Training Ground Notebook: Atlanta United's Tata Martino and Enea Mihaj Break Down Chicago Breakdown
- Jason Longshore
- 8 minutes ago
- 8 min read
Tata Martino and Enea Mihaj both pointed to the same structural breakdown against Chicago. With a two-game week ahead, the margin for the same mistakes is shrinking.
Atlanta United came out of Monday's media availability with a clear-eyed assessment of where things stand: a team that believes it is capable of more and a week that demands they get both the big picture and the fine details right.
Head coach Tata Martino and defender Enea Mihaj both spoke to the media ahead of Wednesday's US Open Cup first-round match against Chattanooga FC, and between the two of them, a coherent picture of this week emerged. After Chicago, the performances are trending in the right direction even if the results are not. And some of the mistakes have to stop.
The Chicago goal, explained from both sides
The clearest thread from Monday was the breakdown that led to Chicago's winning goal, and both Martino and Mihaj dissected it with unusual candor.
Martino confirmed that the read on the play was accurate. Atlanta was passive, Chicago advanced down their right side with minimal resistance, and when the ball arrived in a dangerous area, nobody was where they needed to be.
"Right now we're having a problem recovering the ball, and that's a deficit for us," Martino said. "It becomes more noticeable in a moment like that goal, when we had 10 players behind the ball in our own half. The other problem is that in that play we had three midfielders in the same sector of the field, so when the ball reached the middle of our box, we didn't have anyone covering the semicircle at the top of the box."
Mihaj gave the player-level version of the same diagnosis, and he pushed back on the idea that it is a communication problem.
"Everyone has to do his job," he said. "The way they played the one-two, it was too easy. I don't remember any situation like that for us... to play a one-two and arrive in the opposite box so easy."
When asked whose responsibility it is to recognize a vacant sector and alert teammates, Mihaj was direct about the limits of in-game communication.
"This is not something to communicate. This is something you have to know and you have to do in the field. If you don't do it in this moment, it's so fast. If I turn my head to see who is there, the guy has already passed me."
The play took about six seconds from when the one-two started to when the ball hit the back of the net. There is not enough time to reorganize the group via words at that point.
This lands harder coming from a center back who was watching the play develop in front of him and was helpless to stop it. This is not a matter of information. It is a matter of habit and automaticity, things that have to be drilled until they are instinctive.
The attacking problem is not one problem
Martino has been consistent about one thing: he does not accept the idea that Atlanta's attacking issues can be reduced to a single diagnosis.
Against D.C. United, in his view, the problem was the choice of pass. The right opening was there, but Atlanta played to the wrong side too often. Against Chicago, the issue shifted. The choices were better, but the finishing was not.
"The problem isn't always the same," he said. "Against DC, for me it was more about the choice of pass where we went wrong. In the Chicago match it was clearly the finishing we weren't executing on. And I'll repeat: it's not just one player when we talk about finishing. It comes down to everyone on the team. We had multiple players with attempts on goal who couldn't convert."
That distinction matters because it resists the easy narrative that Atlanta simply needs to score more goals. The team is finding positions, creating chances, and generating the opportunities. What it has not done consistently is convert them, and the reason has shifted depending on the opponent. That is a more complex problem to solve, but it is also a more honest one to name.
Mihaj's read from the locker room after the Chicago match aligned with that. He did not come out of the game feeling like the performance was a failure.
"I say to my teammates after the game: if we play like this, we will win many games," he said. "We were more offensive, we were more aggressive. And now it's time also to score."
This was a different match than the Columbus loss, where the team struggled to get into the attacking 18 with any regularity. Atlanta did a better job of that in Chicago, controlled larger phases of play, but ultimately did not create enough dangerous opportunities or convert on what they did create.
What a goalless stretch does to a back line
Mihaj was candid about the pressure that accumulates on defenders when goals are not coming, and the ways that pressure can warp how a team manages games.
"It's much easier when you are leading the scoring. The other team also opens space for you," he said. "Of course it creates more pressure. I will not lie. But again, I say it's not about the front players or the back players. It's about all of us."
He pointed to the Philadelphia win as a reference point for what Atlanta looks like when it is in front. After going up, the field opened. The second and third goals arrived through channels that simply did not exist at 0-0. The challenge is getting that first goal to change the conditions of the match and to try to find a way to be dangerous before the scoreline provides that freedom.
He also flagged the emotional management piece as something the group is still calibrating.
"I think we have to manage better our emotions in the game, even if we concede a goal," he said. "In the last game, we did it well. We conceded a goal, but we reacted."
