The Forward Press: No Late Heroics, ATO Draws to Valour
It was almost one of those games that appeared too good to be true on Sunday afternoon. Atlético Ottawa took the field clear favourites against last-in-the-league Valour FC, but it was Valour that played like the team five points clear of second in the league. The Winnipeg side responded quickly to a first-minute own-goal which unquestionably had many reminiscing about the 7-0 beating Valour took at the end of April. But it was all Valour after the own goal, with markers from new signing Safwane Mlah and centreback Gianfranco Facchineri compounding a dreary first-half performance from Atleti. Rubén Del Campo snatched one back with less than 20 minutes to go, but it was two points dropped for Carlos González and Atlético Ottawa at full-time. The frustrations on the pitch in the final ten minutes of the match translated into a frustrated post-match presser, here are all the details from ATO 2-2 Valour FC:
The Quotes: Manny Aparicio
Match reflections: “It was a tough one. We obviously started on the front foot. We put them under pressure early, and then we just gave them too much, I feel. There's no excuse. They played three days ago, and it looked like they had more energy than us at times. We went with the mentality of trying to put them under pressure, trying to keep the ball from them. And first half, I think it was completely the opposite.”
On past results: “I look back at the seven-nil game when we scored early and we were animals that day. We scored early and we just kept on going. We smelled the blood and we kept on going. And today we didn't have that.”
On the desire to beat ATO: “Every time we're stepping on the pitch, every team wants to beat us. We only have two losses in the season so far…Our stadium is packed. You get a bit of energy when you score away from home in those types of stadiums. But yeah, we can't keep on dropping points, especially at home when so much is on the line.”
On motivating the youth to step up: “With Gabby, Tyr, and Zack, I don't think we really need to do much. Honestly I think Tyr has come in this last couple of games and showed that he's just as good as any other centre-back in this league. Gabby, same thing. And Zach maybe a little bit less, but even today, he's come on, he gets him behind. He's breaking in. So I think just giving them that confidence to play freely. They're young guys. They're going to be energetic. They're going to take people on. They want to make the difference. So it's always good to see that they're playing well.”
The Quotes: Carlos González
On what went wrong in the first half: “Once we score, we have to go and look for the second goal and we started to drop. We started to lose the ball early. And soon, we started to give them the control of the game. So my opinion is that we threw the first half to the rubbish bin. And then in the second half we didn't compete in certain moments. Again, we concede in a corner that we shouldn't concede, and that makes that you start to go chasing a game again.”
On home form: "It's not good at all that we've conceded so many goals at home. In the last four or five games, we've conceded a really big amount of goals. We have to change that soon, very soon. Although we are first in the league, although we are four points from the second, we have to make sure that we change things soon, because if not, the situation can change fast.”
On building frustrations: “Playing here at two o'clock in the afternoon is not easy…Gifting goals makes that the level of frustration increase on everyone. And today also we had a factor that was a big one, that we didn't have continuity at all in the second half. We wanted to play and they stopped. We wanted to play and they stopped. And this is not an excuse. I know that they come from a game and they have to do their game with the tools. I respect it completely, but at the same time, I think that the refereeing cannot give advantage to this type of situations. Every time somebody was on the grass, they didn't take him outside and they maintained him inside. No yellow cards for losing time, yellow cards for other situations. So today, I'm not very happy also with that.”
On replacing a suspended Matteo de Brienne: “We miss him a lot. We lack deepness in the left flank. We only had the right-footed players that they were going to the inside. We were lacking one part of our game, and this makes easier the defense of the other team. That's why we were trying different things…At the end of the day, we were trying our best option over there with Dani first in the first half, after with Kris over there, and trying to click in the right one.”
On potential transfers: “We're working since two months ago. We're trying to look for the way to bring players and to make a better team and to create internal competition between some positions that we feel that there is no competition between them. Also this is making them maybe some players are dropping their level because they don't feel the threat of another player over there. So at the end of the day, what we're trying is to make the team better and to have more tools to reach the targets that we set.”
The Talking Point: New Energy Needed
What have the pressers told us about Carlos González’s transfer window so far?
Well, we know there are reinforcements coming. Two weeks ago, González teased “one or two” additions to the squad. When pressed after Valour on potential signings, González responded with, “I think that if you analyze deeply the squad, you could find it's quite evident, but I prefer to save it until everything is done.”
Where are the obvious weaknesses?
González himself admitted ATO is lacking “deepness in the left flank.” With Max Tissot still missing from the squad, Matteo de Brienne will need backup. González loves a positionally fluid player, and someone who can operate up and down the left side of the pitch wouldn’t be unwelcome. However, one wonders if the club passed up the perfect opportunity in Abou Sacko.
Meanwhile, up front, there have been a number of occasions in which Gonzalez appears to have exhausted all his options in the wings and still come up short. Against Valour, Ballou Tabla, Sam Salter, Dani Morer, Gabriel Antinoro, and Zach Roy were all given opportunities to play out wide. Of the five, only Roy and Salter managed shots on target. With results like these and the long-term injury to Kévin Dos Santos, one expects Sean Rea to still be on the club’s to-do list, with the 22-year-old still without a club and capable of bringing the pace and directness which has been missing.
With Sacko and Piccioli freeing up space for additions to the squad, it’s not a matter of if, but when for the Ottawa club. And with York, Cavs and Forge all on the horizon, new energy will be needed to stop Atleti’s super season from turning sour.
Atlético Ottawa plays away from home at 7 pm on Friday night in a huge bout to defend their top position from 2nd place York United. Whether you are at home, at the pub, or on our road trip, be ready for a tough fight. Until then, vamos Atleti!
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.
