After thoughts: Atlanta United plays to 1-1 draw against Nashville SC

Nothing got worse! Probably!

via Atlanta United

---

No post-game pod today because Joe is a coward and didn’t travel to Nashville. I wanted to offer a few quick thoughts though. 

The Heinze Line 

13 points. 13 games. 2024 Atlanta United has officially matched 2021 Atlanta United’s club-worst point total through 13 games. It’s the exact same mark that Gabriel Heinze reached before Atlanta United fired him. 

It’s highly unlikely that Gonzalo Pineda meets the same fate tomorrow morning. And it’s important to remember why. 

Heinze treated everyone—from players to cafeteria staff—in the club so poorly that it would have been malpractice to keep him around. We should be well aware by now that’s not the way Pineda treats others in the organization. It’s enough to provide a buffer, but it’s not all that’s keeping from being canned. 

Atlanta played another road game today that began with multiple starters missing and ended with even more starters missing. They haven’t had anything resembling a full-strength lineup since their last win: Two months ago against Chicago.

They also played another game where they didn’t allow a first-half deficit to get away from them. Obviously, you’d much rather live in a world where they didn’t have the deficit to begin with, but that’s not what we’re talking about here. Pineda (and continuity) will be the default until the team gets healthy and starts losing or the unhealthy version of the team stops showing fight. Neither of those things are happening right now. So don’t hold your breath.