Philadelphia Union: A Fresh Look



The Philadelphia Union started their 10th MLS season off with a bitter taste in their mouth. They lost their home opener to Toronto FC, followed by a road loss to Sporting Kansas City and a draw in Atlanta. With a new sporting director, tons of new faces, and a new tactic, head coach Jim Curtin had his work cut out for him. It took four games to get their first win of the season against Columbus Crew and followed that with a win against FC Cincinnati. You can find an explanation to the poor form at the beginning of the season here:



Head coach Jim Curtin said in his press conference after their tenth game that he believes the team has improved every week, and it’s hard to argue against that. Since the first Cincinnati game, the Union have picked up three more wins, a loss to the LA Galaxy and a draw in Vancouver with a depleted squad. These results accumulated enough points to land them in first place in the Eastern Division and fourth overall. They’re also in a prime position to add to that, with five more home games out of the next seven games.



Jim Curtin believes that his squad has the ability to do big things this season. He believes everyone is stepping up and playing their part in the squad. This season the head coach is fortunate to have, what he believes, is the deepest squad he has ever had. They have used a lot of different players this season – sometimes due to injury and suspension, and other times just squad rotation. He is confident in everyone on the bench and it has given him more tactical flexibility.



LIVE Jim Curtin Postgame Press Conference 5/1 https://t.co/u5OPGd2mVv — Philadelphia Union (@PhilaUnion) May 2, 2019

New Faces

The Philadelphia Union made some big moves in the offseason, selling a fan favorite Keegan Rosenberry and a record holding scorer C.J. Sapong, and bringing in a lot of new faces to the team.



Olivier Mbaizo, Brenden Aaronson, and Matt Freese are some younger players who have been introduced to the first team coming up from the academy. Incoming transfers included Carlos Miguel Coronel, Sergio Santos, Marco Fabian, Aurelien Collin, Jamiro Monteiro and Kai Wagner.



All of the new players have featured at some point or another this season, but due to injury a lot of the incoming transfers have played limited minutes. Once they’re back to full fitness, they will be able to contribute even more to the squad.



Brenden Aaronson got his first start against Atlanta, and due to his high energy, ability to constantly apply pressure, and attacking creativeness, he has been a starter ever since. He averages a key pass a game and almost two shots per game, and puts in 2.4 tackles per game.

Kai Wagner, cemented his spot as the starting left back, and leads the team in tackles per game with 3.4 tackles per game and a team leading 1.9 interceptions per game, as well as providing a very good offense to the left side of the field. He has two assists, plays one key pass per game on average, and makes over 40 passes with above an 85 percent completion rate.



Jamiro Monteiro has added a new level of energy from the midfield. He covers a lot of ground, adds a new dynamic to the attack with his dribbling and vision, and contributes defensively all over the field. Paired with Aaronson and Fafa Picault, the three are able to pressure and terrorize the opposition’s defense throughout the game.



Sergio Santos and Marco Fabian have been hurt or suspended for much of this season, so they have not been able to contribute as much as many expected coming into the season, but they are very close to being cleared to play in the coming games. Expect them to produce some offense. Fabian already has two goals for the Union, and Santos has been putting in hard work with the Bethlehem Steel.



Matt Freese and Olivier Mbaizo have been depth pieces until recently, when Kai Wagner got suspended and Andre Blake got injured. Freese stepped in for Blake’s absence until he himself picked up a knock in the second game against FC Cincinnati. Mbaizo on the other hand has been working hard to try and beat Gaddis to a starting position in the right back role, and he is making a strong stake. The 21-year-old played 90 minutes against Cincinnati at home, picked up his first assist, had two key passes, completed two out of three dribbles, helped the team to a clean sheet, had two interceptions and seven crosses. Also, some of the aspects of his game that the stats don’t show are his speed and strength.

Collin and Carlos Miguel Coronel have both featured for the first team as well. Collin had to step in last minute for Mark Mckenzie who got appendicitis just before a game. Collin stepped in and had a very good game. He was a strong veteran who had a calming presence among the back line and helped the team to a win. Since then, he has played more of a back seat role, often being an unused substitute, but being a leadership figure on the training ground. Carlos Miguel Coronel had to step in earlier in the season for Andre Blake when he was on international duty with Jamaica, and just recently got called upon again due to Blake and Freese being injured. Freese was given the nod against FC Cincinnati, but got injured around the 10th minute. Freese tried to play through it but couldn’t continue past the 40th minute. Carlos stepped in and kept the clean sheet for the rest of the game against FC Cincinnati and looks set to start in the New England Revolution game on May 4th.



