orellano enough cover to where he can go nucking futs in the attack, which free up some space for Evander to get to work. I’m just spit-ballin’, clearly, but the main thing I don’t like is the idea of Cincinnati trying to beat Atlanta in a free-for-all. Unless the defense is thin, at which point Cincy should throw everything from caution to underwear to wind and just battle.

(Relevant) Notes (or Impressions) from the Rest of the East
Week 4 looked weird, if at a glance (all the time I had, sadly), but the things I’m most curious about are:

1) Nashville SC and Chicago Fire FC coming anything like online, because any success they have amounts to more clutter between Cincinnati and the top of the East and/or a clean kick at Miami’s ass; and

2) Whatever the hell is going on with Orlando. They’re tied for the highest goals allowed with Toronto, but there’s no mystery about why Toronto are where they are. I’d have the same questions about Atlanta, but I’m about to watch them play a team I still rate pretty highly, so we’ll see how they look after that.

Until it comes and goes…