Photo: Paul Rudderow

For the second straight game, Jesse Marsch devised an excellent and creative tactical plan. And for the second straight time, his former teammate correctly identified the plan’s Achilles heel and shot a Pontius-shaped arrow through it. After taking only a single shot in the first half, the Union thwacked 15 in the second frame, a change in fortune that is unique in MLS history.

After Philly’s US Open Cup win, Jim Curtin talked about needing to move the ball so fast that you had to commit to doing it “blind.” That takes a special type of coordination and organization for a team to implement at halftime, and the Union pulled it off.

On Sunday night, Jim Curtin pushed and prodded with Chris Pontius up the left for over an hour, then inserted Fabian Herbers on the right to wreak havoc against a tiring offside trap. Herbers was magnificent, and Jesse Marsch “ridiculously” had to go to five in the back while up a man late in the match.

Overrun in the center

Jesse Marsch is an excellent coach. The high line he put into place on Sunday night was near-suicidal even without factoring in a center back pairing that has extremely little experience together. But it worked, and it allowed the Red Bulls to bully the Union around the park for the first half of the match.

At the center of it all was, well, the center. New York dominated the middle of the park, forcing Philly to play through the wings and passing around the home side’s midfield by rotating Kljestan and Mike Grella through the channels. Unable to get close to New York, Brian Carroll dropped deeper to defend the back four while Roland Alberg began chasing the ball into the feet of Aurelien Collin. The center stretched, and an off-pace Tranquillo Barnetta struggled to keep up.

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The visitors were outright dominant for large swaths of the first half; Philly didn’t even attempt a pass on New York’s side of the pitch between the 11th and 24th minute. Remember, this was purportedly a home game.

There was, however, inherent risk in the Red Bulls strategy to play an extremely high back line. The problem for Jim Curtin was how to systematize that risk and turn it into a digestible set of tactical instructions.

And he did.

Left left behind

When Jesse Marsch gets so angry he wants to throw a ball or two, he goes to his happy place. And there he sees Sacha Kljestan curling into the right channel after Bradley Wright-Phillips pushes a center back pairing toward their own box. The stachequartista had two goals and a key pass in the first half, but nearly as importantly, he was five for eight in entry passes into the Union’s final third. Kljestan was, frankly, sensational in the first half. Three recoveries in the Union half, two goals, excellent set pieces, the list goes on.

Kljestan’s home planet is the right channel, and his ability to connect short passes draws teammates toward him looking for quick one-twos. On Sunday, Mike Grella tucked deep inside to occupy the left channel, and he often floated even further to the right to draw defenders off of Kljestan.

Oddly, though, Connor Lade also played very narrowly behind Grella, effectively vacating the five yards closest the touchline for long stretches of the match. For quite a while, Philly couldn’t exploit this strange spacing, but Curtin, it seems, was employing the classic rope-a-dope. By the time Fabian Herbers entered the match, New York’s defense was so focused on the left that they became disorganized when the Union suddenly attacked up the right. Curtin made a daring move to go to a shape that looked a lot like a 4-4-2 after hewing so closely to the 4-2-3-1 all season. But it was the right move, and it worked perfectly.

Pontius Maximus

Curtin was able to wait until the 65th minute to sub because Chris Pontius decided that Sunday was the day Sal Zizzo enrolled in Pontiomics at the School of Hard Cheekbones. Zizzo was crucial to New York’s attack, but when he pushed forward, Damien Perrinelle could only offer inconsistent coverage (he had a Sapong-sized problem of his own). Pontius continually charged into the space behind Zizzo, chasing sudden long ball genius and potential wizard Brian Carroll’s angled dazzlers. But he also followed lost causes, slim hopes, and, when he was nearing his physical limits, probably a hallucination or two.

As a result, the Union were able to create viable scoring opportunities and convince the Red Bulls that they intended to aim their attacks up the left. When Fabian Herbers enters a match, CJ Sapong often moves to the wing to preserve Philly’s trusty team shape. On Sunday, Herbers was like offensive player who gets to start in forward motion in Arena League Football. He played the offsides trap perfectly, and he exploited the passing lanes created by the Red Bulls’ narrow left side. It was a brilliantly imagined substitution, and the Union’s rookie striker fully understood his role.

Although Curtin was clearly looking to change the flow of the match, he hardly could have imagined how rattled New York would be by Herbers’ presence. The center backs stayed close together to deal with Sapong, and they were slow to recognize that Herbers’ runs were going to require an adjustment. So slow, in fact, that the match was tied before they started to come to terms with it.

