MLS Eastern Conference: Hard-fought Hell is Real, BJ Callaghan’s first win & more on each team

Welcome back our two-part weekly MLS column here at Backheeled where we break down all 29 teams in the league.

Joe’s got the West. I’ve got the East. The Philadelphia Union got Inter Miami-ed. Let’s do this thing.

To read up on the West, check out Joe’s rundown.

MLS Western Conference: LA Galaxy can win it all, RSL’s growing pains & more on each team

We’re dissecting every MLS team in the Western Conference.

BackheeledJoseph Lowery

Atlanta United

Result: 2-0 loss vs. Nashville SC

This just about sums things up for the Five Stripes on Saturday:

Caleb Clark (@crescentcaleb) on Threads

Atlanta United played the last 15 minutes of the match vs Nashville with a nearly empty stadium. Even the supporters section started to leave early. The fans are done. ATLUTD

Threads

Atlanta have been bad for most of this season, but they entered Saturday’s clash with Nashville SC in a playoff position. Against a regional rival with the postseason still in touching distance, they looked flat, toothless, and even disinterested. Other than a Daniel Ríos zinger off the post, they hardly threatened Nashville’s goal.

Aleksey Miranchuk was invisible, with only three touches in the attacking penalty area, two shots, zero chances created, and no noticeable impact on the match. The Five Stripes were crying out for a player to grab onto the game and take charge. Miranchuk should be that guy (and still can be), but he was a far cry from what Atlanta envisioned when they signed him this summer.

Charlotte FC

Result: 2-1 loss vs. CF Montréal

Charlotte were one of several fringe B-tier teams who took a big step back in Matchday 32. Here’s what I said about them last week:

“Charlotte have been very, very good defensively. They’ve been much less good offensively. They’ve won three games since the start of June. In that stretch, they’ve scored just 15 goals (the New York Red Bulls are the only playoff team to score fewer), and since returning from Leagues Cup they’ve had the fourth-worst xGD in MLS.”

And here’s what Dean Smith said about them after a bad 2-1 loss in Montreal:

“We can’t give stupid goals away… we know converting our chances or making really good chances has been our Achilles heel all season, but we pride ourselves in not giving silly goals, staying in games and being really hard to beat. And the two goals today just wasn’t us.”

He’s right. The two goals were so uncharacteristically Charlotte. Like… what on earth is this defending?

This marking was equally poor:

For the first half of the season, Charlotte made up for a sub-par attack by being legitimately elite defensively. Recently, they’ve continued to be sub-par going forward with some mind-blowing defensive mistakes mixed in just for funzies. Pep Biel hasn’t moved the needle so far, and you’d be forgiven for forgetting he was on the pitch for most of the match on Saturday.

At least Tim Ream scored. That was fun.

Chicago Fire

Result: 2-1 win vs. New York Red Bulls