Atlanta United manager Frank de Boer didn’t hesitate when asked yesterday about squad rotation in 2019. “We have to rotate,” he said. It seems like an obvious answer as Atlanta prepares to enter what will be the busiest season since the team launched two years ago. And yet this represents a significant shift for a team that rarely rotated under previous manager Tata Martino.
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“Here (in MLS) there are a lot of teams that have more reserve players and can rotate them throughout the season,” Martino said last November. “Since last year, that’s something that I don’t necessarily agree with, so I don’t do it. Because no one can guarantee that if I don’t win in the eighth, ninth or 10th fixture, I’ll make the playoffs.”
De Boer has a deeper roster to work with and different priorities than his predecessor. Sources indicate that Martino was given the objective of qualifying for the CONCACAF Champions League at all costs, and this made winning MLS Cup his priority.
“It’s a different year this year,” said De Boer about the expanded number of games his team will be facing. “Everybody expects a lot from Atlanta United. That’s normal when you are champions. But also the CONCACAF Champions League we have to play.”
While they’ll certainly look to repeat as MLS Cup champions under the Dutch manager, Atlanta United will not be content this year if they aren’t challenging for the CONCACAF Champions League. They want to win it.
And that won’t be easy. Toronto FC suffered a 4-0 drubbing away to Independiente of Panama on Tuesday night. The Houston Dynamo required an 84th-minute goal from 36-year-old DaMarcus Beasley to squeak by Guatemala’s CD Gustatoya, a team making its first-ever Champions League appearance.
Going into Atlanta’s first-leg match on Thursday night away to Costa Rican champions CS Herediano, De Boer’s men would be foolish to take the competition lightly. Barring any unforeseen injuries, De Boer will approach the Champions League with his strongest available first-team lineup and rotate his players throughout the MLS season.
Squad rotation can make a coach seem indecisive, or worse, distrustful of his personnel. Former Mexico national team manager Juan Carlos Osorio was heavily criticized for his penchant to rotate players. And Martino was labeled as stubborn for refusing to rest his starters for fear of sacrificing valuable league points. However, an open philosophy of rotation and a new manager can strengthen competition among the players, especially those who aren’t regular starters.
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“You do feel, when a new coach comes in, that you’re sort of working from a blank slate,” said Atlanta United captain Michael Parkhurst. “It’s a chance for, especially guys that didn’t play a ton, to try and get in there and make a good impression.”
De Boer offered some insight as to how often he’ll rotate his players and the contributing factors that will influence those decisions.
“You’re going to have so many traveling hours and so many games in front us, so we have to rotate and look very carefully to our players if somebody is overworked,” he said. “That’s something for us but also for our head of performance, of course, to look very carefully for and ring alarm bells when something is close to that. We’re going to use a lot of amount of players this season.”
There aren’t many positional battles taking place within the Atlanta United team. De Boer has an experienced MLS roster at his disposal with returning starters at key positions. Atlanta United captain Michael Parkhurst revealed some changes the players are experiencing under their new manager, but overall, there should be little surprises in the starting XI when the team is fully fit.
“Frank (de Boer) has even said it to the team that, coming off a championship, he knows that we have a good team, so he’s not trying to come in here and bust down everything that was,” said Parkhurst. “Tactically when we’re out on the field he’s stuck with some of the main components of the team that were in the lineup last year and switching out a few here and there.”
The competition for left back looks to be wide-open between free agent signing Brek Shea and homegrown talent George Bello. But before Atlanta United supporters get too excited about Bello’s increased role this season, De Boer was adamant that both players will feature this year.
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“(George) Bello—he’s just 17; you can’t play him in all the games,” De Boer said. “We need Brek (Shea) or vice versa Bello. We need them both. The same for all the other players.”
Bello, in spite of his age, may have the edge right now given his familiarity with Atlanta’s system. Bello is entering his third season playing in Atlanta United’s setup, and if that’s the deciding factor for De Boer, he’ll make his third start for Atlanta United Thursday night against Herediano.
“It’s a new club for (Shea), maybe a different system,” De Boer said. “He has to adapt to that. George was already a little bit more familiar, but I think Brek is developing each day better and better. Again, it’s going to be a very difficult choice for me. I have to make those choices. I have no problem with that. But I can understand that one of them is disappointed that he’s not in the starting XI. But that’s also a good thing that he’s disappointed because he knows that he’s very close.”
(Photo courtesy Atlanta United)
