{"id":35383,"date":"2021-07-25T14:05:59","date_gmt":"2021-07-25T18:05:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/?p=35383"},"modified":"2021-07-25T14:06:42","modified_gmt":"2021-07-25T18:06:42","slug":"atlanta-united-improving-rob-valentino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/2021\/07\/25\/atlanta-united-improving-rob-valentino\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlanta United improving under Valentino despite 1-0 home loss to Columbus Crew"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Editorial \u2014 <\/strong>Despite falling to a fifth defeat of the season, Atlanta United put in a much-improved performance during Saturday night&#8217;s 1-0 home loss to Columbus Crew.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s now been two games since the Five Stripes parted ways with Gabriel Heinze, with coach Rob Valentino managing the team on an interim basis during that time. And while, thus far, Atlanta have just one point to their name in games <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/2021\/07\/21\/cincinnati-atlanta-united-post-heinze-era\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">against FC Cincinnati<\/a> and Columbus, there has been a distinct improvement in performance levels.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Atlanta United improving under Rob Valentino<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In both games, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/competitions\/mls-regular-season\/2021\/matches\/cinvsatl-07-21-2021\/stats\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Atlanta dominated<\/a> possession, shots and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlssoccer.com\/competitions\/mls-regular-season\/2021\/matches\/atlvsclb-07-24-2021\/stats\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Expected Goals<\/a> and, as stated by Valentino after the Columbus match, can count themselves unlucky to leave the double-header against the Ohio sides with just a single point.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;To have that many shots and not have something fall, I\u2019m gutted for them because I think they deserve something from that game,&#8221; he told reporters on Saturday. &#8220;I think they deserve to win the game. I think they deserve more goals than we actually got. We didn\u2019t get any so that\u2019s frustrating for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But a raucous atmosphere reverberated around a \u00a067,507-strong crowd at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday, with supporters sounding their pleasure at the improved nature of their side&#8217;s performance despite not finding the net. But it&#8217;s not just the <em>17s\u00a0<\/em>that are enjoying the increased emphasis on attack under Valentino.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Final from <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MBStadium?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@MBStadium<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/pWj3qt4ytf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/pWj3qt4ytf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Atlanta United FC (@ATLUTD) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ATLUTD\/status\/1419047957220012039?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 24, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>\u201cDefinitely,&#8221; right-back Brooks Lennon responded when asked if the team is feeling better about the performances under Valentino.<\/p>\n<p>He added: \u201cI think Rob wants us to play very attacking-minded football. When we create a turnover, he wants the first pass to be going forward and try and create an attack. We are going to continue that mentality in each and every game going forward. You saw against Cincinnati in the end, we created tons of chances but were unfortunate to tie that game. It\u2019s good to see us creating chances and guys looking to shoot on goal. I think the numbers speak for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Atlanta United working to restore club&#8217;s &#8220;identity&#8221;, says Anton Walkes<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Though he wasn&#8217;t critical of Heinze&#8217;s methods, praising the Argentine for the effect he had on his career, center-back Anton Walkes believes the experience Valentino has gained during his three years at the club is allowing him to bring through Atlanta&#8217;s &#8220;philosophy&#8221; quicker.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just don\u2019t think it was coming through as quick,&#8221; the Englishman told reporters. &#8220;I\u2019m not going to critique Gabi for his tactics, because I learned a lot under him. I\u2019m going to give him credit where it\u2019s due.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Rob has been here and seen what\u2019s it like to work under other coaches. He knows the philosophy and blueprint that worked here. The relationships he has with players I think, like when I\u2019ve gone through spells of not playing well, he\u2019s been there for me. Same with most of these other guys. The young guys, he\u2019s helped them turn from boys to men. You have to have respect for him. He knows what he\u2019s doing. I\u2019ve seen the amount of time he\u2019s put in, I\u2019ve honestly not seen anyone at the club put the amount of time he\u2019s put in. He knows what he\u2019s doing. I\u2019m going to believe in him. He believes in us. He just wants us to go out and express ourselves. We have the capabilities to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>From Darren Eales right down to individual players, the feeling is Atlanta United&#8217;s ultimate goal is about resorting the club&#8217;s &#8220;identity.&#8221; Having worked at the club since 2018, when the Five Stripes won MLS Cup, Valentino is better versed in that identity than most. This, according to Walkes, is what has helped them become so much more creative in such a short space of time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTactics, what [Rob Valentino] expects of us, what he demands from us, how we feel we should play, how the club has played in the past, what the Club\u2019s identity is,&#8221; Walkes responded when asked about the team&#8217;s recent creative streak.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We need to get back to that since that is where the success came, and we are trying to follow in those footsteps again. We need to be more of a front-foot team. We need to be the ones who impose on the game and take it to people, especially here at home. I don\u2019t know the exact number of fans that were in here, but I\u2019m guessing close to seventy thousand, so with all our fans here, we need to make sure that we are going after teams and killing them off.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Atlanta United&#8217;s search for a first MLS win since May 16th continues when they travel to Florida on Friday to face fierce rivals Orlando City.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"wdVFZzqTS6lGmQLufrLt3Q\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1234165366\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'wdVFZzqTS6lGmQLufrLt3Q',sig:'9OpVdN7ZBuw7BWUxetppCpPKatXDR0XeYvinzLqK-MA=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1234165366',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Atlanta United lost 1-0 at home to Columbus Crew on Saturday but continued to show they&#8217;re improving under Rob Valentino&#8217;s interim management.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3863,"featured_media":35387,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[263,12,2,119,3],"tags":[4267,1132,4428],"class_list":["post-35383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-atlanta-united","category-crew","category-featured","category-mls","category-news","tag-anton-walkes","tag-brooks-lennon","tag-rob-valentino"],"modified_by":"Rachael Kriger, Senior Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3863"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35383\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}