Atlanta United: Supporters find themselves in different territory
By Drew Hubbard
After starting their title defense off on the wrong foot, Atlanta United supporters now find themselves in a different spot starting off the 2019 season.
The final whistle blew in Mercedes Benz Stadium. Only this time, it was a different reaction than what fans of the Five Stripes have grown accustomed to. The sound of 70,000 boos filled the home of Atlanta United as new expansion club FC Cincinnati spoiled the MLS Cup celebration with a 1-1 draw.
After dropping the first regular season match of 2019 to D.C. United and with a seemingly impossible mountain to climb against Monterrey in Champions League, the Five Stripe faithful find themselves in a different spot to kick off the 2019 season.
The past two years have been nothing historic for Atlanta United. Setting records on and off the field have become the norm. Earning a playoff spot in the first season and winning the MLS Cup in their second season has set the standard of excellence that Arthur Blank and the rest of the United front office promised from day one.
But a shaky start to the new season puts Atlanta on the wrong side of MLS news.
The newly appointed manager Frank de Boer has begun to implement his own style of play, focusing heavily on possessing the ball and breaking teams apart with passing rather than the quick and flying counter-attack that produced one of the best offenses the league has ever seen.
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Against FC Cincinnati, fans saw a glimmer of the old Five Stripes when Josef Martinez sent a Julian Gressel pass into the net in only the fifth minute and gave 70,000 hope that the champions were back to the exciting style of soccer that led them to a championship.
But instead, they saw a team sit back and posses the ball only to have that one-goal lead slip away to a club who was recently picked apart by the Seattle Sounders in a 4-1 defeat and was only playing in its second-ever MLS fixture.
Because of the latest results, combined with the CONCACAF Champions League struggles, de Boer has become the scapegoat for Atlanta supporters to pile on their frustrations – whether fair or not – and has already caused fans wanting a new manager to perhaps bring back the exciting style of soccer the Five Stripe faithful have seen for the last two seasons.
Next. Atlanta United Vs FC Cincinnati: 5 things we learned. dark
Atlanta United have become the darlings of MLS in only two years, and really nothing has gone wrong for Atlanta supporters. But with the title defense going in the opposite direction, the Five Stripe faithful find themselves in new territory for the first time.