Returning Players



Not only are some of the new faces bringing a breath of fresh air to the squad, but some returning players are shining this season. Trusty has been a mainstay in the left center back spot since last season, but Mark Mckenzie has lost his starting spot this season to Jack Elliott, who last year lost the starting position to Mckenzie. It is healthy and good that both players are talented enough to start and push each other to perform better by wanting the other center back position.

Together, Trusty and Elliott have been immense this season, barely setting a foot wrong, only conceding ten goals in ten games so far, and keeping four clean sheets. The graphic below shows how teams, including the Union, are doing by plotting goals/xG(more on xG in the Attacking Potential section below) compared to the number of shots they’ve faced. The Union began the season conceding a lot more than they should have for the number of shots they have faced, but have returned towards the median. Hopefully they can sustain the current level for the home stretch.



Haris Medunjanin and Alejandro Bedoya are returning central midfielders who are playing really well. Bedoya has been known for his work rate in the middle of the field, working tirelessly from 18 to 18, and this season is no different. He covers well and attacks down the right flank often. Medunjanin has looked like a completely different player after the first three games. After the two losses and one draw, many fans were calling for him to be dropped to the bench, but he must have realized his performances were not up to standards. Since then, he has been working and running harder than most Philadelphia Union fans have seen him run. He has added a new element to his game as well, which is making lung-busting runs on counter attacks. Most recently, he had two against FC Cincinnati at home, one before the 40th minute and another supporting run on the counter in the 43rd minute. Who says an old dog can’t learn new tricks?



Warren Creavalle and Ilsinho have both played roles as situational players this season. Ilsinho is used as a super substitute. Due to his creativity and dribbling ability, he comes on late in the game and runs at defenders who have probably been in the game for 60 or more minutes and are getting tired. Creavalle has been used as a defensive option, such as against Atlanta or as a substitute to shut up shop and hang on to a lead late in the game. Both roles are really important, and with a packed schedule coming up, Curtin says the depth will be used and shine through.



Up top, a lot of different combinations of strikers are used. David Accam, Corey Burke, Fafa Picault, Marco Fabian, Sergio Santos, Ilsinho, and Kacper Przybylko have all played in that striker position thus far, and no one has cemented a spot as undroppable. Curtin is always playing the striker who has the hot foot, and it has always been changing. Fafa just got his first goal of the season, Przybylko notched his second, Accam has three goals, Burke has two, Ilsinho has one, and Fabian has two. Collectively, the team has 15 goals scored.



Tactical Changes

Along with all of the new faces, Jim Curtin has changed. He is confident in all of his players and feels like he is able to adapt game by game instead of sticking to the same formation with the same group of players, like last season. This season, he has deployed as many different players already in ten games than he had through the entirety of last season. He is willing to change formations. Below are two of the more common formations the team rocks, the second one generally occurring after a substitute.

Lineup to start the game against FC Cincinnati



Lineup against FC Cincinnati after substitutes

With all of these tactical changes, the opposition have a harder time reading what they expect the Union to look like. Also, it allows the Union to adapt to their opposition and counter any specific threats.



Attacking Potential



With all of the attacking threats listed above, the Philadelphia Union are still offensively underperforming based on their team’s expected goals statistic. The interpretation of this stat is somewhat ambiguous and based on opinion, but generally it is described as this: expected goals (xG) are the number of goals that can be expected to be scored based on where and how a shot was taken. Combining position on the field, whether the shot was taken with the dominant foot or not, etc., can determine a value. For example, a tap in that occurs inside the six yard box at the center of the goal with no defenders or goalie in front of you could be assigned 0.93 xG, which means the shot similar to that will go in 93% of the time.



As of 4/16/2019, the Union had 7 games played, 97 shots, and 9 goals. Their expected goals at this point was 11.2 xG. So, if they had scored the higher rated chances they have had, they should expect to have three additional goals. This theme has continued from the seventh game to the tenth game, as they have missed what are seemingly easy chances.



Below is a graph showing how they are performing compared to other teams in the league. It is evident that they have been performing below average offensively and, at some point, it is expected that they return to the mean.



Hopefully, during the home stretch some of the players who are underperforming in this department can pick up their goals and help the teamwin. Fafa, Fabian, and some of the midfielders are the main players who are below their xG by a good amount, so if they can get the ball rolling the only way from here is up for the Union.



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