Better, but Still Not Enough: Atlanta United Falls 1-0 at Nashville

Starting Lineup

Atlanta United returned from the World Cup break Friday night carrying more questions than answers. Two newly signed center backs were still waiting on visas. Stian Gregersen was unavailable with a quadriceps injury. Four Academy products started against a Nashville side sitting atop the standings with one loss in 14 matches.

For long stretches at GEODIS Park, Atlanta looked far more settled than its circumstances suggested. The back line held together, Nashville struggled to turn possession into clean chances, and Atlanta found enough space going forward to make the night uncomfortable for the league leaders.

It still ended the same way too many Atlanta matches have ended this season.

One second-half goal was enough for Nashville to take a 1-0 win, leaving Atlanta with another performance that offered signs of progress and no points to show for it.

1st Half

Atlanta started aggressively, moving the ball quickly and making it difficult for Nashville to build anything in Atlanta’s half.

The Five Stripes used longer leading passes to move quickly into space, with Miguel Almirón and Luke Brennan switching sides almost immediately and Matt Edwards pushing higher from right back. Through the opening minutes, Nashville struggled to keep the ball in Atlanta’s half.

Atlanta’s best early move came in the eighth minute when Jay Fortune spun away from pressure in midfield and released Almirón down the left. Almirón carried the attack forward and forced Brian Schwake into a save from a tight angle, but Fortune pulled up as he came out of the turn. He went down moments later holding his left hamstring.

Will Reilly replaced Fortune in the 11th minute. Nashville began keeping Atlanta deeper and finding more possession in the attacking half. Atlanta dropped numbers behind the ball, defended in a compact shape and looked to slow the game when it recovered possession.

A light pass from Edwards put Tomás Jacob under pressure in the 16th minute. Jacob tried to play back to Lucas Hoyos, but Hany Mukhtar nearly got there before Hoyos cleared.

A few minutes later, Mukhtar kept a long ball alive near the end line and passed to Daniel Lovitz. Enea Mihaj stepped across and broke up the move before Nashville could get a shot away.

Nashville continued pushing Atlanta back through the middle of the half. Muyumba broke up several attacks through midfield, while Atlanta’s defenders stepped forward when space opened and covered for one another when Nashville regained possession.

After the hydration break, Atlanta began to recover some of the momentum it had lost. The press became more aggressive giving Nashville less time on the ball. Muyumba started presenting himself more often as an outlet through midfield, while Almirón and Alexey Miranchuk helped move Atlanta back towards the Nashville penalty area.

The buildup was working. But Atlanta still had real trouble turning those attacks into clean chances.

Muyumba got onto the end of a punched clearance from an Almirón free kick in the 35th minute, but his effort struck a defender. Atlanta created another opening in the 43rd minute when Báez found Almirón inside the box. Almirón couldn’t get the ball out of his feet and eventually forced the play into a corner. Mihaj got two chances from the set piece, with the first blocked and the second saved by Schwake.

Nashville pushed Atlanta back again late in the half. Mukhtar sent a stoppage-time free kick into the box, but Hoyos collected it. Atlanta then pressed into Nashville’s box before halftime but could not get a shot away.

The whistle came with the match still 0-0. After losing Fortune early and spending long stretches defending, Atlanta had reason to be the happier team at the break.

2nd Half

Atlanta went straight back at Nashville after the break.

The ball reached the top of the box in the opening minute, but Nashville packed the middle and blocked the shot. Mihaj then sent Almirón into the corner with a long ball. Nashville cleared, but Atlanta recovered possession and came straight back. Báez flicked the ball forward to Almirón, who moved it centrally for Miranchuk. The ball broke loose inside the area and Brennan’s shot was blocked.

Miranchuk linked with Tristan Muyumba, Almirón and Will Reilly as Atlanta worked the ball through Nashville’s half. A few minutes later, Miranchuk turned and slipped Brennan behind the defense. Everything leading to the chance was sharp. The passing was clean, the movement pulled Nashville apart and Miranchuk’s final ball put Brennan through with almost no margin for error. Brennan needed one extra touch before he could shoot, giving Brian Schwake just enough time to close him down and tip the effort over the bar.

Almirón’s corner in the 60th minute found Mihaj, whose header bounced into Schwake’s hands. Away from the play, Matt Edwards went down holding his left hamstring. Edwards could not continue. Ronald Hernández replaced him two minutes later, forcing Atlanta into its second injury substitution of the night.

Surridge broke into space in the 67th minute and Sanchez brought him down before the run could develop. Mukhtar took the free kick from the edge of the box and bent it toward goal. Hoyos punched it clear for a corner, but Nashville kept Atlanta pinned back and came again.

By the 70th minute, Atlanta’s players were beginning to look tired. Brennan and Almirón appeared most in need of a change as Nashville pushed Atlanta deeper into its own half.

