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2020 didn’t give fans much to celebrate. The team didn’t win any trophies, the players weren’t that good, and apparently the manager didn’t speak the same language as any of the players.
According to Brooks Lennon, a "language barrier" was one of the reasons why #ATLUTD players were unable to take training-day tactics to and execute them on the pitch.
— Felipe Cárdenas (@FelipeCar) November 12, 2020
The switch from De Boer's 5-3-2 to Stephen Glass' 4-3-3 was also difficult to grasp for the team.
All together, it was a disaster of a season. By the end, the merciful, beautiful, miserable end, the team missed the playoffs and watched two expansion teams in the East go to the post season. It wasn’t a good year.
2021 will hopefully bring excitement if nothing else, but for now all we have is hope. Still, there is a good bit of time between now and when the team will begin taking shape for next year. It’s time to look back and reflect. Within all of that soccer agony there were surely some bright spots.
A few players stood out, few being the operative word there, week in and week out. With all the turmoil and not very good soccer, was there a player who can claim to have been the most valuable for Atlanta United this year? Is this an award worth giving out in 2020, or can nobody truly claim to have been a major difference maker for the team every match?