There's No Need to Panic About the 2024 Philadelphia Union

The Union's win on Saturday was proof all of the qualities the Union boasted for years have not gone away and they will once again be a contender in Major League Soccer.

It’s time to break out the NFL hot take machine and apply it to the Philadelphia Union.

The Union were never in serious trouble about contending in Major League Soccer in 2024.

One bad result just skewed our views about the team and led to a volcano of overreactions.

Internally, the Union knew they still had a good, if not great, team still and Saturday’s win over the Portland Timbers was proof of that.

Think about this for a second.

The Union could’ve easily mailed in Saturday’s game. It was the last game of a long and arduous start to the season and close to half of the roster was unavailable due to international commitments (why MLS continues to play through international breaks is a whole other topic for another column).

The Union travelled to Costa Rica, Kansas City, Mexico, stayed a few days in Austin for the game there on the way back from Mexico and then made the long flight out to Portland.

Forget the physical aspect for a minute.

The mental toll that swing would have taken on the players is huge. They were worn down, hadn’t seen their families for more than a few days in a row and spent a shit ton of time on planes.

They could’ve easily said screw this game in Portland and rebooted for the home game against Minnesota United.

But the DNA installed in this team by Jim Curtin doesn’t allow any of that stuff to creep in.

Sometimes we look past when players say they have a tight locker room, or that Curtin is a player’s coach, because we hear it all the time, but those things matter at the end of long stretches like Saturday’s game in Portland.

The Union likely used Saturday as a rallying cry to go out and get a result and say “F**k You” to a good amount of us back in the Philadelphia area that doubted them.

Curtin and Co. now do not have to travel past the central time zone for the rest of the Major League Soccer regular season.

As much as the last six weeks sucked in terms of travel, the Union will reap the rewards of that from April to October, especially when the tired legs begin to kick in.

I think that’s a much better point to drive home than the opened schedule now that the club has been eliminated from the Concacaf Champions Cup. I can assure you no one inside that club thought being knocked out of CCC was a relief.

The Union return home on Saturday with six points from four games and in ninth place in the Eastern Conference.

If the season ended today, they would be in the postseason because of the really stupid MLS playoff format.

The sky isn’t falling, and it was nowhere close to collapsing on this team. Some of you may have brought out the panic button and wanted to smash it, but internally, the club remained steady because that’s what’s been installed in the club’s DNA over the last five years.

With all that being said, the Union still have on-field improvements that need to be made.

No one will claim the Union have played the most attractive and cleanest soccer through six weeks, but to be fair, no team wants to hit its peak six weeks into a campaign.

But it’s worth noting that, despite all of the errors, the Union are one of two Eastern Conference teams without a loss in MLS play and one of five squads without a defeat in the entire league.

The Union are tied for the fifth-best expected goals against in the East at 5.4 and they rank sixth in xGper90 in the East at +0.38, per FBRef.

A year ago, the Union’s xGA was 6.1 through five MLS games. They could actually be on a better statistical pace on defense that last season’s start if they slow down Minnesota on Saturday afternoon.

They only had six points through five games last season. A win or draw on Saturday would outpace last season’s early point total as well.

The attack is in a slightly better spot than last season’s overall totals.

The Union currently attempt 13.5 shots per 90 minutes and 5 shots on target per 90 minutes. A year ago, the team finished with 13.6 shots per 90 and 3.94 SOT per 90.

Philadelphia also ranks 12th in xG (6.9) across MLS and eighth in non-penalty xG (6.1). That tracks with last year’s numbers. The Union finished seventh in xG and 12th in non-penalty xG in 2023.

They are also sixth in goal-creating actions per 90 and 10th in shot-creating actions per 90 this season. Those numbers are also on par with last season’s finishes. They were ninth and sixth in those two categories.

All of those numbers may mean absolutely nothing to some of you because the eye test matters more. That’s a fair viewpoint to have, but also keep in mind that analytics play a big part within the club. Those are some of the numbers Curtin will throw back at you when you say the attacking players suck.

No one will tell you this is a perfect team right now, and they’d be lying to you if they did, but the full-blown panic after the CCC exit was overblown.

The Union are going to be just fine in 2024, and potentially better than the 2023 version of the team, and Saturday’s win helped prove this team simply won’t give up because of one bad loss.

Photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union.