Breaking down Atlanta United's nightmarish first half against Columbus

put on a hazmat suit

In a season of continuous micro-disasters, Atlanta United found a way to hit a new low in the first half of Saturday’s 5-4 loss to Columbus. Not only were the tactics borderline irresponsible, the effort level somehow didn’t match the appropriate levels for a totally meaningless end-of-year MLS game.

Let’s start here.

Can we…uhh…can we all see the potential danger? Atlanta has vacated the center of the pitch to push ball-side, Pedro Amador has pushed up from fullback and the Crew have three attackers across the width of the pitch for three Atlanta defenders at the back.

That’s the tactical story of the first half. Atlanta’s fullbacks moved up to try and deal with the Crew’s wingbacks, and Steven Alzate and Tristan Muyumba were practically man-marking. The Crew had space and numbers advantages everywhere. They also had a clear understanding of their principles of play that Atlanta simply hasn’t shown under Ronny Deila.

Then there’s the fact that these dudes simply were not up for this game. Avoidable mistakes and poor effort were hallmarks of this first half. Pair that with those tactics we talked about and, well: 5-0.

Let’s look at how each of those five goals came about.

1-0

The first goal isn’t down to tactics. Yeah, the Crew put Atlanta under pressure here. But not so much pressure that Tristan Muyumba should be misplaying this pass. When Enea Mihaj gets on the ball with a guy in his face, he panics. Jayden Hibbert does well to clean this up initially, but there’s only so much he can do here. His teammates let him down. Still, this is probably the most defensible of any of the five goals all considered.

2-0

The second goal is where we see the tactical issues come into play. You can maybe get away with a setup like the one Deila opted for if your team can go toe-to-toe with a side as good as the Crew, but…well, you know. This is a prime example of that.

With Atlanta getting numbers ball-side on the throw-in, the Crew try and relieve pressure by getting the ball up to a forward. With Stian Gregersen on his back, that forward is in a tough spot. Pay close attention to how Columbus reacts in that moment versus how Atlanta reacts in that moment.

The Crew players instantly recognize the opportunity and trust that their teammate has a decent chance to retain possession. They’re immediately willing to take risks. Two—not just one guy who can get to the ball, a free runner who knows what’s next—Crew players are sprinting forward before Atlanta can even react. You can almost hear the “Oh, ****” reaction from the Atlanta defenders from here once they realize what’s happening. At that point, it’s far too late. From there, Columbus has numbers in transition and a ton of quality.

3-0

On the third goal, Atlanta actually keeps its shape more effectively. The Crew still find ways to drag them around, though. And when Amador eventually pushes up to the wingback after the Crew switch play, Columbus smells blood. Meanwhile, Atlanta…man, I don’t even know. Just watch Muyumba, Alzate and Gregersen here. All three fail at their job in spectacularly unspectacular fashion. Muyumba reacts too slowly to the entry pass, Alzate reacts even later to the lay off and Gregersen doesn’t react *at all* to the player standing free in the middle of the box as the ball rolls slowly toward him. This is tactics, a lack of quality and a distinct lack of effort all rolled into one.

4-0

Atlanta actually handles the Columbus build-up well here. But Alzate plays a pointless disaster of a pass into his own corner despite having time and space to maneuver and Hibbert is eventually forced to boot it long. Muyumba isn’t interested in challenging for it, so the Crew get a free shot at regaining possession. It only gets worse from Alzate after that. That’s an atrocious touch and recovery. On top of that, Gregersen is just standing there with his arm up waiting for an offside call that’s not coming because 1.) He’s onside thanks to an Atlanta player stuck in the corner from the initial terrible pass from Alzate and 2.) That’s not how the rule works when your teammate plays the ball. Somehow, that didn’t stop the Crew from scoring.

5-0

There’s a ton of space for the unoccupied wingback because you know why at this point. And then no one cuts off the cross and Ronald Hernandez gets outmuscled and outworked. 5-0.

The Second Half

Now, after all that, you’re probably wondering why things were so much better in the second half. Well, there’s the obvious caveat here that the Crew weren’t exactly on the gas pedal. We have to take the game state into serious account.

But Atlanta and Deila did make a few tweaks that stopped the bleeding and allowed them to capitalize on a few moments in attack against a now sleepwalking Columbus side. At halftime, Atlanta subbed in midfielder Will Reilly, center back Juan Berrocal and fullback Brooks Lennon. That allowed them to shift from their standard 4-2-3-1 into a 5-3-2. The 5-3-2 mirrored the Crew’s setup and, now, when the wingbacks pushed up, Atlanta still had numbers in midfield and a backline of four to deal with the Crew’s attackers. No more vacant space in the middle of the pitch. No more one-v-ones across the back line.

Oh, also, the Crew lost forward Diego Rossi, one of the best players in the league, to an injury. That probably helped too.

So, there you go. They made the right moves at the break. It nearly resulted in something special. But that doesn’t excuse anything that happened in an avoidable first half. Especially when you had two weeks to prepare for a Crew side that didn’t do anything different from what they’ve done for years now under Wilfried Nancy.