Photo: Barb Colligon

As the Union come off of what is the closest thing to a midseason break, PSP contributors share their thoughts on the season thus far.

Grade Jim Curtin’s performance as a coach this season. 

Adam Cann: D. Took too long to figure out how to build a solid defense. Was he saddled with Steven “The Ent” Vitoria? Sure, but the coach can decide who plays, regardless of price or name. Curtin doesn’t have to say this is a rebuild year, but he could have coached like it: Getting young players minutes, trying a creative system (something he has shied away from since the 4-4-2 vs Colorado blew up like a July 4th firework).

Eli Pearlman-Storch: C+. Injuries have certainly kept Curtin from having the flexibility he would have hoped for and his team has struggled mightily at times, but over the last month and a bit, he has managed to get the best out of CJ Sapong, Chaco Maidana, Sheanon Williams, Fabinho and Brian Carroll. Over the next 5-10 games, Curtin will show whether he’s up to the job now that he is nearing a lineup that is back to full health.

Mike Servedio: C. Has shown the inexperience of a second year head coach. His ability to adjust tactics in game remains reactionary and substitutions often have come too late in matches. The lack of rotation in the squad could come back to haunt the team in the second half of the season, particularly if the injury list remains populated.

Dan Walsh: C. Curtin has had significant roster and injury problems to overcome. He’s done nothing remarkable to do it, but he also hasn’t underachieved either.

Ed Farnsworth: C. Ridiculous officiating has created game-changing moments, not to mention suspensions that, along with a devastating series of injuries, have exposed what we knew was an already thin roster (for which he was provided little resources to strengthen in the offseason), all of which has been further impacted by a needlessly arduous early schedule. For a guy who would be the first to admit he’s on a learning curve that’s an unappetizingly full plate of WTF. Despite all of this, he, and the team, lately seem to be turning a corner.

Jeremy Lane: C. Injuries have played their part, but his unwillingness to give time to young players is puzzling and his substitutions haven’t been optimal.

Peter Andrews: C-. No question he’s had a tough job with injuries and awkward personnel. That being said, I’m persistently annoyed by his conservatism, inflexibility with the XI, lack of creativity or urgency in substitutions, etc.

Kevin Kinkead: Incomplete. The injury situation hasn’t allowed for much flex with the starting lineup and the gameday 18. In second half situations, I think the subs need to come earlier and the game plan needs to have some flexibility.

Who has been the Union’s best player during the first half of the season?

Adam: Chaco Maidana. Play to his strengths and you always have a chance to score.

Eli: Chaco Maidana. If it is good and it is Philadelphia Union, chances are Maidana figured prominently. His ability to find space and provide for his teammates is unparalleled in Union history. Throw in a massive improvement on his defensive work rate and Maidana gets my vote.

Mike: Chaco Maidana. He makes the offense tick. On a team where the defense and goalkeeping has been suspect through the first half, Maidana is the guy constantly involved in creating offense and moving the ball. The Union have not shown a huge amount of creativity in their attack overall, but Maidana is the catalyst when they do.

Dan: Richie Marquez. He’s been reliable, consistent, strong and fast. The Union should lock him up on a long-term deal now.

Ed: Curtin says Edu but I’m torn between Maidana, Nogueira, and Sapong. The qualities the first two bring are self-evident. Sapong has returned twice from long-term absences and made an immediate impact.

Jeremy: Nogueira makes the team go. Without him, the U are terrible; with him, they have a chance.

Peter: Vincent Nogueira. All you have to do is look at the difference between the team when Vince is out there, versus when he’s sidelined with an injury. In a team full of underperformers, there’s one guy who’s giving it all of his considerable talent every game.

Kevin: Maurice Edu. In the midfield, he’s a good two-way general with superb athleticism. At center-back, he’s a MLS All-Star and USMNT candidate. He struggled in the Los Angeles game, but he’s been the best player on the field in a few of the wins and draws.

What should the Union’s midsummer transfer objectives be?

Eli: Offloading Mbolhi is obvious. On the inbound front, it would be awfully nice to find a wide player with some pace who can take part in the possession game. A defensive midfielder wouldn’t hurt either.

