FC Dallas traveled down to Atlanta on Saturday for one of the oddest wins we've seen in a fair while. Despite being out-possessed 71% to 29%, Dallas came away with the 2-1 win.

There was both some good and bad from FC Dallas in this one but winning always makes everything better so there's plenty for FCD to take forward.

Yeah, it is [a good win], especially against the champion. It's important for our confidence since we have a lot of young players on the team. They see that we can win against teams like Atlanta, it gives them confidence because the season is long and so, at the end, I think we deserved it. - Reto Ziegler

Let's break it down.

Lineups and Tactics

For the first time under Coach Luchi Gonzalez, FC Dallas rolled out a 3-5-2 (or a 5-3-2 depending on your point of view). Edwin Cerrillo and Carlos Gruezo took up the twin-6s roles which wasn't that much of a change from their usual position.

John Nelson came on for Bressan in the 61st minute after the Brazilian pulled up with a hamstring issue. Then in the 72nd minute, Bryan Acosta game on for Jesus Ferreira and played a deeper role in midfield behind Barrios. Finally, Jacori Hayes came on for Paxton Pomykal in a late attempt to kill the game.

Atlanta United used a 4-2-3-1.

The Atlanta United starting XI vs FC Dallas. (4-20-19) (Atlanta United)

Atlanta brought on Gonzalo Martinez for Hector Villalba and Dion Pereira for Julian Gressel chasing the game.

Goals

1-0 FC Dallas Goal. 6th minute. Michael Barrios turns in midfield to beat two men and races against Brek Shea. The pass is perfectly weighted just past one center back to Jesus Ferreira who has beaten the other center back. Ferreira takes one touch and slots the ball home for the goal. Clinical.

2-0 FC Dallas Goal. 84th minute. Against the run of play to say the least. Reto Ziegler to John Nelson to Edwin Cerrillo who plays long to Michael Barrios. Barrios makes a fantastic cross to Bryan Acosta who has made the 75 yard run to get into the box and beat the defender. Both the effort to get there and the skill to one time the cross are impressive. It's so hard to volley a ball coming across your body and not get spin on it. Amazing skill.

2-1 Atlanta United Goal. 90+7 minute. PK by Josef Martinez.

I can't complain about this PK award via VAR. On replay, this is a foul by Carlos Gruezo.

El Bueno

The change of formation was an interesting one. If it's to try and contain Josef Martinez then it seems a good idea. In effect, you give up a winger to try and tighten up the defense. Not a whole lot is different beyond that due to the nature of the way FCD builds out of the back. Your Toros seemingly used a strategy of clogging the middle channel and making ATL do everything wide. Not allowing them chances from in front of goal. And generally making it damn near impossible for United to play their normal game in the final third.

I look at it more of as a three-back with the two and three as outside mids. If you saw, they were breaking their lines to the oppositions outside backs. So, we were encouraging Ryan and Reggie to put pressure on the opponent and then we felt we were defensively sound with three occupying Josef Martinez's space. We looked at it as more of a three-back, 3-4-1-2, but its fluid. It would become a five-back, especially when we were low. - Luchi Gonzalez

Jesse Gonzalez was my Man of the Match with 7 saves. Of late he's showing up on all the stat sheets as Jose Luis Gonzalez. I'll have to ask about that. He did get a little long ball happy and dropped down to 55% passing (7 for 19 on long balls). But I'll forgive him this time since he made so many scintillating saves. He also had the most touches in the game for FCD with 47... that's amazing.

Edwin Cerrillo could easily have been the Man of the Match as well. 88% passing, highest on the team among players with more than 2 passes. 1 key pass, 1 foul suffered, 4 tackles, and 3 clears. Less touches then Gruezo, who FCD played through more often, but Cerrillo was cleaner with the ball. Do I get to say "I told you so" on this kid yet?

Every match I'm just given the opportunity to go out there and start. I am nervous for every game but once I step on the field for the warmups, it kind of just goes away. I think game by game I'm gaining confidence from the coaches and from the players to show that I can play. - Edwin Cerrillo

Bressan looked pretty good in his 60 minutes. 36 touches and 73% passing, that was similar to Matt Hedges and 10% better than Reto Ziegler. 4 tackles and 6 clearances. Terrific to see that level of play from a guy who hasn't been getting time.

Michael Barrios and Jesus Ferreira ran an interesting combo line up top. Ferreira was looking like his normal, pure 9 striker role with Barrios as the right wing. With Paxton Pomykal basically as a 10, there was no real left wing out there other than Ryan Hollingshead overlapping from deep. It wasn't till late on while deep defending that Barrios moved central and played in the channel. Overall, it made for a lopsided shape and a very right sided Dallas attack (46% right). Now long run, we might be concerned about that, but it worked in this one.

Dallas did a solid job keeping Atlanta shots from wide and deep which resulted in Atl being off target most of the night. 22-shots seems like a lot but only 8 of them were on target.

FCD themselves did a wonderful job of clinical shooting. Only 8 shots, but 6 of them were on target and 2 were goals. That's a superb accuracy rate.

Matt Hedges was a leader and a force in the middle. Only 28 touches, but 3 aerials won and 7 clearances. A solid 75 % passing under the Atlanta onslaught.

El Camino del Medio

Atlanta coming into this game leading MLS in possession at 59%. Five midfielders should have let FCD have a larger share of possession but for the most part, they looked happy to sit and counter. Even in the first half, I felt like FCD was content with Atlanta having the ball. This is much more of a style from last year under Coach Oscar Pareja.

FCD has played 8 games this season. Edwin Cerrillo has now started 5 of the 6 games he's played in. With Bryan Acosta's callups and injuries, he's only started 3 of 5 games he's played in this year for FCD. That's startling. And it might get worse with the Gold Cup around the corner.

Muy Feo

The lack of possession was stunning as Luchi-Ball all but vanished... except for some first-half high press. The early goal probably contributed to this, but Dallas got dominated in every offensive stat but goals scored. 41% of all play was in the Dallas end. Possession was 71% to 29%. Passes 596 to 243... Dallas usually is around the 600 pass mark. It sure seemed like the entire second half Dallas sat deep and defended in a low block.

I think we need to maintain more possession. That is something that we have to work on. I think we are dropping back too soon when we can still maintain possession. We are still working on some tactics and I think throughout the year we are going to get better at those. - Jesse Gonzalez.

Marquinhos Pedroso didn't make the 18. John Nelson, who is admittedly more versatile, was in ahead of him. That's a bad sign for Pedroso I might be inclined to think.

Bressan coming up with a hamstring problem isn't good. You may recall I mentioned a little tightness there with him a couple of weeks back. I think that's the 4th hamstring problem this year by my count - Mosquera, Hayes, Badji, and Bressan - that's a bad trend.

Dallas needs to get better about coming out in the second half. Just as one example, Barrios didn't touch the ball for about 38 minutes to start period 2. This young club needs to learn how to stay on the throttle and put the game away earlier. Don't let the other team up off the mat.

Adidas Parley jerseys. Toothpaste and charcoal. *gack*

Next Game

FC Dallas hosts San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday, April 27th, at 2:30 pm CT at Toyota Stadium. The Earthquakes have had a tough season but rebounded this week with a 4-1 stomping of Sporting KC. We'll see which team shows up in Frisco.

It's also another doubleheader on Saturday as North Texas SC hosts Orlando City B immediately after the FCD game, 4:50 pm CT. Stick around and watch the future play.