The Forward Press: ‘If You Can’t Win Games, You Make Sure You Don’t Lose Them’
The wheels continue to fall off the ATO bus this week after a 2-1 loss to Cavalry at home, the aftermath of which saw the mentality of the squad being called into question. Almost six thousand fans waited two hours in a rain delay Saturday night to see the club kick off at 9 pm instead of the allotted 7 pm. But it became clear that Atlético Ottawa was to be second best in the match, and in the second half, it was Ali Musse who came off the bench to make that clear, scoring the first of his two goals. Atleti only really shook itself to life once, scoring off the boot of Sam Salter to bring the match level. But sloppy play in the final five minutes of the game (and indeed throughout the entire match) saw the ball presented straight to Ali Musse, who slotted home his second and the match-winner. Coach Carlos González reflected on the match as, “a game to tie, to take a point.” But with a squad of the calibre of Atleti at his disposal, the club should not be settling for draws and should surely not be winless against Cavalry FC. Atleti still sits first in the league, but with only one point in the race, the gap is no longer a matter of weeks, but days. Ollie Bassett and Carlos González joined a frustrated post-match press conference and here are all the details:
The Quotes: Ollie Bassett
On costly mistakes: I think we give away gifts, to be honest. We give away goals that teams don't give to us…And we just got to manage the game a bit better in that certain situation. And we've been a little bit inconsistent now for a while. And, yeah, it's just ultimately at the minute not been good enough. And we have too many good players and too much experience to let this season just slip away like it looks as if it is at the minute. I think we need to regroup as quick as possible because I think tonight is just a wake-up call and something that we just can't give away goals like that for the rest of the season.
On game management: “I think if you can't win games, you make sure that you don't lose them at the end of the day.”
On taking responsibility: At times like this, it's probably easy to point fingers and blame individuals for maybe not doing what you want them to do. But I think you've just got to look at yourself first and everyone's got to take responsibility for their performances…We have guys that have played together over last year and even stemming back from 2022. I don't think it's a case of players not understanding each other's games because we've been together long enough now to know what each player likes to do. But I just think it comes down to giving away sloppy goals and not defending as a team well enough and not managing certain moments of the game well enough.
On 5,711 fans staying for the losing effort: “They deserved better. We're all professional at the end of the day. And if people are going onto the pitch and not running and not working hard, then that's completely unacceptable. But I don't think it's a case of guys aren't trying…We have obviously three away games now, and then when we're back at home in four weeks time, the fans can stick with us. They obviously do deserve better. They deserve better results and better performances. But I just think we're going to need everyone now, players, staff, front office, fans, everyone around the city to get behind us so we can feel the energy of the people and give them essentially what they deserve.”
The Quotes: Carlos González
On team mentality: “Tomorrow, [the team has] to sit together. I want to hear what are the feelings of everyone. I think that we have to be a a little bit more calm. In certain moments, I'm feeling that we are with the necessity of winning when we should be a little bit more calm in certain moments. Today was a very hard game to play with these delays and this type of situations. We disconnected in one second, that was the first goal of the set piece. After that, we connected again. We were tight, and we wanted to win the game very soon…I think that the team needs stability and calm, and we need to control better the details and compete better in critical moments of the game.”
On managing the game: “Today was a game to tie, to win a point, to take it, to move on. It was an equal game. I think that we're fighting mainly this anxiety in certain moments of winning games, I think it's created because of the expectations. We started really well this season. We've been in a great strike. We've been up in the table for a lot of of rounds now since the round three. I think that maybe the expectations outside and also inside that we've all created maybe is making that ties are not enough for us and we have to go for wins.”
On parallels with the end of last season: “I don't think it's the same. I think it's a very different, very different situation. I think that managing the expectations that we've created is the main problem that we have now. But I don't think that the locker room is the same type of locker room as last season. We have more tools, we have better personnel in terms of character, and personality.”
On a rotated starting XI: “Mainly it was a game plan, because the type of game that we wanted fom the beginning was to do high pressure, to be more aggressive, to have a little bit more solutions on the ball. And that's why I selected the type of players that I felt that suited the plan. It wasn't a reaction or it wasn't pointing out anyone about the last result. Absolutely not. It was about selecting the players that I felt that suited better the plan of the game.”
The Big Takeaway: Old Habits Die Hard
You may not remember it, but last season's seven-game slide, which saw Atlético Ottawa crash ignominiously out of playoff contention, actually started with a 2-1 loss to Cavalry.
For what it’s worth, Cavalry scored a much later winner last season, with William Akio netting in the seventh minute of stoppage time as opposed to Musse’s 89th-minute strike on Saturday. But the parallels remain, and if the club is going to be giving away last-minute winners like it did last season, Carlos González is going to have to work double-time to find answers soon with collective patience wearing thin. There are eleven games left in the season, plenty of time for the club to be usurped by the competition which lies in wait in second, third, and fourth.
Both González and Bassett commented on the team's failings to manage games in their dying moments, but Bassett summed it up best when he noted, “I think if you can't win games, you make sure that you don't lose them.” This responsibility lies tangibly with the players, but it starts with management, and with the regularity of the team's failings in the final minutes, González will have to do some quick soul-searching, even if it takes a therapist or a hypnotist to right what feels like a hereditary fault.
With Hamilton the next destination for González and his squad, Cargo noted that Forge is “the best opponenet we can have at the moment.” He added that they will also be feeling “the pressure to win” and that it will be the perfect moment for Atlético Ottawa to “show the image that they can give.”
That match is at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, but if you want to travel with the CCSG to support Atlético Ottawa on the road, tickets can be bought here.
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.
