A week into practice, Martino is pleased

After a first week of practice, Atlanta United manager Gerardo Martino is pleased with his team’s progress.

“I’m getting great feelings from the players individually and as a group,” he said through a translator.

Martino said that because of the physicality of the sessions, they are still “far away” from the finesse on the ball that he wants to see. The team start- ing working on tactics Jan. 26.

“The reception from the players and the speed of how we want to implement is good for me,” Martino said. “Our learning, we keep talking to the players and giving them information for them to understand what we are trying to do. We are growing at a good pace. We need to develop the ideas more. We will see when we start scrimmaging how far we can go.”

Overall, Martino said also he’s pleased with the decision to hold training camp at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.

“It’s the right place to be,” he said. “The facility is amazing. We are getting the right nutrition, the resting time we need. It’s been really good and what we planned for.”

The team will return to Atlanta on Sunday.

Martino said he has no concerns over being unable to evaluate the few players who aren’t in camp. Fullback Greg Garza has been training with the U.S. men’s national team. Zach Loyd reported Friday but is rehabbing an injury. Jacob Peterson trained with the team for the first time Tuesday. He reported late because he and his wife recently had their first child. Brandon Vazquez will leave camp to train with the Under-20 U.S. national team.