Tactical Review: Jay Fortune and Atlanta United whomp FC Cincinnati

A single pivot, passes into space and more

Atlanta United put together their best performance of the year on Sunday. They weren’t perfect. But the bar has been set down on the floor at this point. At least they stopped running into it.

A few contextual notes before we dig in. First, I hope Nick Hagglund is well and recovering. From a purely on-field perspective, I don’t think his early injury can be treated as a major reason for Cincy’s struggles. He’s a solid player (and apparently a great guy), but Cincinnati immediately brought in an acceptable replacement in former Houston Dynamo FC Designated Player, Teenage Hadebe. I’m not sold on the idea that if Hagglund is there, things are significantly better for them.

That’s a double-edged sword, though. Yeah, you still put up huge numbers against a relatively full-strength Cincinnati side that came into the game with a chance at taking over first place in the East. However, I’m not convinced a relatively full-strength Cincinnati side is all that good.

They have a deserved reputation as a great defensive side over the last few seasons. This year, they’ve struggled. Coming into Sunday, American Soccer Analysis had the Garys 22nd in MLS in xG allowed. We wrote in our match preview—Optimistically/Pessimistically titled “Atlanta United could actually get a point against FC Cincinnati”—that “in the five games since Matt Miazga returned as a starter, they’ve allowed an average of 2.00 xG per game.” Cincy’s defensive problems began long before Hagglund left the field.

Still, Atlanta needed to capitalize on those issues. Game state played a role on the way to the Five Stripes putting up a season-high 3.63 xG, but 3.63 xG is a helluva lot, especially for 2025 Atlanta United. Even more importantly, they did it all on purpose.

There have been decent moments in attack this season, but few, if any of them, have felt like the byproduct of intentional decision-making by a team with a clear tactical vision.

“Runners for Alexey” does the “The Undertaker comes back to life” bit

“You have to understand why we are getting chances first,” Ronny Deila said post-match. “This is all about skills, relations, understanding, and playing your position. It is not a coincidence. We talked about playing the ball in behind, and how to play it longer so [Latte Lath] has something to run after instead of how we have mostly been playing it to his feet, and then we end up getting counter attacked.

“Now, we put the ball into space, and you can see the kind of speed that he has, and Jamal [Thiare] is the same way. We have Saba [Lobjanidze], and if somebody can get him in behind, then we have a 1-on-1 on the side. And he can work up and down tomorrow if we need him to, so that is his strength. We have [Alexey Miranchuk], who needs to get the ball inside the pockets, and if he gets it on the right side, he can turn and switch, hooking up with Saba who can attack space and lead to a finish inside the box.”

This is why I feel comfortable saying Atlanta succeeded on purpose on Sunday. After I’ve spent the last few weeks complaining helpfully pointing out that the Five Stripes play fewer through balls than anyone in the league, I have to applaud the team for a clear commitment to getting in behind by any means necessary against Cincy. There technically weren’t many moments that register as “through balls” by Opta’s definition, but the spirit of the criticism was always that the team had seemingly forgotten that they were fast. If playing long balls over the top is what makes them remember that, I’ll stand up and applaud it. Because it’s not just lip service from Deila. Atlanta weren’t just talking about it, they were being about it on Sunday night.

Before we roll the tape, take a look at this passing network chart from the excellent MLS Analytics account on BlueSky.

Right wingback is the obvious outlier here in Atlanta’s 3-5-2 setup. Saba Lobjanidze spent the match (like he did against Inter Miami in last year’s playoffs) running like the bus from “Speed”. And with Matt Edwards’ physical skillset at center back behind him, he did it without much fear of tearing Atlanta’s defensive shape apart.

You can see the plan start to manifest from the first moment Atlanta gains control of the ball.

Eyes on Saba.

Saba, of course, isn’t the only Atlanta United player who made runs in behind in this game, but he is the most fun to watch take off while Cincy defenders try to hang on for dear life like they’re a passenger on the bus in “Speed”.