Atlanta United’s players were not prepared for what Tata Martino had in store for them. The 2017 season had ended with a disappointing shootout loss to the Columbus Crew and the revered Argentine manager was going to make immediate tactical changes. He would scrap his preferred defensive back four for an unconventional and attack-minded back three.



“The guys were coming in and telling me about it,“ midfielder Jeff Larentowicz recalls. “And they’re saying, ‘Tata wants the center backs overlapping. He wants the center backs in the box scoring goals.’ And we’re all going ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’”



Throughout Atlanta’s championship season in 2018, Martino expected his center backs to build play and get forward. In 2019, Frank de Boer wants to shift that responsibility away from his back line and implement a 3-4-3 formation. It’s the first big tactical change that the Dutch...