Atlanta United’s first game after Pineda looked awfully familiar

Defender Derrick Williams said: “Winning 2-1 at home and they score – what was it, in the 86th minute, about – we need to see our games be better. Frustrating, disappointing.

“That’s not what we’re looking for,” forward Daniel Rios said.

Valentino called it disappointing, saying “these are moments we have to stop.”

So a team that made a midseason change in hopes of a change in direction finds itself, at least after the first post-Pineda game, stuck on the same underperforming path.

Certain aspects of the match indicated that Valentino’s leadership in the latter half of the regular season could lead to improved results. Atlanta United played a more direct and aggressive style which helped score the first goal. In the 25th minute, with his team trailing 1-0, Rios chased down a long pass from goalkeeper Brad Guzan and, after collecting the ball from a Houston defender, attacked the goal and skillfully created a chance to score. score with a backheel to replace Luke. Brennan. After Brennan fed midfielder Thiago Almada for a point-blank shot that was denied, Rios sent the rebound into the net to tie the game at 1.

And, after taking a 2-1 lead thanks to a goal from Xande Silva in the 55th minute, Atlanta United avoided one of their cardinal sins – allowing the opponent to fight back and score quickly. Williams made one of the plays of the game, deflecting a Houston blast that could have been goal-related. In the 84th minute, Guzan saved the match – at least temporarily – by heading Latif Blessing’s point-blank header from a cross that would have tied the game at 2.

The 19-year-old Brennan, making his second MLS appearance, gave the team good production after coming on in the 18th minute after midfielder Edwin Mosquera left due to injury.

“I’m happy for him because we saw him do those things in preseason and he finally did it in a game,” Williams said of Brennan.

Silva also had a strong game, scoring Atlanta United’s second goal in the 55th minute on a blast near the baseline from a near-impossible angle past goalkeeper Steve Clark.

And notably, the Five Stripes played without five key players, all starters: striker Giorgos Giakoumakis, defenders Luis Abram and Stian Gregersen and midfielders Saba Lobjanidze and Bartosz Slisz. Either they were on their way to a Mexican club (Giakoumakis), or they were on the national team (Abram, Lobjanidze and Slisz), or they were injured (Gregersen). In the first match of his second round as an interim, Valentino had a rather thin hand.

There is undoubtedly reason to be encouraged.

But it was the beginning and the end that left Atlanta United with this unwanted draw. Houston was the better team early and scored in the fifth minute when the Five Stripes provided careless defense on a corner kick. This resulted in a goal by former Atlanta United defender Franco Escobar, left unguarded at the far post for a header.

And, while Atlanta United held off Houston for much of the second half, a defensive error allowed the dangerous Blessing to pass into the penalty area off his chest and then half-volley in front of Guzan.

“So (Guzan’s save in the 84th minute) was kind of a wake-up call moment and we didn’t learn from it,” Williams said. “Very disappointing to concede a goal like that so late in the match. But yeah, we just have to wake up and we have to be better.

“It’s the culmination of mistakes,” Valentino said. “We can’t allow that this late in a game.”

The tie ended Atlanta United’s unprecedented five-game losing streak at home. And the Five Stripes withstood the initial deficit. And they performed despite a weakened squad. And perhaps Valentino needs more time to make changes to turn around a team that has now won one game in its last 11 games.

But it wasn’t a result to cherish, not for a team with aspirations of becoming a legitimate playoff threat. Not against a team that sits in the middle of the Western Conference standings, not when Pineda’s firing should get everyone’s attention and not when president Garth Lagerwey has made it clear that no one’s place on the roster is assured.

In other words, if Pineda was still manager, this result would not have reduced the pressure on him.

“Maybe a little different, in some ways, in the way we conceded, but I’m disappointed with how it ended up holding up,” Valentino said. “I’m not happy about this.”

In this, Valentino has company.