Atlanta United Express Lane: Colorado Rapids Match In 10 Items Or Less

So, this happened the other day…

What everyone thought “should” have been full points… wasn’t as the boogeyman that is “DC United” came up and bit the #5Stripes

We analyzed what we thought would happen here, But there’s still a lot to ruminate over (That’s a fancy word for “rubbing your chin…”) with another loss to DC in the books.

Losses Like That One Are Unacceptable

And you can take that statement one of two ways…

The fans see, what should be, a full-points opportunity and don’t like it when it doesn’t happen. The team sees, what should be, a full-points opportunity and don’t like it when it doesn’t happen.

That says a lot about an expansion franchise and their fan base when the mindset is already that of a team that EXPECTS (capitalization intentional) to be above The Red Line by the end of the year.

Head coach “Tata” Martino was matter-of-fact about correcting the errors in marking that happened and let Patrick Nyarko, Sebastian Le Toux, and Luciano Acosta loose more often than desired mid-week:

"“Sometimes you can correct mistakes and sometimes you can’t,” he admits. “After the game in Chicago and in between the game against Columbus, we made the same errors, but we were able to beat Columbus. Sometimes you make mistakes, but you still win. Over the course of the season, we’re a team that’s made a lot of mistakes, so we still have some things to correct.”"

Here’s what Colorado did (and didn’t do…) mid-week against Los Angeles…

Which means, what, exactly?

Colorado is far better at home than on the road. They’re last in the Western Conference with 16 points in 15 matches. The Rapids are 5-3-1 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park and 0-6 on the road.

That’s not a misprint…

0-for-the-2017-season on the road…

Last in the LEAGUE (capitalization intentional again) in shots and shots on goal…

Next-to-last in the LEAGUE in goals, period, and DC United is the only side below them.

Think of an offensive stat and the Rapids might be down near the bottom in all of them.

"“We were definitely flat,” Rapids head coach Pablo Mastroeni told MLSSoccer.com’s Sam Stejskal after the loss. “A large part has to do with putting opposing defenses under pressure. When you do that, and turn them, and make them face their goal as we did in the first half, you pick up second balls in good areas, which allows your team to come forward, you can set up a perimeter and you can have consistent pressure. In the second half, we started almost lulling ourselves to sleep.”"

So, taking what Mastroeni said going forward

DC United did the same thing to Atlanta at RFK Stadium and forced some passes the side doesn’t like to make and forced some decisions that might come back to bite them at some point… or, they can be learning experiences…

Atlanta was a tale of two halves in DC- look at the things they did, but couldn’t, in the second 45 minutes… and it made a difference…

“Press with success…”

If, taking what Tiotal says to heart for this point, Atlanta does what they do at home…

The match should be one where Atlanta United uses the “Peachtree Press” and blows Colorado out of the building- getting what they want to do on offense and defense…

But… there’s that whole “set piece” thing…

Remember this in Vancouver?

Kendall Waston had a FIELD DAY off set pieces…

If Colorado has their way, look for their back line- and, specifically 8-foot-3-inch tall Axel Sjoberg (actually, he’s 6-foot-7, and 6-foot-7 and a half if you ask him yourself…) to be a menace in the box when the situation arises…

And having to plan for two matches at once…

Remember, the Round-of-16 for the Open Cup is Wednesday at the NASL’s Miami FC…

You can only play a maximum of five international players in these matches, so some homegrown players might be sitting against Colorado so they can be ready for the mid-week chance to get into the Final 8.

Do Jeff Larentowicz and Greg Garza get some time off? Does Mark Bloom start on the back line Saturday or Wednesday? Both?

Does the middle look like Kevin Kratz, Carlos Carmona, and Julian Gressel?

Will Kyle Reynish start in-goal WednesdaY?

Buckle up, y’all… because…

What say you, Atlanta United fans?

Check in down in the Comments Section below and give us your predictions for Saturday night on The Flats…