Gonzalo Pineda expressed optimism for Atlanta United’s 2023 season despite the team’s 4-2 loss to the Columbus Crew in Game 3 of the first round of the MLS Cup Playoffs on Sunday night.

However, as he gets ready to determine the direction the team will take in 2024, Atlanta United’s head coach acknowledged that he’ll need to conduct a “longer analysis.”

He stated, “The last ten games were encouraging.” “We played a very, very good team in our last three games here. We need to get back together and get better for next year because Columbus is a very good team and they outperformed us in two of the three games.

That’s not to say Pineda was blind to the obvious issue, which was Atlanta’s tendency to give up goals late in games or at a high rate. Atlanta gave up 53 goals while placing second in the Major League Soccer regular season with 66 goals.

The Crew defeated Atlanta 12-3 at Lower.com Field on Sunday after scoring three goals in the first thirty-three minutes of play in all three competitions.

“We need to examine how we can strengthen our goal-leaping performance, which has been our weakness this season,” he stated. “That doesn’t just apply to goalies, defenders, and center mids. It’s all of them combined. We must perform better. That was how I felt about the game today, particularly the first half.

Now that Miles Robinson’s future with the team is seriously in doubt, fixing that issue becomes more crucial. Despite being offered an extension, all indications point to the center-back, who is out of contract on December 31, leaving the team on a free transfer.

Pineda is resigned to whatever changes happen to Atlanta’s backfield, or anywhere else.

“I’ve been in the MLS for almost ten years, and every year there are changes,” he remarked. “How many changes there will be is a mystery to me. We need to analyze the entire team by speaking with Carlos [Bocanegra] and everyone else because we are aware that changes are constant. We must be careful to use this as a starting point. It isn’t as simple as beginning allonce more. I believe that perhaps we can both benefit from new members.

Therefore, Pineda advised against expecting philosophical shifts.

We’re not that far apart. We’re content with the way the team plays and how we play,” he remarked. “It’s just about making plays defensively, and sometimes it’s as a unit—it’s about those little details that we need to improve on both a team and an individual basis.”