It’s no secret that it’s been a defensive struggle for the Lions this season. There has been improvement since James O’Connor’s arrival, but the team will look to put it all together for the match against Atlanta on Friday at Orlando City Stadium.
“For us, our process is the same. We break down the opposition, we say, 'look, here’s where they attack, here’s some of the principles that they use,' ” O’Connor said. “And then equally here’s some of the principles that we want to use when we’re attacking.”
Atlanta United has huge offensive threats in Josef Martinez and Miguel Almirón. Those two players are a key focus for O’Connor.
“You look at Martinez, he’s already equaled the goal-scoring record. You look at Almirón, you look at the areas that they try to play in. They try to make people aware of what they’re going to do. But then equally you break them down, you say here’s how to defend, here are the areas that they try to cover and then try to come up with some ideas that will allow for success for us.”
O’Connor doesn’t want Martinez setting the MLS single-season scoring record in Orlando, but says the focus must be on themselves.
“I don’t want anyone celebrating any records at our place for sure. But we need to focus on ourselves. We’ve got good players. We have an ability to hopefully go and cause them some problems. We want to go and cause as many problems for them as we possibly can.”
Orlando will look to excel on both sides of the ball this Friday night at Orlando City Stadium. Kickoff is at 8 pm and the match will be broadcast on ESPN.
