MARIETTA, Ga. — Not long after Frank de Boer had finished his perfunctory hand shakes and quick talks to introduce himself to a new team in Atlanta United a year ago, he sat the group down in a video room at the team’s training ground to drill in a simple message: “We are the hunted.”
The team was coming off MLS Cup glory and the Dutchman was determined to keep his players motivated heading into a new season with new leadership on and off the pitch.
With a fresh season on the horizon this Saturday when the team travels to Nashville to take on MLS newcomers Nashville SC (8 pm ET | FOX, FOX Deportes, MLS LIVE on DAZN in Canada), de Boer’s message for 2020 can be distilled into one word: Consistency.
“We are not the hunted anymore. We're just one of those teams who I think are favored to go to the playoffs,” De Boer said after Atlanta United’s training session Thursday. “We want to be more consistent — more consistent than last year. Especially away games, if we can win like 50 percent [more] away games than we did last season, then we have a lot of points more — I have confidence we'd be number one.
“So if we can manage that, to not be so inconsistent in away games, then we have a bright future ahead of us. That's one of our goals — to understand that you have to be ready every game and not only in your home stadium.”
Early returns for de Boer and Atlanta United management are promising, as they look to improve on last year's 6-10-1 away record in league play. Last year the team looked out of sorts and sluggish in their Concacaf Champions League opener against CS Herediano, escaping from Costa Rica with a 3-1 loss that could’ve been worse. This year, Atlanta passed its first test on the road, earning a 1-1 draw against FC Motagua in San Pedro Sula before taking care of business at home.
“We've done well in preseason so far and the games recently,” said midfielder Emerson Hyndman on Thursday. “We had to grind out a game and also had a game where we could show what we can do. So we've kind of had it all in the first two games a little bit, so I think we're prepared.”
The preparation Hyndman refers to manifests itself in many forms — from fitness to tactics. But for Atlanta, who wants to “play soccer” as de Boer so often describes, the key to success away from home may lie in pragmatism.
When asked about playing on the road in Nashville this weekend or against Club América in Estadio Azteca in early March, De Boer and Hyndman independently referred to the quality of the playing surface as being key to the team’s style of play.
“We know probably how they will play, but [the uncertainty] is what kind of ambiance is in the stadium and how the pitch is,” said De Boer. “For them, it's something new and they're going to be maybe a little bit nervous, but we're going to have a lot of respect for them. They're going to want to put something nice on the pitch Saturday because it's the first home game for them, so we have to be really well prepared.”
