How the Philadelphia Union Can Deal With Jose Martinez's Absence in CCL Semifinal Second Leg

Philadelphia Union manager Jim Curtin has a few options at his disposal to replace the injured Jose Martinez on Tuesday.

Philadelphia Union manager Jim Curtin confirmed on Monday that midfielder Jose Martinez will miss the second leg of the Concacaf Champions League semifinal against LAFC with a hamstring injury.

“He’s out,” Curtin said.

“Jose is recovering. If you remember in the (first leg), the long forward run that he made. He tweaked his hamstring there. He’s not with us on the trip. He’s working very hard at home to rehab and get better,” Curtin said.

I’m stating the obvious by saying the Union will have a massive hole in the defensive midfield role with Martinez out.

The positional replacements for Martinez have not thrived as well as we had hoped in many situations where the Venezuelan has been out over the last three years.

There should be three solutions to replacing Martinez, two are like-for-like switches and the other is a formation flip that could be more successful than the 4-4-2 diamond.