Mike: Get out from under the Mbolhi contract first and foremost. Another outright winger would be a useful weapon.

Dan: Sell Rais Mbolhi. Acquire a left back and either a center back or defensive midfielder. Base the latter on where Maurice Edu is going to play the next few years.

Ed: Unloading Mbolhi. Nothing else can happen until that is done and dusted.

Jeremy: Not sure there’s anything left to say after the above—we need a DM and LB, and can’t do anything until Mbolhi is off the books.

Kevin: Sell Rais Mbolhi, sign a defensive midfielder and a left back.

What one change — personnel/tactical/otherwise — would you make if you were in charge?

Eli: If you are on playing wing for the Union, whether you’re a seasoned vet or a youngster, you have to get into the box. The Union’s primary goal creator, Chaco Maidana, is in very good form. So too is their leading scorer, CJ Sapong. Regardless of the service being sent into the box, in order to prove a consistent threat in the final third, the Union need a second, dedicated runner chasing down every cross. Be it Le Toux, Wenger, Ayuk, Pfeffer or McLaughlin. Hell, I’d take Williams, Fabinho or Gaddis flying into the box. Given the number of crosses they belt into the area over 90 minutes, the Union need to do a better job of giving their striker help on every one.

Dan: Shop Maurice Edu around the league to gauge his trade value, with an eye toward recouping at least one quality starter (preferably two) at left back, center back and/or defensive midfield. Don’t necessarily trade him yet, but give yourself some options if it looks like Edu is just so frustrated that this won’t work for him.

Ed: Stop starting Wenger. Maybe coming off the bench and running like a man possessed for the final 20-25 minutes would help him get his mojo back.

Jeremy: I’d give the young wingers, Ayuk and McLaughlin, game time. Wenger needs a kickstart; perhaps coming off the bench is that. Le Toux’s coming back from injury. Why not get the Jimmy and Eric show?

Kevin: Try someone else at left forward.

What have been the best and worst moments for the Union this season?

Eli: For me, CJ Sapong takes both awards. When word of his arrest broke, it was a punch in the gut when the Union seemed like they could least afford another one. But the character and quality he has shown to turn things around and earn his way back into the lineup where he now is scoring goals at a furious clip, is the best story of year for the Union.

Mike: The Open Cup win against DC was big. With the playoffs looking unlikely this season, another strong run in the Open Cup is almost a must to keep any level of excitement around PPL Park. It’s hard to pick just one bad moment. The ones listed here by others capture every one that I can think of though.

Ed: Three best moments: The road win over NYRB, the dominant home win over Columbus, the come-from-behind win over DC United in the US Open Cup. Three worst moments: Mbolhi, the loss at Kansas City, the loss at Columbus.

Peter: The best moments of the Union’s season were two dramatic game winners at PPL Park — Nogueira vs. NYCFC and Pfeffer vs. DCU. Two moments which broke long stretches of futility and sent the fans into raptures. The worst? Unquestionably the collapse in Kansas City tops the list. For my money, though, there weren’t many moments worse than watching a full-strength lineup slog their way to a 0-0 draw with the Rochester Rhinos.

Jeremy: Best—Have we had any of these? Worst—The Mbolhiplosion™, which laid bare the haplessness of this franchise’s front office and is much of the reason the roster we currently see is so thin.

Kevin: Best – Comeback win against D.C. in the U.S. Open Cup. Worst – the benching of Rais Mbolhi and related fallout

Who has been the most pleasant surprise for the Union this season?

Adam: Would have been Marquez if Sapong had not screwed up and come back with a whole new attitude. The guy is on another level of work and productivity right now.

Eli: Since the day he signed with the Union, Sapong has maintained that he is a center forward and that it was was his deployment on the wing at SKC that was responsible for his goal drought. Turns out he was right. Sapong edges Marquez out by a nose for me in this category, as both players have done a lot of excellent work through the first half of 2015.

Mike: Richie Marquez. Has looked extremely comfortable since establishing himself in the side.

