Wednesday’s training felt like a marathon, and I wasn’t even the one running. Head coach Ronny Deila had his players out on the field at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Training Ground for around two hours, and it’s no secret why. His squad has its biggest task yet this season: a date with Inter Miami on Sunday Night Soccer. They’ve got to be top, as Deila would put it, when the defending Supporters’ Shield winners come to town.
So, what we saw on the pitch Wednesday was for good reason. The players have bought into intense training sessions as they become more accustomed to the demands of the regular season.
The work is also coming from a place of self-reflection. The squad knows their second half performances need to be more convincing. That’s especially true after the match with New York Red Bulls, where the first half of play was a clear picture of Atlanta’s quality, and the second half was a little foggier.
Now’s the time to put all the pieces together. Miami, Cincinnati and New York City are waiting in the wings, three Eastern Conference opponents who will pose a threat to Atlanta United’s quest for top four or more this season.
Thankfully for the 5-Stripes, some pieces are becoming available again:
Fullback in action
Atlanta United’s two fullbacks with the most playing experience, Pedro Amador and Brooks Lennon, were both injured to start the season, but it looks like the two of them have a chance to share the pitch Sunday. Amador played a full 90 minutes in Saturday’s draw with Red Bulls, putting in an absolute shift on the defensive end.
“I'm an attacking player, so of course I like to attack,” Amador, who played left back Saturday, said. “But I know being a defender, the first job is to defend. With that said, I do like attacking.”
How valuable is it to have a fullback who is so keen to be forward yet so composed in defense? In Deila’s system, it’s priceless. He asks his left and right back to overlap frequently. As Amador said, it creates 2v1 opportunities to take advantage of.
On top of Amador’s excellent return, Lennon is a full participant in training and has a chance to play Sunday. He’s the final piece to fit in Atlanta United’s back line. The shoulder injury he suffered in the Eastern Conference semifinals last year is healed, and he said he feels really to roll come Sunday. Barring any setbacks, he’ll be available for selection.
It's a happy surprise, as initially Lennon expected to be out for longer.
“We all collaborated together and formulated a plan as soon as the injury happened,” Lennon said. “My mentality and how I approached rehab is we wanted it to go faster than normal. [I’m] really proud of how I approached it. Now I'm able to come back much sooner than we originally thought.”
After a series of shoutouts to the people who helped him throughout the process of getting healthy, Lennon said he spoke with many players who also hurt their shoulders for advice on how to heal. That list included current players like Weston McKennie and club icons like Michael Parkhurst.
Lennon’s rehab was demanding, he said, but he stuck it out through long days of recovery and contact testing, where staff slowly ramped up how much contact he was able to absorb.
Lennon, of all people, wasn’t used to not being out on the pitch. He played 2957 minutes last season for Atlanta United, a team high and career high for him. He’s been a model of consistency, one that the 5-Stripes leaned on last season and will lean on this year.
“I feel great,” Lennon said. “I've had a bunch of great training sessions. I've built my fitness back to 100%, and I'm just eager to get back on the field and help the lads. Every game, it's tough for me to watch from the sidelines, so just super eager and excited to get back.”
Though 17s will be thrilled to see their ironman back out on the pitch, Lennon’s replacement Matt Edwards has been valuable himself. There’s still a world in which Edwards starts Sunday and Lennon makes an appearance off the bench. Regardless, Lennon’s quality and professionalism in training is already setting a great example for the young fullbacks on the squad.
Building blocks
There’s always something to improve for Deila. He’s never been the complacent type, the continue-as-is coach. After Red Bulls, a match where Atlanta United outproduced New York in attack, he spent much of his postgame press conference talking about the ways in which his team builds the ball up. It was a spot where he felt his players were too aggressive, trying to “win the game with one pass.”
“It’s finding the balance between the moments when we need to have more patience and the moments when we can play forward,” Amador said. “There's times where we need to be a little more patient and keep the ball and try to get more players involved.”
The speech was ironic given, just earlier in the preseason, Deila said that his team wasn’t adventurous enough and played the ball backwards too often. It shows Deila’s understanding of balance in buildup, not becoming too predictable with how you move the ball.
And so, what does Deila do in training? He makes his players play horizontally for a drill to create attacks.
Side-to-side switching of play opened up multiple real chances in the first half against Red Bulls. Edwards had so much space to run in behind and whip balls into the box. Lennon took note and is excited to be a distributor. He credited Miguel Almirón and Deila for being intentional about having wingers invert inside to open space out wide.
“We watched a lot of film this morning on the Red Bulls game and how many good actions we had in that game with fullbacks overlapping,” Lennon said. “I think [it’s] going to be great for me. I'm just itching to get back and be able to put some dangerous crosses into the box and hopefully get some assists.”
The rest of training comprised of splitting the attackers and defenders so the forwards and wingers could work on dynamic finishing drills and the midfielders and defenders on, you guessed it, more building up. Then, scrimmages. Will Reilly shined with a goal as he looks to put his name in consideration for playing time.
The squad focused heavily on moving the ball forward, but it’s not for a lack of scoring opportunities in their matches. It’s that they want better ones.
“We haven't scored in two games, but I think the good thing is we're creating a lot of scoring chances,” Amador said. “I would be more concerned if we weren't creating those … I think we just need to be a little more concentrated in that final aspect and in our finishing.”
