As Atlanta United prepare to welcome fans back to Mercedes-Benz Stadium for the first time since their 2018 MLS Cup triumph, new coach Frank De Boer has been instituting his own tactical approach with mixed results.
In a press conference Friday ahead of Atlanta’s 2019 MLS home opener against FC Cincinnati on Sunday (5 pm ET | ESPN), De Boer gave a glimpse into that approach, in which he wants his club to be focused on building more patient attacks.
By doing so, the idea is to attack in a shape that allows you to create waves of chances, rather than being vulnerable to a counter by the opposition as soon as one chance dissipates. To communicate that priority, there’s a key catchphrase Atlanta use: "Lock it on."
“You’re trying to search for words that they understand,” De Boer said. “If I say one word, they already understand, and 'Lock on,' I think everybody knows that.”
It’s definitely a work in progress for his club, who have lost three of their four matches in all competitions under De Boer.
Two of those were in away legs of the Concacaf Champions League. And while Atlanta overcame a 3-1 deficit after Leg 1 of their first-round tie against CS Herediano, they now sit in a 3-0 hole facing the second leg of their quarterfinal against Monterrey.
De Boer explained that part of their struggles with results so far have been struggling with that principle. Against Monterrey, Atlanta were outshot 17-5 in a 3-0 defeat, and often failed to connect sometimes speculative passes going forward.
“If you have to give the 100 percent ball that a player can play one against one, you have to give it," he said. "But if you do it four times in a row and four times it not succeed, then you have to make other choice of just keep the ball then. Because if 10 seconds, 20 seconds, you’re running behind the ball, you put a lot of energy as a team, and two seconds [after you get it] you give it away. So why you do it then at that moment?”
As an example, De Boer suggested when it’s appropriate for a wide player to send in a cross.
“So if we have a center or a cross, we have a minimum of three players in the box of the opponent,” he said. “And you know that everybody is around, so when the ball falls out, we can challenge the second ball and try to attack again.”
It’s a shift from the approach Atlanta employed in their first two seasons under Tata Martino, but De Boer believes it’s one his players should be motivated to buy into.
“I always say ‘What do you want? Do you want another attack, or just to run back 60 yards?’” De Boer said. “So this is how we want to approach the game.”
