The Daily Dirt May 4, 2018: Rotating the squad

Parker’s preoccupied with Parker things today, so you’re stuck with me. How about a little discussion?

Tomorrow, Atlanta United begin a stretch of three games in eight days as they take on the Chicago Fire in what will probably be a tough road test. Last season, the club’s depth was a point of weakness with Tata Martino forced to over-play his stars to the point of exhaustion and injury. This year is a bit different. Guys like Kevin Kratz, Romario Williams, Miles Robinson and Mikey Ambrose have all played important roles in matches, proving that the depth is significantly improved.

With that said, will we see the lineup rotated in this stretch of games? Could guys like Williams or Kratz get a chance to start to give some of the team’s stars a chance to rest?

I’ll leave this open-ended as I’m curious what you all think. Will Tata continue to stick with the same lineup or will he opt to rest some players? If it’s the latter, which game will he change it up?

Onto the Dirt...

Domestic

A weird report out of Spain on Wednesday claimed that the LA Galaxy bid $12 million for Las Palmas forward Sergio Araujo. MLSSoccer.com’s Sam Stejskal has heard things a bit differently, reporting that an MLS team did make an offer for him, but it was only for $4 million. He goes on to say that he doesn’t know which team it was, but that they’ll attempt to complete the deal when the MLS secondary transfer window opens this summer.

Make sure to check out our own Joe Patrick’s MLSSoccer.com feature on Atlanta United’s attacking foursome and how they could possibly play together for the first time against Chicago.

International

LOL Arsenal. (Send hate tweets to @RobUsry, Arsenal fans)

The Gunners were ousted from the Europa League by a stellar defensive performance by Atletico Madrid and a goal from everyone’s favorite lovable striker, Diego Costa. Diego Simeone’s reaction below is great stuff.

Atleti will take on Marseille in the final on May 16.

Random Hot Take of the Day

Coldplay is an all-time great band and anyone who says otherwise is just trying to be cool and hip.