Training Ground Notebook: Everybody wants the ball, somebody has to make the run
- Jason Longshore
- Apr 9
- 7 min read
The themes from Thursday's media session were familiar ones: why the attack is not clicking, what last year's collapse means for this year, and whether this group can find the spark it showed against Philadelphia before the table gets away from it.
Atlanta United came out of Thursday's media session sounding like a team that has identified its problems clearly and is still searching for the consistent answers.
Tata Martino and Alexey Miranchuk covered a lot of ground between them. They talked about the tactical logic behind the Columbus game plan, the shot volume problem, the fullback reliance that is not quite paying off, and the one sequence from the Philadelphia win that gave everyone a glimpse of what this team could look like when it stops playing to avoid losing. What came through most was a group that is not confused about what it needs to do. The harder part is doing it reliably enough to matter.
The next chance to show progress comes Saturday night at Soldier Field against Chicago Fire, with kickoff set for 8:30 p.m. But the conversation on Thursday felt like it was about something larger than one match. It was about whether Atlanta can avoid repeating last year's pattern, and whether there is still enough runway to change the story.
When you stop being careful, good things happen
Miranchuk's most useful contribution on Thursday was not tactical. It was psychological.
He was asked about a sequence in the Philadelphia game, the one where the attackers were playing back heels and flicks and showing their skills. He remembered it. His read on what that moment meant was honest and a little uncomfortable.
He said when a team is not winning and not scoring, you lose a little confidence. The instinct becomes to play it safe, to take simple passes and keep possession rather than try something that might not come off. The Philadelphia sequence happened because, in that moment, the team let go and just played freely. His prescription for getting back there was simple enough in theory: free your minds and be willing to take risks.
"Maybe we should try just, you know, free our minds and be risky sometimes."
The reason that matters is that it helps explain something Tata also touched on, which is that Atlanta has good ball-moving players who are capable of real circulation quality. The team showed that against Philadelphia. The problem is that circulation without depth does not break teams down. Good movement without a willingness to play the risky pass into the final third just keeps the ball going sideways until someone loses it. The lack of risk was a factor in Atlanta struggling to get into the attacking 18 often against Columbus.
Both men are describing the same underlying issue from different angles. The talent is there. The confidence to use it fully is still catching up.
Last year is not forgotten, and neither is the obligation
There was a more emotional undercurrent to Thursday's session when the conversation turned to Tata's previously stated belief that last year's team had more quality than its final standing reflected, and that the group stopped believing in itself too soon.
He did not deflect from it. He acknowledged that coming back to a club where he has history, where the bond with the city and the fanbase is real, creates a sense of obligation that goes beyond the professional. He returned because he wants to help Atlanta get back to what it has shown it can be at its best. He said that bond makes the current situation harder than it might be elsewhere, because the expectation he carries into every day here is partly his own.
Miranchuk framed the forward-looking version of that same feeling. He said he believes there is a moment coming, maybe one road result, that could shift the trajectory of the season. One win in the right place and everything can start moving in a different direction.
"I believe that at some point we can turn the season around."
That is not a dramatic declaration. It is the kind of modest, specific hope that makes sense when you are in a hole but can see the way out. The risk Atlanta faces, and what makes this period genuinely tense, is that the window where a single result can still change everything does not stay open indefinitely. Last year, the team ran out of time before it found that result. That is the ghost that Thursday's session was really addressing, whether anyone said so directly or not.
The fullback equation is not adding up consistently
On the tactical side, the most revealing exchange of the session involved Tata's explanation of how this team is supposed to create.
In the system Atlanta has been running, width and attacking depth come from the fullbacks. Tata said that plainly. He also acknowledged that against Columbus, the fullbacks' attacking presence was noticeably lower than in previous games. He pointed to the goal tallies across recent matches and said fullback involvement has been part of most of them, whether by shot, goal, or assist. The consistency he wants is not there yet, and he knows it.
He also identified something that connects directly to the shot volume problem. The interior midfielders are not getting into the box enough. The fullbacks go wide and forward, the midfield is supposed to balance behind them, and someone in the middle needs to arrive late into the area when the right moment comes. That arrival has not been consistent.
Miranchuk described the same system from his position. He said he drops inside to create room for Tomás Jacob to make the runs up and down the right side, because Jacob has the athletic profile to cover that ground. The idea is to use his own tendency to combine inside as a way to free up the space that Jacob can then attack.
It is a coherent plan. The question is whether it is being executed with enough regularity to actually stress opposition back lines.
The Alzate diagnosis and who actually stretches the field
That brings in the comment that generated some internal conversation earlier this week. Steven Alzate observed on Tuesday that most players on this roster prefer the ball to feet rather than making runs in behind. He was not wrong.
Miranchuk was asked about it directly and did not try to spin it. He put himself in that category, said he is not a 100-meter sprinter, and pointed to Matías Galarza and Jacob as players who can provide the stretching runs the team needs. If defenders know that most of Atlanta's best players want to receive to feet, they can stay compact and invite the possession without real fear of being run in behind.
Galarza, in Miranchuk's description, gives the midfield something specific. He can make the run that neither Miranchuk nor Miguel Almirón will consistently make. He gives the structure more depth and width and can help unlock the best of the attackers.
The challenge is not identifying the solution. It is making sure the players who can stretch the field are actually being used in a way that forces defenders to respect it.
Tata was honest about the press, and Liverpool explained why
One of the cleaner moments of Thursday's session came when Tata was pushed on whether this team can actually high press effectively.
He said, without much hesitation, that it cannot against every opponent. He explained the Columbus game plan in that context: the Crew build well out of the back, a disorganized high press against them is a risk, so Atlanta trained all week to drop into an intermediate block and stay compact rather than chase the ball high.
He then used yesterday's Liverpool result against PSG as a broader point about where the game is going. Liverpool, a team that defined high-press football for years, played a back five with a midfielder as the striker against PSG. They made that choice because trying to press PSG high is not a plan. It is a concession.
"You can press PSG high and they're going to score a goal on you. Or you can retreat, and they're still going to score a goal on you."
His larger argument was that teams playing out from the back have gotten good enough that sustaining a high press against the best of them is no longer realistic for most clubs. The teams that adapt, the ones that shift their defensive shape based on the opponent rather than applying one press template to every game, are the ones managing that reality best.
Atlanta is trying to be that kind of team. The question is whether the roster depth and the continuity of work are there yet to execute different approaches against different opponents, rather than just acknowledging in press conferences that those different approaches exist.
What this group still has to prove
The picture that emerges from Thursday is of a team that can see the version of itself it wants to be, has had at least one game where that version showed up clearly, and is now trying to figure out how to make it available consistently rather than occasionally.
Tata is not panicking. Miranchuk is not defeated. But there is a specificity to their frustration that suggests these are not problems they expect to solve slowly. The midfielders need to arrive in the box. The fullbacks need to be more involved higher up the field more often. The players who prefer the ball to feet need to be supported by runners who force defenders to make choices. The team needs to stop playing cautiously and be more willing to take some risks.
None of that is complicated to describe. Saturday night at Soldier Field is the next chance to do something about it.
Catch the full broadcast on 92.9 The Game. Five Stripes Countdown with Abe Gordon and Madison Crews gets things started at 7:30, with Mike Conti and Jason Longshore live from Soldier Field for kickoff at 8:30. Listen locally on 92.9 The Game or stream worldwide on Audacy.
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