Sunday may have been an unusual sight for Atlanta United fans: a team built on free-flowing, possession-based, attacking soccer sat back in a defensive set-up to absorb pressure. Head Coach Tata Martino admitted this was not how he usually likes his teams to play.
“It wasn't our prettiest performance tonight,” he said through a translator, “but it was practical in our approach and I think that's important as a team to be able to adjust to different situations and overcome different situations, especially in the playoffs.”
That sums it up: not pretty, but practical. And it was certainly effective, sealing the aggregate win under heavy pressure in a harsh road environment.