Retribution was the story of the week in the ATL as Atlanta United returned the 3-1 score line to New York City FC, this time in favor of Atlanta. After traveling north just three weeks ago and enduring defeat at Yankee Stadium, the Five Stripes would prove their resilience at home, notching three goals in the first half all within a seven-minute span to bury NYCFC early in the match.
“It was important for ourselves,” said team captain Michael Parkhurst. “We talked about the game in New York City was our biggest disappointment of the year. It was our worst performance and we got away from our style of play and we wanted to atone for that tonight and we were able to do that.”
Atlanta struggled defensively in their last matchup, leaving gaps exposed in the back line that allowed the NYCFC front men to run free. The team knew they had to tighten up for their rematch, but defense is not only the responsibility of those on the back line. Parkhurst gave recognition to the entire team’s effort in Sunday’s victory, especially praising the pressure of their attacking personnel.
“Our pressure up front was fantastic,” he said. “I can’t even count the number of balls their center backs passed out of bounds and that is rare for them. Tito (Héctor Villalba), Yamil (Asad), Miguel (Almirón), Julian (Gressel) were fantastic up front with their first line of pressure. If those guys have the timing on the ball, their movement is very good and it is very difficult for us when their guys don’t have time to pick up their heads and take their time. It makes our life a lot easier.”
Through Atlanta’s 12 matches so far, NYCFC remains the only team to open the scoring on the expansion side. In their last meeting in New York, reigning MVP David Villa caused immediate issues for Atlanta and eventually punished the back line just 17 minutes in. Atlanta United's captain knew they had start on the front foot this time around and that started with containing the opposition.
“Defensively, we talked about making sure that we stay with runners,” said Parkhurst. “Villa, (Maximiliano) Moralez, (Rodney) Wallace and (Jack) Harrison -- they like to do little flicks and runs -- and they score a lot of goals like that. We wanted to make sure we stayed with runners in those cases, but our pressure up the field is very important and it was fantastic tonight.”
In terms of Atlanta’s play on the other side of the ball, it was all about re-establishing their possession-oriented style, their composure and their ambition from the defensive third. “We wanted to really play out of the back,” said Parkhurst. “We know that they were going to press us high up the field but we wanted to take the chances and try and find the passing lanes and our second goal came directly from it. It came straight from Alec on the wing went right up the left hand side and Tito finished it off.”
Atlanta will look to roll on their momentum from last week and tie a three game win streak together as they head north of the border to Vancouver to face off against the Whitecaps for the first ever meeting between the two clubs. Kickoff is set for Saturday, June 3 at 5:30 p.m. ET and will be televised on FOX Sports Southeast.
