The two most notable tactical changes from Ronny Deila's first match in charge

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It’s a new era in Atlanta. And the biggest difference is…well, it’s the players. Having really fast, really talented players in attacks goes a really long way. Tactics are great. Great players are sooooo much better.

You don’t need me to tell you that any manager would thrive with Atlanta’s front four. But we can still take a look at how Ronny Deila’s setup varied in game one from the Gonzalo Pineda and Rob Valentino versions of 2024 Atlanta United and think about how that setup might effect Atlanta’s success going forward.

The TL;DR here though is Miguel fast, Latte Lath fast, fast players are fast and good. Atlanta is going to score a lot of goals and would in pretty much any setup.

If you’re looking for something a little more detailed though…

A different way to build

While the base shape of Deila and Pineda’s setup (4-2-3-1) is the same, Deila’s side is, naturally, doing things a bit different in attack with Latte Lath and Almirón in the lineup and a fluid, dynamic front four.

You can start picking out the differences by noting which side Atlanta is attempting to create overloads on. To make this simple: Pineda’s sides tried to overload the left side and flip play to the right. The 2025 side wants to primarily down the right side, where Alexey Miranchuk and Almirón are operating most often. They both have ton of freedom to flow to the ball, change positions and just generally end up where they feel like. In the meantime, Saba Lobjanizde and Latte Lath are staying structured and staying forward, applying pressure to the opponent’s back line. The result is, in it’s simplest form, a 2-4-1-3 buildup shape that gives Miranchuk responsibility for the middle of the pitch.

That shape isn’t entirely different from what Pineda (or like nearly every other manager) wants from their team as they build. The main wrinkles relative to 2024 are how high the 2025 front three pushes—Always good to apply pressure on the back line and create some space for Miranchuk in between defensive lines—and how Miranchuk and Almirón are allowed to pretty much whatever they want. Almirón in particular ended up in places you’re never exactly expecting your “right winger” to end up. The rest is highly structured.

It looks the same once the team makes it to the middle third too.

Just for fun, here it is in action.

There’s nothing revolutionary here. It obviously seemed effective enough though. Especially in the first half.

The second half…well, Montréal started to figure some things out. Part of that is CFM reacting quicker and with better understanding of the positions Atlanta wanted to occupy. They were tighter to their marks and made defensive decisions at a higher speed.

The other, more important part though is that Atlanta couldn’t find the transition opportunities they seemed to come by often in the first half. Full credit to the group in the first 45, there weren’t many moments of ponderous possession when opportunities for a quick, progressive pass were there. The Five Stripes won loose balls and hit the gas. And this group running at speed is going to be terrifying for any MLS side.

But they didn’t do it often in the second half, even if their best high-speed move of the day came on Edwin Mosquera’s winner. In my view, that’s not because they lost their way in attack. It’s because they stopped forcing the kind of giveaways that lead to transition opportunities.

A new defensive structure (and familiar dangers)

The most immediately notable way Deila differs from Pineda and Valentino is the team’s defensive shape when pressing and in a mid-block. Pineda and Valentino were often in a 4-4-2 setup. Deila, throughout preseason and in match one, used a 4-2-4 shape.

Lookit.

You can immediately see where the danger is. It’s the same danger last year’s side when the wingers pushed up in the 4-4-2 shape. This team is open to switches of play and is oftentimes neglecting the space out wide between the wingers and fullbacks.

It’s a shape that also asks a ton of the midfield two. It shouldn’t be a surprise that when the team’s legs began to (understandably) fade in game one, Montréal began to find more success breaking through the front four and finding open teammates in midfield.

Now, we have to note that Atlanta looked like a solid pressing side in the first half. They didn’t need to buzz around at 110% when their structure did the work for them.

And, overall, they did a solid job defensively in the first half. They allowed two long-distance shots in the first half and nothing else.

It’s a more aggressive setup with a higher risk/reward ratio. We saw the rewards in a dominant first half. We saw the risks as CF Montréal took advantage of tired legs and a back line missing three starters in the second half. It will be interesting to see if and how other teams can take advantage of the weak points in the system.

And other things

• Pedro Amador is going to find a lot of joy in this setup.

• It’s worth briefly mentioning that the back line just didn’t have enough juice in this one. Montréal’s biggest chances felt preventable by more effective defenders. The tactics only contribute so much. This is the second half shot chart of a team just not being strong enough in their own box.

• On rewatch, Latte Lath is a Dude. 25 goals feels totally plausible.

• On rewatch, Miguel Almirón is a Dude. He’s not as pacey over long stretches, but in short bursts he can still ruin folks. You can also just tell his speed of though and general touch are, unsurprisingly, so much better after a few years abroad. He was excellent.

• We could have a really good soccer team on our hands. Maybe. I’m willing to consider it an option at least. We’ve learned not to get too far ahead of ourselves around here.