Atlanta United: 3 things we learned from away tour

1. Pity Martinez is unlucky

It is difficult to come to a new club with a new manager in a new confederation and be asked to be the new playmaker. Gonzalo Martinez just left a club that had won the Copa Libertadores and moved to the club that had won the MLS Cup, and to be asked to sustain his winter form through the entire MLS season is an impossible request.

I think everyone can admit Martinez hasn’t been the same player we watched in that Copa Libertadores final, and he hasn’t provided the goals or assists expected of him by this point in the season, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t performed well.

The rogue shots from 35 yards out and long horizontal dribbles would be much easier to forgive if Martinez had a stat sheet to accompany his more experimental decision-making, but that isn’t to say that his lack of goal-involvement is entirely his own fault.

In fact, according to OptaJack, Martinez has created 24 different scoring opportunities this season, which is the most by any player in MLS without having an assist. Martinez had several instances against both Vancouver and the Red Bulls where he began the attacking transition and helped create a chance by working the ball into the final third through incisive balls to Josef Martinez, switches to Julian Gressel or square balls at the top of the box for a central midfielder to run on to, only for them all to die before reaching the back of the net.

If any other player experienced the kind of assist-incompletion Pity Martinez does, we would commend him for creating so many scoring opportunities and ridicule his teammates for their inability to finish off the attack, but the circumstances around Martinez have led fans to the opposite reaction.

Fans can only hope Pity Martinez follows a similar route to Barco by having a breakout second season to counteract his lackluster first season.