Ronny Deila and Atlanta United are having an all-time underperforming/unlucky season based on GD-xGD. Their actual GD is 0.79 lower per game than their xGD. NO MLS team has had a worse number over a full season since ASA started in 2013. A lot of that is because Guzan is old and not very good any more so they concede more goals than their field play would suggest, but the offensive underperformance is equal to that of the defensive side.
Ronny's NYCFC teams were up and down on this scale. The 2021 championship season was crazy, with a cumulative -05.81 GD-xGD over the first 30 games ("Deila Out!"), then an absurd +5.03 over the final 4, with continued good performance in the post-season ("Please Stay Ronny").
Atlanta is not exactly good, but their field play is good enough they should have a GD of negative 1 or 2 instead of -18, and enough points to be in the play-in game if they were in the West.
Ronny needs to sit Guzan. The GM might probably need to target a new #1 keeper in 2026. And Deila should get a second year, or most of one at least. Ronny did not cause the -5 GD-xGD play through the first 30 games of 2021, nor did he cause the reversal to +5 in the final 4 games and then playoffs. All he did was put a system in place to give the team a chance to do well, which they wasted for much of 2021 and then exceeded in a fortunately timed brief burst at the end.
Ronny's NYCFC teams were up and down on this scale. The 2021 championship season was crazy, with a cumulative -05.81 GD-xGD over the first 30 games ("Deila Out!"), then an absurd +5.03 over the final 4, with continued good performance in the post-season ("Please Stay Ronny").
Atlanta is not exactly good, but their field play is good enough they should have a GD of negative 1 or 2 instead of -18, and enough points to be in the play-in game if they were in the West.
Ronny needs to sit Guzan. The GM might probably need to target a new #1 keeper in 2026. And Deila should get a second year, or most of one at least. Ronny did not cause the -5 GD-xGD play through the first 30 games of 2021, nor did he cause the reversal to +5 in the final 4 games and then playoffs. All he did was put a system in place to give the team a chance to do well, which they wasted for much of 2021 and then exceeded in a fortunately timed brief burst at the end.
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