The Forward Press: Atleti Find Relief in Much Needed Pacific Win
It hasn’t been a road trip to remember just yet for Atlético Ottawa, but the club has finally found a win to show for it, beating Pacific FC 3-0 off of three set piece goals. It was a relatively well managed result, exactly what the club would have been after to stop the slide which had quickly turned into four straight without a win. Despite assuring his faith was in Ballou Tabla in the prematch presser, Carlos González made the bold call to drop Tabla to the bench along with talisman Ollie Bassett, opting for a changed shape as Atleti took to Starlight Stadium with five in the back line. Kris Twardek didn’t travel, so it was Dani Morer who slotted in on the right side of the pitch. Ilias Iliadis, who joined the post match press conference, occupied the left centreback role and chipped in with an Olimpico goal, his second goal as an Atlético Ottawa player (his first coming against Forge near the tail end of last season). His curling effort was bookended by first half strikes from Sissoko from an early header and Rubén Del Campo late in the half, who smashed home a third to bring his league goals tally to nine. In goal, Nate Ingham returned to the net and was rewarded with a clean sheet. Carlos González joined the press for a brief post-match presser alongside Ilias Iliadis. Here are all the details:
The Quotes: Ilias Iliadis
On takeaways: “It was a statement victory, especially having to fly all the way across the country to play an away game. It's not easy. So for us, it was just to get back to winning ways. And what better place to do it than here?”
On returning to ATO: “There's a lot of new faces, that's for sure. But I feel very comfortable. The club treated me last year with a lot of respect, and I really enjoyed my time here. So, yeah, it's great to be back. And I'm just enjoying every moment with the guys.”
On scoring the second Olimpico in ATO history: “The tactic was simply to put the ball towards the goal and see what happens. I’m happy that it was a goal.”
The Quotes: Carlos Gonzalez
On takeaways: “At the end of the day, I'm really proud of the effort that the players put on the field. They showed a lot of courage and a lot of commitment since the beginning. I think that we did the game that we had to do to change a bad dynamic and to show everyone that we are alive again.”
“How big a confidence booster will this be?”: “A big one. We spoke the last few weeks that the team was growing in a different way with the bad situation, and how to bounce back from a bad situation. We've done it today. It was important to change the dynamic. It was important to show solidness. It was important to maintain the clean sheet and to grow from the details…I think it's a great starting point to grow again.”
On dropping Bassett and Tabla: “We felt that today for the type of game we want to play, we choose, as always, the best players that I thought that they were matching the game plan. I'm very proud of having this type of players in the bench that they can impact and always improve the team.”
On setting sights on Halifax: “I think that now we have to enjoy. It's very important. We have been like a while without winning – a month and a bit. So now it's time to enjoy. It's time to rest a little bit. And then on Monday, Tuesday, we will get back to the job and we will get back to planing the game and to start to grow again.”
The Big Takeaway: Big Changes Pay Off for González
A week ago in the Forward Press, I wrote that the big game players need to step up or step out of the way. I did not expect it to be the latter, especially after González spoke in the prematch presser of the faith he had in the struggling Ballou Tabla.
Fast forward a few days and Ballou and Ollie are on the bench together for the first time this season to face Pacific. The changes facilitated a change in tactics by Carlos González which saw Ilias Iliadis, who was brought in to apparently play virtually every position on the left side, including, apparently, playing as a very mobile left centreback. This saw Atleti fall into a back five in defense with de Brienne and Morer patrolling up and down the wings. It proved an effective strategy – even if it didn’t contribute directly to any goals, it was enough to shut out Pacific FC.
It’s a risky play by González – to revert back to the back three which had failed last year and then to not win against Pacific might have proved a glaring signal that González had run out of ideas. Instead it worked well enough, with de Brienne exerting his offensive exuberance with the insurance of an extra man in defence behind him. One imagines Kris Twardek would thrive in a role with less defensive responsibility. With the potentially incoming centreback Jesús Del Amo, there may be a future to this formation, even if it means keeping some key players demoted to watching from the bench.
Of course, there will be bigger tests than Pacific FC, and after being outgunned in expected goals on Saturday, González will have to prove his back five can bend but not break against much stiffer opposition should he choose to stick with it. But after over a month of the same predictable ATO, González has proven that his old dog of a team can still learn some new tricks.
About the Author
Ben Ralph is a die-hard football fan and a journalism student at Carleton. He has been supporting Everton through the ups and downs (but mostly the downs) and could not believe his luck when he stumbled across Atlético Ottawa in 2021. Now part of the Atleti faithful, his dream has always been to write football stories, and he is excited to join other fans as writers for CCSG. His football journalist idols are Adam Hurrey, James Richardson, and Charlie Eccleshare from The Football Cliches Podcast.
