ATLANTA – Nashville SC dropped its first contest since its inaugural Major League Soccer season restarted in a 2-0 defeat to Atlanta United FC on Saturday night.
The Boys in Gold took 15 shots compared to Atlanta’s six, putting five on target to Atlanta’s four. Head Coach Gary Smith sees the progress his players are making, but also knows they have more to offer going forward.
“I’m certain that the two-nil score line doesn’t reflect the way the game unfolded,” Smith said. “I think we limited them to two shots on target in the first half and one of them was a goal. Plenty of efforts, plenty of opportunities that we were certainly not clean enough and clinical enough. We’re still managing to keep ourselves in a very good and efficient shape to restrict a good side. In terms of progression and that’s the way I have to look at it, I think we’re moving in the right direction.”
Saturday night’s match was Nashville’s fifth match of the season and third since the restart. It is still very early in Nashville SC’s existence as an MLS expansion team, but Smith isn’t pinning the team’s scoring drought on any typical expansion team woes.
“If you’re saying an expansion team, what immediately springs to mind is a team that is lacking cohesion and understanding and structure,” Smith said. “I don’t think that’s us. What we’re looking at here is a group that in ridiculously strange circumstances we’ve been stop, start, lots and lots of time off from each other. We’re going to take some time obviously to find a real pinnacle of our play in any department. When you look at what is going on in the final third, it’s not that we’re not creating, it’s not that we’re not actually a very decent unit defensively. It’s a feel and a sparkle from individuals that haven’t played for a long time. What we’re seeing certainly from our guys is a lack of goal appreciation. I’d be more concerned if we weren’t creating chances.”
Nashville will have a quick turnaround ahead of a busy week as they take on Orlando City SC on Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. CT before playing their first home match since February on Sunday night against Inter Miami CF at 7:30 p.m. CT. Captain Dax McCartyknows the attack has to improve, but also thinks it’s not just on the attackers to make it work.
“It’s not just our attackers, it’s everyone, all 11 players are involved all the way back to Joe (Willis), to the defenders, to the fullbacks getting involved in the attack, to our midfielders giving our attacking players a platform to be successful,” said McCarty. “And ultimately it comes down to our attacking players having joy, and having freedom, having confidence. I think we are lacking a little bit of confidence right now on the attacking third. We are getting into good areas; We just aren’t super clean and super crisp in the ways we are going about trying to get goals. So, I think the chances are going to continue to come. I think we have a good team and we have good attacking players. It’s just a matter of getting the ball in the back of the net, scoring one and then getting a few more to back those up.”
