Philadelphia Union Are Playing Gutsy, Unsustainable Soccer

The Union once again covered up defensive lapses with gritty second half play on Saturday, a trend that can't continue.

The Philadelphia Union are playing gutsy, unsustainable soccer.

The trend of the 2024 Major League Soccer season is something no one saw coming.

The Union were most proud of their defending over the last three years, but everything has come crumbling apart in the first 10 games of the MLS season.

A year ago, the Union did not hit their stride in league play until May, but the team still hung its hat on defensive performances.

In 2024, the Union allowed multiple goals in MLS play six times in 10 games. They did not allow their sixth multi-goal game until June 10 last season.

Two seasons ago, the Union conceded multiple times on just five occasions across the MLS regular season and playoffs.

The defensive regression is happening right in front of us. The real question looming over the team is if the unit can actually be fixed.

The most frustrating part of the defensive struggles is that every game features one or two disastrous mistakes that set the Union back in the first half.

Jakob Glesnes’ disastrous own goal against Saprissa in the Concacaf Champions Cup was actually a sign of things to come and not a freak incident.

Union head coach Jim Curtin pointed the lack of consistency in the defensive starting lineup as one of the primary reasons why all these mistakes keep happening.

We can all agree Oliver Semmle is an upgrade over Joe Bendik as a backup goalkeeper, but the chemistry still seems to be off between the German netminder and the center backs.

Semmle’s made five starts in MLS play with Andre Blake dealing with his litany of injuries.

At some point, the lack of chemistry excuse can’t be used, and to be honest, I think we’ve already reached that point.

Glesnes, Jack Elliott and Damion Lowe were able to intertwine their starting positions well in 2023. The center back rotation did not throw things off. The finger was mostly pointed at Bendik when he played.

The Union haven’t been able to deploy the three-man back line much in 2024 because of small injuries to the back line and form at other positions. Putting an extra center back on the field means Curtin has to take off an attack-minded player.

Mikael Uhre is the primary candidate to not make the starting XI at the moment because his form has dipped. Curtin even noted Uhre’s form is the reason why he hasn’t made recent starting lineups.

That brings us to the other issue at hand with the Union right now.

The club has four true attackers it can rely on to create goals. Julian Carranza, Daniel Gazdag, Quinn Sullivan and Uhre.

Chris Donovan is only making late-game cameos and Tai Baribo is probably closer to leaving than seeing any significant playing time.

The club is still reeling a bit from losing Cory Burke last offseason as the No. 3 striker. Burke was a vital cog to rely off as a substitute and the Union have not replaced that impact.

That goes to the broader point where we can start to criticize Ernst Tanner for his big misses over the last year-and-a-half. We aren’t talking about the dire straits of the Union reserves if one of Baribo, Joaquin Torres and Andres Perea makes an impact.

Maybe David Vazquez brings that spark when he receives first-team minutes. A healthy Markus Anderson could help as well because he brings something different with his pace.

But most of the bench players get thrown to the curb when the Union are in their trailing predicaments because Curtin has 100 percent trust in about 15-16 players on the roster and those players are tasked with clawing back.

To their credit, the Union somehow keep finding ways to pull off these great escapes. Instead of talking about a complete disaster against D.C. United, we are marveling in another come-from-behind result and the equalizing golazo scored by Jack McGlynn.

It’s a credit to the team’s culture and the mentality of the group that they haven’t laid down and accepted defeat all season.

The Union are second to Inter Miami in goals scored in the Eastern Conference with 19. They somehow still have a positive goal differential of three.

Here’s the frustrating statistic. Two of the Union’s four-lowest expected goals against (xGA) totals came against Real Salt Lake and D.C. United. They still conceded twice in those contests.

I hate to be the “It Can Be Worse” guy, but the Union are still in the middle of the pack in goals against and xGA in the East.

It’s not the standard the club and fans hold them to, but the Union also aren’t in dire straits yet.

What will get them to that point is the continuous mistakes and the exhaustion that comes with chasing a game.

There’s still plenty of time to turn things around. After all, this is MLS where more than half of the teams in each conference make the playoffs.

(Quick rant: If the Union lost on Saturday, the season wouldn’t have been over. The people who tweeted that are severely overreacting. This is a 34-game regular season where NINE TEAMS IN EACH CONFERENCE MAKE THE PLAYOFFS. There’s a difference between a three-game losing streak being bad and it costing a franchise an entire season. The Union are nowhere close to losing the season. It’s May 6. End rant).

The goals are there. The defensive play for about 70-75 minutes per game is there. The fight is evident as well.

Maybe there’s a hard mental reset coming ahead of the home stretch versus Orlando City and New York City, and who knows, I could be typing here in 10 days that the Union are back. It’s tough to see through the negatives right now, but the Union are still capable of playing like themselves.