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The genius in the substitution comes from recognizing that Herbers’ intelligence could make up for what he lacks in pace. The rookie is no Olivier Giroud, but he doesn’t have the acceleration of ageless French gazelle Sebastien Le Toux. The key to the offsides trap wasn’t speed, it was those timing patterns at which Herbers excels.

It says a lot about Jesse Marsch’s belief in Gonzalo Veron that he waited so long to insert the designated player. New York went up a man in the 72nd minute, and even before then it was clear they needed someone to provide width on the left. Marsch waited until there were ten minutes remaining and his team clearly pinned back to call on a substitute that could provide a new look. Veron should have been that guy, but instead he looked more like a hail mary.

Quick restarts

Philly likes quick restarts, but they pushed extremely hard to get the ball moving again on Sunday. Whether it was Andre Blake throwing touch passes to Keegan Rosenberry inches over the head of a defender, or Tranquillo Barnetta betting on a quick-hitting fifty yarder to Pontius, the Union were determined to push the pace and prevent New York’s defense from getting organized. The speed of play is likely a lesson learned from their previous encounter when the Red Bulls defensive shape was nearly impenetrable without perfectly executed counterattacks.

Player ratings

Andre Blake – 7

Nothing to do after the first half, when he made one spectacular save off a deflection.

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Keegan Rosenberry – 6

Very limited presence in the first half, but proved that he can be a game-changer in the second. His cross led to a penalty and his subsequent forward runs posed problems for the overwhelmed Lade.

Ken Tribbett – 3

Gotta say, that was a solid bounceback half after the worst half of the rookie’s MLS career. Tribbett was a thought-step slow in the first half, caught between following the script (play short) and the reality (enemy at the gates, so get that ball out of here). His defense in the second period was excellent and he showed no signs that he was dwelling on his earlier mistakes.

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Richie Marquez – 8

Though he flubbed a free header off a corner, Marquez was largely stellar on the night. His sliding tackle on Bradley Wright-Phillips was a genuine roll of the dice that could have ended in a penalty and even a red card. But, like the rest of his defensive duties, he did it perfectly. Going forward, New York rattled Marquez in the first half, and he was decidedly more prepared for the speed of pressure in the second go-around.

Fabinho – 6

This weird trend of Fabinho not really having any highlights or lowlights? It’s… kinda great. He’s just playing well. And in a league where Brandon Vincent is as good as it gets at left back, who are we to complain?

Brian Carroll – 8

New York’s attack should be kryptonite for Carroll, and at times it was. The quick passing, the depth Kljestan can create, they conspire to speed play up and make it less predictable. Carroll relies heavily on identifying patterns and anticipating play, and that’s difficult against the Red Bulls when they’re in flight. But though he played too deep in the first half, Carroll was distributing with a range rarely attributed to him. One early left-footed rainbow created a break for Pontius that pointed the way forward for the Union. In a season with many standout defensive midfielders across MLS, Carroll is still proving he can elevate his game to challenge some of the best.

Tranquillo Barnetta – 5

Barnetta has been so consistently good that it was odd to see him have a bit of an off night, and he suffered the ignominy of having a free kick deflect off him and into goal. But whether it was something tweaked or bruised in his back when Mike Grella (in a totally not violent manner) headlocked and body slammed him, Barnetta was off the pace. Yet he never let his team stop working, and it’s clear how much he contributes to the squad’s never-say-die attitude.

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Roland Alberg – 5

This wasn’t a great situation for Alberg, and he didn’t respond well. Chasing the ball into New York’s back line just exacerbated the Union’s issues in the center, and it also meant Alberg wasn’t available as a first pass to start breakouts.

Chris Pontius – 10

Stellar. Threatened all night, earned a penalty, scored the equalizer. Found a pressure point and squeezed.

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Ilsinho – 2

Maybe not a red card, but definitely not smart.

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CJ Sapong – 7

An unbelievable defensive effort, but lost a lot of his aerial battles and didn’t get the separation he needed on a late chance in front of goal (though McCarty’s incredible recovery had something to do with it too).

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Substitutes

Fabian Herbers – 8

If I said you could have a former rookie of the year, a Venezuelan international, and a proven veteran or a former rookie of the year and… a rookie, which would you choose? Fabian Herbers entered the season with his coach’s trust, and he has repaid it many times over. But tonight was probably his best performance. Herbers understood his role so well, first taking space behind Lade then began dipping into the gaps left when Sapong pushed on, essentially playing a hybrid second striker/10 role.

Sebastien Le Toux – 6

6/6 passing and a key pass in 8 minutes? Ok, yeah. That’s pretty awesome.

Warren Creavalle – n/a

Just hung out for a bit.

Geiger counter – 3

Man, no card for Grella then a red on Ilsinho that you probably see given 70/30. In fairness, though, the match had a very good flow and he didn’t break it.