Mukhtar sent another corner into the box in the 71st minute. Mihaj cleared the first ball, but Nashville sent it back in for Surridge, whose header forced Hoyos into a save.

Nashville sent Alex Muyl and Jeisson Palacios on in the 73rd minute. The next few minutes grew heated. Palacios exchanged words with Atlanta’s bench and then with Almirón, with Mihaj stepping in as players gathered near the sideline. The ref wisely sent the teams for the hydration break to cool off.

Nashville came forward again in the 79th minute, and the danger was visible well before the cross arrived.

Muyl drove quickly down the left with two runners surging through the middle alongside him. Atlanta did not react quickly enough. Whether the problem was recognition or tired legs, the group failed to slow the move, close Muyl or track the runners tightly enough as the play developed. Muyl sent the cross into the box, where Mohammed rose between Atlanta defenders and headed toward the left post. Two defenders were close enough to challenge but neither prevented the header.

Hoyos was moving across his goal with the ball rather than attacking the cross. By the time Mohammed made contact, Hoyos was shifting to his right and could not recover as the header went back toward the opposite post.

Nashville were up 1-0.

Atlanta finally made its attacking changes in the 83rd minute, sending on Fafà Picault and Emmanuel Latte Lath for Brennan and Sanchez.

Atlanta struggled to turn the changes into a clear chance until stoppage time, when Almirón slipped Latte Lath through on goal.

Almirón nearly found Latte Lath with a long ball in the 89th minute, but Maxwell Woledzi got there first.

Three minutes into stoppage time, Almirón found Latte Lath again. This time the striker had room, time and a clear look at goal. At minimum, he had to put the shot on target. Instead, Latte Lath dragged it badly and wildly to the left. It shows a striker who is mentally over-thinking things. He couldn’t relax and take the shot.

Nashville broke the other way moments later, and Andy Nájar forced Hoyos into a one-handed save that kept Atlanta within one.

Atlanta pushed forward again, increasingly relying on longer balls. Muyumba found Latte Lath under pressure in the 96th minute, but Nashville closed the space before he could turn it into another shot.

Atlanta kept trying to advance through the final minutes without creating another clean opening. Mukhtar sent the last free kick over the bar, and the whistle followed.

Closing Thoughts

Atlanta went into Nashville with its defense looking like the obvious weakness. Júnior Alonso and Paulo Díaz were still unavailable while completing their visa processes. Stian Gregersen did not play. That left Enea Mihaj alongside 20-year-old Academy product Tomás Jacob in central defense, with Elías Báez and Matt Edwards completing a young back line.

It held up considerably better than expected.

Jacob rarely looked overwhelmed by the assignment. Mihaj defended well, stepped forward when space opened and played several useful long balls out of the back. Even after Edwards left injured and Ronald Hernández entered, Atlanta continued to keep Hany Mukhtar and Sam Surridge under wraps for most of the game.

When asked of Jacob afterward, Tata answered:

Atlanta’s starting eleven had an average age of 26 years and 79 days, its youngest of the season. Four Academy products started.

Lucas Hoyos also did his part. He could have been more aggressive coming for the cross on Nashville’s goal, but his saves late in the second half kept Atlanta close enough to chase an equalizer. His one-handed stop on Andy Nájar in stoppage time prevented Nashville from putting the match away.

Muyumba was another positive. He gave Atlanta an outlet through midfield, broke up attacks going the other direction and continued working even as players around him began to tire.

Atlanta finished with more shots than Nashville, more shots on target and a higher expected-goals total. The Five Stripes led 12-9 in shots, 5-4 on target and 1.4-0.90 in xG. They still finished with zero goals.

That does not mean Atlanta spent the night creating chance after chance. Too many promising possessions ended before the final pass or shot was clean enough to take. But there were occasional openings.

Luke Brennan had two of the better opportunities, but the rest of his night reinforced concerns that have been building for some time. He was repeatedly pushed off the ball and didn’t match up physically against Nashville’s defenders. On Atlanta’s best passing move of the night, Brennan got behind the defense but needed an extra touch before shooting. Brennan has shown enough flashes to earn opportunities, but his progress appears to have stalled. Against Nashville, he looked overmatched too often. At some point, Atlanta has to decide whether continued minutes are still part of his development or whether it is time to look elsewhere for the next option.

Emmanuel Latte Lath. Where to start. He came on in the 81st minute and was barely involved in the game for the next ten minutes. Then Almirón found him twice. The first chance was difficult. Latte Lath was surrounded by three players and received a hard pass. The second could hardly have been more inviting. Latte Lath only needed to settle himself and put the shot on target. Instead, he dragged it wildly to the left. That is why the miss was so alarming. The first chance asked a lot of him. The second asked very little, and he still could not get off a shot.

Mihaj described the larger frustration afterward.

Atlanta defended well enough to stay in the match against the team at the top of the standings. It created enough openings to leave Nashville with something to think about.

But ATLUTD couldn’t put it away. And it doesn’t look like it knows how to.