Atlanta United has a clear identity under manager Tata Martino: start the ball with Brad Guzan in goal, find the center backs and defensive midfielders, and build up play down the field.
This tactical identity works most of the time, but Martino receives criticism for not changing those tactics against certain opponents, such as the New York Red Bulls. The Red Bulls press up the field against their opponents, and it is difficult for Atlanta to build out of the back the way they normally do.
Although NYCFC do not press high as the Red Bulls do, their pitch makes Atlanta’s tactics difficult to execute. Building out of the back requires a lot of space. Atlanta needs their center backs to have space to move the ball forward and find either their teammates on the wing or through the middle.
Space is not an issue at Mercedes Benz Stadium since the pitch is the largest size possible. But because NYCFC play in a baseball stadium, the pitch can only be so big. It is no secret that it’s the smallest pitch in the league. Atlanta had to change their tactics accordingly.
Instead of playing out of the back, Guzan would instead kick the ball downfield. Once the ball was downfield, the Atlanta player that received the ball would immediately play it back to their nearest teammate behind them. This gave Atlanta possession far from goal and allowed them to seemingly build from the halfway line instead of their own goal.
Atlanta also used set pieces to their advantage. Knowing that they could not build play up the field the way they like, they clearly worked on set pieces in training over the course of the week. Atlanta’s “first” goal came on a set piece, despite it being disallowed from Miguel Almiron being offsides. The Five Stripes’ actual goal also came on a set piece, and Atlanta deciding to not build out of the back and choosing to score on set pieces proved to be the way to win the game.
Autore: Stefano Bentivogli
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