In the midst of a losing streak and goalless drought, the last thing Atlanta United wants to do is let the vibes drop.
Both Saba Lobjanidze and Brooks Lennon spoke to media after training Tuesday about what the team is doing to stay positive. It’s a mental challenge — especially with results much harder to come by than many expected for the team this season — but it’s imperative if they want to turn things around.
Maybe it was the corporate partners who were spectating training Tuesday morning, but the Atlanta United squad was extra hyper out on the pitch. The audience saw one of the 5-Stripes’ most rapid training sessions yet, and I’m not talking duration.
Players were getting after it in drills — swarming the ball, putting in physical challenges and, as per usual, yelling in competition. The good energy was flowing, not out of apathy for the team’s situation but from a determination to turn the tide mentally.
“We know we are not in good position now, but life is going on,” Lobjanidze said. “We have to be staying positive. We have to continue our job, and we have to be better. We'll be together.”
“Action is the key”
Saba uttered those words during his media availability Tuesday, a great summation of what Atlanta United had just put into practice.
Head coach Ronny Deila and his staff set up some fun, competitive drills to get the energy going. The first saw two teams of rondos competing to test which could complete the most passes over a period. Two players from the other team were sent to be the defenders in the opposite square, and when defenders cleared, they headed back to their team and two passers became defenders in the other square.
It was fast, fun and feisty, as the players packed into boxes that could barely hold more than 10 people. And they took it seriously.
“How you are in the training, you're the same in the game,” Lobjanidze said. “You have to be working in training like that, that winning mentality.”
There’s no better player to hammer that point home than Saba. You can see it on his face, in his body language, he treats every single session like it’s a full-blown match. He strikes the ball with pace and finesse, and when he doesn’t find the net, you can see it upsets him. He knows he can be better, and just because it’s training doesn’t mean he expects any less.
Training continued with another speedy drill, a two-on-two mini match with two mini goals each side. Four new players raced in to replace the others every time the ball went out of play, taking advantage of transition moments and slotting the ball away in tight windows.
The coaching staff played a part in drills, acting as all-time offensive outlets solely for passing while standing on the out-of-bounds lines during drills.
In these up-tempo drills, Atlanta United as a whole is striving to be like Saba, intense from start to finish in training and in matches. That means that no matter what happens, even if they concede, they’ll show their toughness and keep pushing.
“We have some mental experience as professionals,” Saba said. “We know what we have to do. Action is the key. We have to move, doesn't matter the situation.”
Leaning on love
Ahead of a home match against Nashville SC, Deila, according to Lennon, focused on his team’s mentality and how to make them more ruthless in Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“When we go back into [MBS], we need to feel like that's our home,” Lennon said. “We can't feel like that's foreign territory.”
The topic of mentality might’ve been brought up in a conversation that Deila had with his team in the locker room at Inter&Co Stadium after the Orlando City loss.
“[We were] pointing out the reasons why we come here every day, why we work so hard, why we put so much time into the preparation of things,” Lennon said. “It’s, at the end of the day, because we love this game. We all grew up playing it as kids. We need to get back to having smiles on our faces and enjoying it.”
They’re practicing that to a tee in training. No doom-and-gloom faces, even while the team sits lower on the table than they would like. They’re hoping that physical choice, to smile, the mental choice, to believe, is a difference maker.
But it’s more than just what happens at practice. These players are humans. Getting their mojo back isn’t just an on-the-pitch process. Both Saba and Lennon mentioned how what they do away from the game matters in their mental picture.
“Outside of soccer, also you have to stay positive, stay fresh,” Saba said. “We have to be good outside of the football, with the family, enjoy the life and after that, it will come. If you're sending positive things out in universe, it will come.”
Lennon offered some wise perspective of his own:
“Having positive influences around you, I fall back on a lot of people that are in my inner circle, my family, my close friends,” Lennon said. “[We’re also] understanding that we're playing soccer for a living. We’re not going to war, or we're not doing anything where your life is at stake. I do this because I love the game, and I enjoy the preparation and the steps it takes to be successful. That’s what it's all about, how you endure the tough times. Ultimately, you'll come out on top if you work as hard as you know you should work.”
