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| But, if Atlanta keeps handing out giant checks... |
It pains me to lead with this, but I don’t think I’ve spent a full, uninterrupted 90 minutes looking at Atlanta United FC this season. I have, however, kept an eye on their doings, heard some stuff about Josef Martinez not looking like himself before he checked out for six weeks to get some free-floating bone out of his body and recovery from the surgery. I’ve floated the idea that they got “their mojo” back in a Week 3 recap I regret and/or still think I’m paying for in lost interest and, despite arguing they mostly survived their home draw to Club du Foot Montreal in my Week 4 recap, and, against the general tenor of what little commentary I read, I still suspect that Atlanta will be playoff competitive in 2022…
…yes, even after losing to Charlotte just last week. And yet I still end at the same thought: if Atlanta isn’t the most inscrutable team in MLS’s young 2022 season, they aren’t far off. Games that look like accomplishments - e.g., their confident win over Sporting Kansas City in Week 1, or even Week 5’s road win at DC United - look different in context (e.g., SKC’s slow start and just…DC in 2022). They’re better at home - seven points from nine on offer - but they still don’t present as a GOOD team, not according to their early record. Had they won at Charlotte - and, yeah, losing on an olimpico is the soccer equivalent of getting real money off a scratch-it, but they also failed to score themselves - sticking with the whole “mojo” theory wouldn’t feel like such a stretch. But they did lose…
As such, FC Cincinnati will walk into a minor mystery Saturday afternoon (evening, Eastern Standard, right around dinner time). By one of the broadest measures available - goals scored and allowed - Atlanta comes in on the right side of middling in the attack (nine goals scored) and the wrong side of the same in defense (again, nine goals), but the word “middling” does the most work in that thought. Moreover, and as much as the condensed game of the Montreal game made me question the defense, that’s a respectable home record. More to the point, I wouldn’t expect any neutral observer to look to FC Cincy to put a dent in that adjective…
…but it wouldn’t surprise me to see them steal this one. And let me make one thing perfectly clear before continuing: I’ll feel all right about anything better than Cincy losing in a blow-out, aka, the psychological benefits of playing as the underdog. Every win is a tablespoon of gravy, in my mind, and a road draw isn’t much different - especially when punching up nails a (for now) proximate rival.
To turn to FC Cincinnati, I don’t see any, to borrow a popular phrase, clear and obvious reason to go away from the line-up that lost narrowly to/choked against Montreal. Tinker at the edges maybe - e.g., I wouldn’t be opposed to starting Haris Medunjanin with Junior Moreno (at least until the new guy, Obinna Nwobodo, shows up), or even edging toward reckless/pointless by trying Alvaro Barreal or Isaac Atanga as the fullbacks (even saw one dude float playing Yuya Kubo as a wingback), and I’m good with the 3-4-1-2 and/or 5-3-2, or 3-5-2 that Pat Noonan has (generally) rolled with so far. I just want a solid, predictable shape, Luciano Acosta working under Brandon Vazquez and Dominique Badji (or, fuck it, get weird with Badji, play Acosta as a baby forward), with a semi-reliable assist from either full/wingback position, and in an attack that doesn’t have to think too much about defending. All that said, I totally expect to see something close enough to the line-up against Montreal, and to the point where the details barely matter. And I’m fine with that too.
I’d go so far as to say that I’d like to see Cincy play that same system, just so I can get the best possible apples-to-apples comparison, something to give me a clearer bead as to whether Noonan can put Plan A back together again. If he goes to Plan B, he goes to Plan B. So long as it works, why would I care? Why wouldn't I celebrate it? Moreover, I appreciate Noonan doesn’t have the luxury to hypothesize sans consequence that I do, but I’ve seen enough of his system to have some faith in it. Some faith.
The one thing I want most of all from FC Cincinnati on Saturday (I won’t get to it till Sunday morning, for the record), is a good, defensive performance. That is, I want to see nothing like the flaming wreckage that I’ll never unsee in that choking loss to Montreal (like cars flying off cliffs in the 70s, I tell you!). Happily, I think Cincinnati has moved past the either/or dilemma that has haunted their time in MLS - e.g., either attack or defend - but I’d still…prefer to see Noonan organize his team and tactics to keep out goals. Get any goals you can - and things look better on that side than they have in Cincy’s time in MLS* - but play for one point before you go fishing for three.
