Frank De Boer Blames Fatigue For Draw with Philadelphia

Frank de Boer witnessed Atlanta United continue the winless start to the season after a 1-1 draw against Philadelphia Union during the weekend. This was yet another disappointing result for a team that was expected to struggle just a few months after winning the MLS Cup. This is down to the departure of Gerardo Martino, who has been an influential manager in the MLS since Atlanta came in as the new franchise a couple of years ago. Atlanta started the campaign with a 2-0 away defeat against DC United. This was followed by more setbacks in the CONCACAF Champions League with the team losing against Monterrey with the 3-1 aggregate score.

The home matches against Cincinnati and Philadelphia Union were seen as a major help for the team to get the first victory out of the way. Yet, this has not been the case with Atlanta drawing both matches 1-1. Josef Martinez provided the lead against Cincinnati before Atlanta conceded late on in the match. The game against Philadelphia witnessed the visitors taking the lead through Brenden Aaronson just after half-time before Ezequiel Barco was able to equalise a few minutes later. Atlanta may have kept more than 60% of the ball but they ended up having only one shot on target in this match.

The recent involvement in the CONCACAF Champions League seems to have made the players tired, according to the manager. “You see that we’re missing that little bit of freshness to make a difference, to get a pass to the right man at the right speed, or that first control. We made still too many errors when it’s not necessary, in my point of view. And I think that the reason mostly is because of the freshness we are missing right now. Hopefully after this international period, we can see a fresh United,” said Frank de Boer.