Atlanta United’s 3-1 loss to Nashville SC at GEODIS Park Saturday felt familiar:
Playing without a striker, the team came under pressure in the early moments of the game, survived those moments (maybe the one unexpected twist), but later conceded before halftime off a set piece, then again 10 minutes after the restart, held a vast majority of the possession and yet only created less than a handful of interesting opportunities on goal. In the end, the team scored off a penalty, but created only 0.6 xG from open play outside of that moment. In the end, outside of a 10-minute stretch at the end of the match in which there was small hope of a draw, Atlanta never felt like they were within arms reach of a result, and the better team got the deserved rewards from the game.