(* Did the math: The Orange & Blue averaged 1.09 goals/game in 2021, 0.91 goals/game in 2019 and…this can’t be right, 0.52 goals/game in 2020(?!). Jesus Christ. At any rate, they’re playing at 1.33 goals/game so far in 2022.)
…yes, even after losing to Charlotte just last week. And yet I still end at the same thought: if Atlanta isn’t the most inscrutable team in MLS’s young 2022 season, they aren’t far off. Games that look like accomplishments - e.g., their confident win over Sporting Kansas City in Week 1, or even Week 5’s road win at DC United - look different in context (e.g., SKC’s slow start and just…DC in 2022). They’re better at home - seven points from nine on offer - but they still don’t present as a GOOD team, not according to their early record. Had they won at Charlotte - and, yeah, losing on an olimpico is the soccer equivalent of getting real money off a scratch-it, but they also failed to score themselves - sticking with the whole “mojo” theory wouldn’t feel like such a stretch. But they did lose…
As such, FC Cincinnati will walk into a minor mystery Saturday afternoon (evening, Eastern Standard, right around dinner time). By one of the broadest measures available - goals scored and allowed - Atlanta comes in on the right side of middling in the attack (nine goals scored) and the wrong side of the same in defense (again, nine goals), but the word “middling” does the most work in that thought. Moreover, and as much as the condensed game of the Montreal game made me question the defense, that’s a respectable home record. More to the point, I wouldn’t expect any neutral observer to look to FC Cincy to put a dent in that adjective…
…but it wouldn’t surprise me to see them steal this one. And let me make one thing perfectly clear before continuing: I’ll feel all right about anything better than Cincy losing in a blow-out, aka, the psychological benefits of playing as the underdog. Every win is a tablespoon of gravy, in my mind, and a road draw isn’t much different - especially when punching up nails a (for now) proximate rival.
To turn to FC Cincinnati, I don’t see any, to borrow a popular phrase, clear and obvious reason to go away from the line-up that lost narrowly to/choked against Montreal. Tinker at the edges maybe - e.g., I wouldn’t be opposed to starting Haris Medunjanin with Junior Moreno (at least until the new guy, Obinna Nwobodo, shows up), or even edging toward reckless/pointless by trying Alvaro Barreal or Isaac Atanga as the fullbacks (even saw one dude float playing Yuya Kubo as a wingback), and I’m good with the 3-4-1-2 and/or 5-3-2, or 3-5-2 that Pat Noonan has (generally) rolled with so far. I just want a solid, predictable shape, Luciano Acosta working under Brandon Vazquez and Dominique Badji (or, fuck it, get weird with Badji, play Acosta as a baby forward), with a semi-reliable assist from either full/wingback position, and in an attack that doesn’t have to think too much about defending. All that said, I totally expect to see something close enough to the line-up against Montreal, and to the point where the details barely matter. And I’m fine with that too.
I’d go so far as to say that I’d like to see Cincy play that same system, just so I can get the best possible apples-to-apples comparison, something to give me a clearer bead as to whether Noonan can put Plan A back together again. If he goes to Plan B, he goes to Plan B. So long as it works, why would I care? Why wouldn't I celebrate it? Moreover, I appreciate Noonan doesn’t have the luxury to hypothesize sans consequence that I do, but I’ve seen enough of his system to have some faith in it. Some faith.
The one thing I want most of all from FC Cincinnati on Saturday (I won’t get to it till Sunday morning, for the record), is a good, defensive performance. That is, I want to see nothing like the flaming wreckage that I’ll never unsee in that choking loss to Montreal (like cars flying off cliffs in the 70s, I tell you!). Happily, I think Cincinnati has moved past the either/or dilemma that has haunted their time in MLS - e.g., either attack or defend - but I’d still…prefer to see Noonan organize his team and tactics to keep out goals. Get any goals you can - and things look better on that side than they have in Cincy’s time in MLS* - but play for one point before you go fishing for three.
(* Did the math: The Orange & Blue averaged 1.09 goals/game in 2021, 0.91 goals/game in 2019 and…this can’t be right, 0.52 goals/game in 2020(?!). Jesus Christ. At any rate, they’re playing at 1.33 goals/game so far in 2022.)
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