Rob Valentino capped off his interim time as Atlanta United head coach with four wins in a row, and catapulted the Five Stripes to eighth in the Eastern Conference. Gonzalo Pineda’s first game in charge yesterday against Nashville SC showed he did not change much from Valentino’s system on paper, but several alterations to midfield responsibility created a huge discrepancy in how the team transitioned.
But let’s take a step back and look at what made Atlanta different (and a little bit more successful) under Valentino, and how Pineda’s first lineup at the helm compared.