Atlanta United: Excellent attack, but reason to worry

Atlanta United have an excellent attack, as proven again in their 2-0 win over LA Galaxy on Sunday. But there is reason to worry. Here’s why.

Atlanta United might have the best attack in MLS.

That is not an especially controversial statement. When you have Miguel Almiron feeding Josef Martinez, you are never going to struggle for goals. But there is reason for concern, at least to some extent.

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Now, I should state that this is an extremely negative viewpoint on the Atlanta attack. This is the worst case scenario for them, one that I do not necessarily envisage coming to pass. Nevertheless, it is one that should be noted as a warning.

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I am talking about their collective wasteful finishing. Take the 2-0 win against LA Galaxy as an example. Atlanta may have won the game by two clear goals and looked comfortable throughout, but when the 90 minute-mark ticked by, they were just one goal to the good and were one unfortunate or remarkable event from drawing the match.

This was a game in which they had 20 shots. They missed a penalty, they squandered several excellent opportunities, and they forced David Bingham into five saves. This is a game that should not have been hanging by a slender one-goal advantage after 90 minutes. It was until Almiron converted the second penalty of the night that their lead was extended to a remotely comfortable level.

Similarly, the week prior, Atlanta drew 2-2 with an excellent New York City FC team. It was a point that was rightly celebrated in one of the best games of the season thus far. But again, they held the lead on two different occasions, had 15 shots, only four of which were on target, and had a goal disallowed for offside. It is not fair to blame Atlanta for all those instances, but it again displays the threat of Atlanta’s wastefulness.

Go back another week and a quick perusal at the scoreline will see a comfortable 5-0 win against LAFC. But the scoreline was extremely deceptive of the pattern of play. Atlanta didn’t score their second goal until the 67th minute. They didn’t score the third and fully kill the game until the 88th minute.

Now, the number of goals that they are scoring and chances that they are creating are good signs. And there is little reason to believe that they cannot be replicated throughout the full campaign. But that does not negate the worry of a lack of ruthlessness and game management that is required to churn out the victories over a full MLS season.

Next: Atlanta United: 5 things we learned from Galaxy win

Like I said, this is me being harsh on a very good team. They are now unbeaten in six games having just beaten or drawn with three of the best teams in the country. But that does not mean that they are without fault. They must be more clinical if they are to replicate their blistering attacking form throughout the year, even if that is being harsh on them.