Three thoughts on waiting for the misery to end

Six points were up for grabs this week and Atlanta United — in their spirited fight for a playoff spot — managed to nab a grand total of zero. Granted it was always going to be tough to get points from two difficult away matches, this week pretty much went exactly how anyone who has been paying attention this season thought it would. Despite showing some good effort and fight, there just wasn’t ever enough end product in either loss to Philadelphia or Portland. Here are a few meandering thoughts as his season mercifully winds down.

• What can we really say at this point? We’ve gone through all the stages of grief and here we sit firmly on acceptance. If it wasn’t obvious by now, this Atlanta United team is not good enough. Yet again the team has massive questions to answer entering an uncertain offseason at nearly every level of the club. From top to bottom there needs to be some serious self-evaluation taking place and some difficult decisions made.
• With five matches remaining against five pretty good teams, it would take a minor miracle for the Five Stripes to make the playoffs at this point. And frankly, why would you even want them to? If you really want to see them sneak in only to get smashed by one of the conference powerhouses on the road, then I have to questions your sanity. The best case scenario for everyone involved is to get to the offseason as quickly as possible and start the post-mortem.
• I can only apologize for not having much else to complain about or discuss from a soccer perspective. We’ve exhausted all ideas and theories and yet here we are with the same story over and over. So I’ll use this last point to open the floor to you, our loyal and passionate readers. Let’s face it, if you’re still here at this juncture of the season, you damn sure are both of those things. Who would you like to see the team move on from in the offseason and who would you like to see brought back? This can include players, staff members, vendors, ball kids, whatever you want to discuss. Sound off on what you would do if you had the magical powers to make all the decision for the club as soon as this miserable season comes to a close.