The reaction in Chicago, sustained pressure, multiple good looks, a header from Mihaj himself and a Stian Gregersen chance cleared off the line, was a genuine positive from a match Atlanta lost. Both Mihaj and Martino were careful to name it.
"With all the respect, we dominated the game," Mihaj said of the stretch after Chicago's goal. "After the first 25 minutes, we dominated the game in the second half. They just waited for us to make a mistake to go on the counter. Of course they got the three points, but it's a message. That's why I said in the dressing room that playing like this, we can win games."
The two-game week and the balancing act
Wednesday brings a trip up I-75 to face Chattanooga FC in the US Open Cup first round, and Martino was not about to treat it carelessly, in either direction.
He acknowledged the obvious temptation to load up and chase a result after a difficult stretch in the league, while also being clear that Nashville SC on Saturday is very much on his mind.
"I'm not going to play Wednesday's game without also keeping one eye on Saturday," he said. "We have to think carefully, because we don't have the best start to the league season, but the league is just getting started. We still have time."
Mihaj echoed the respect for Chattanooga specifically. The proximity between the two clubs adds a layer to the matchup, and he was not interested in treating it as a formality.
"All the teams are high for us. When we play, we play to win," he said. "This kind of game, if you are not focused, if you think it's going to be an easy game, then you will have troubles. So we have to prepare ourselves to compete against a good team."
On the Nashville side of the week, Martino was measured but clear about the quality of the opponent.
"Nashville is a good team with good players. They have Mukhtar, Surridge, and they added Espinoza, who has been a genuinely destabilizing player in this league for many years. It's a very good team that has been consistent for several seasons."
Injury updates
Several players are dealing with physical issues heading into the week.
Alexey Miranchuk was absent from the Chicago match due to an adductor problem. Steven Alzate is managing a groin issue. Stian Gregersen is also having his wisdom teeth removed. Emmanuel Latte Lath needed stitches after sustaining a deep cut on his tibia during the Chicago game. Saba Lobjanidze took a hard hit that Martino believes should have drawn a red card, and his availability is still being assessed.
Martino said roster decisions for Wednesday have not been finalized, noting that some of those players with physical problems will likely not be available.
Three plays, no response
Martino used Monday's availability to go on record to express his frustration with some referee decisions, and the lack of answers from the league when questioned.
Atlanta has submitted officiating reports on three separate plays across the last two matches. The first was a potential penalty during the Columbus game in the first half with the score still 0-0 where Alzate was shoved into Gregersen and Latte Lath. It was not sent down for the referee to look at on the field, which was a source of frustration for this radio commentator. The second was a possible penalty for Stian Gregersen, who was tripped on a corner kick in Chicago, a call that went unreviewed completely during the match. The third was the challenge from Mbekezeli Mbokazi on Saba Lobjanidze, a play Martino believes was a clear red card.
"When the defender's foot made contact with Saba's leg, the ball was not in dispute," Martino said. "It wasn't fifty-fifty. Saba had already advanced the ball. You can debate the play, but they didn't even stop to review it. The play went on for over a minute with the player on the ground and they never stopped to look at it."
He also took issue with the officiating consistency in the Chicago match specifically, pointing to a linesman who raised the flag immediately for an offside on Miguel Almirón from a long Enea Mihaj ball that replays showed was not offside, and then allowed a clearly offside position to develop before belatedly flagging on the disallowed Chicago goal.
"Two completely different standards from the same official," Martino said.
He joked about the context for his frustration.
"I want to make it clear: if we had won any of these four games, I wouldn't be talking about any of this. Or at least I'd be a little less angry about it."
His broader point was about process and accountability. He said that the league fines clubs for missing referees' meetings. Atlanta has been waiting for a response to three submitted reports.
"It would be important for the league to respond in a timely way," he said. "The same standard should apply."
The only option
Both Martino and Mihaj landed in the same place when asked about where the group is emotionally.
The mood is not good. Everyone inside the building knows the results do not reflect where this team wants to be. But neither of them sounded like they were ready to stop pushing.
"The mood isn't the best because defeats are accumulating and we feel we could have earned more points in several of these matches," Martino said. "But when you get knocked down you have to keep getting up. That's what soccer is, that's what competition is. Nobody gets the results they want when they want them. The only obligation is to get up, come to training, and give your best in every match. There's no other option."
Mihaj put it plainly.
"It's too early in the season. We played only seven games. Of course, it's not what we expect, and it's not what we work for. But it's two ways: either we give up or we continue. So now we have to continue."