Dan: Brian Sylvestre. He’s gone from being a guy who couldn’t win starting jobs in USL PRO (Harrisburg) and NASL (Carolina) to fairly solid starting goalkeeper in MLS.

Ed: Richie Marquez. Quietly bided his time for more than a year and when his opportunity came, he grabbed it. Sapong is a close second.

Peter: Richie Marquez. His calm, assured performances at center back have been revelatory. They also serve as fresh evidence of the staff’s struggles to evaluate players and resources, as both giving regular minutes to Ethan White and acquiring Steven Vitoria seem like poor decisions in retrospect.

Kevin: C.J. Sapong, who was brought in mainly to be a depth piece and fringe starter at CF and both wing positions. If he hadn’t missed three weeks after the arrest, he would probably have a few extra goals to his name.

Jeremy: Richie Marquez. While staff has been saying good things about him since he was drafted, it took a bad injury list to get him game time, and he’s shown he’s a locked-in starter every game. Great athlete, smart player—he’s a real keeper.

Who has been the biggest disappointment for the Union?

Dan: Andrew Wenger. How can it be anyone else? Most disappointing is that his epic funk seems almost entirely mental in nature.

Ed: Wenger. He’s so snakebit it isn’t even funny anymore. Vitoria is a close second. Maybe he was just oversold before his arrival.

Peter: Pretty sure Arsène Wenger could score more goals from the wing for the Union than the Wenger they do have. I’d add Steven Vitoria to this, though — hasn’t shown the high level we hoped for on his signing, and a nagging muscle injury has kept him out for months now.

Kevin: Andrew Wenger. He came a long way last season and was a key contributor for the team in the second half of 2014. He doesn’t look like himself out there and has been given the entirety of the season to play his way back into form.

Jeremy: As others have said, it’s Wenger. He has so many tools, but seems unable to put it all together. If he could, he’d be a beast. If he can’t, well, he’d be like he is now.

Who do you expect to show the biggest improvement in the second half of the season?

Adam: Zach Pfeffer. He has all the skills and he has shown them at every level. Put him in comfortable positions and let him catch up to the rougher MLS game and he will provide creativity and a midfielder in the box.

Eli: Sebastien Le Toux. With CJ Sapong proving his ability to stretch defenses and keep everyone on their toes, Le Toux should thrive on his difficult to track late runs and goal-poaching that have defined his career.

Mike: Sheanon Williams. After an uneven start to the campaign, and actually losing his starting right back spot, Williams has been much improved and shown flashes of his prior good form. It’s unknown what will happen with the Union’s outside back rotation, but in the last five games, Williams has been the most consistent performer in my opinion.

Dan: Andrew Wenger. I mean, he has to, right? Right?

Ed: What Dan said.

Peter: Andre Blake. Somewhat of a forgotten man, sure, but a consistent run-out of games — which he’ll get, as soon as he’s healthy and Sylvestre’s loan expires — should see him improve tremendously. (Especially when you consider that his baseline is, essentially, zero.)

Kevin: Richie Marquez.

Jeremy: I certainly hope that Wenger improves, but I think it’s more likely that Sébastien Le Toux will finish strongly. He has a history of good second halves, and his first half was well below his own standard, so logic dictates a return to the mean for him.

Is Fabinho for real?

Eli: The bar for attacking play up the left flank has been set so low that Fabinho can absolutely prove to be a contributor, by Union standards. However, while he has shown better defensively of late, his all-or-nothing technique at the back has done little to suggest that he’ll ever improve beyond being a defensive liability in tight matches.

Mike: It remains to be seen. It would be great if he was.

Dan: No. He is still just a good backup, albeit one who has been playing more disciplined of late.

Ed: Hell if I know but it’s fun to cheer on a player who looks like he’s turned things around. Long may it last.

Peter: I got a chance to talk to Fabinho after his breakout performance against the Red Bulls, and so I can confirm that he is a real person. (I also feel just a little bad about all the sun-rocket jokes, because he seems like a friendly enough guy.) That being said, Fabinho’s stock is never going to be higher than it is right now, and the Union should cash in before the bubble bursts. As it almost certainly will.

Kevin: He played well during a stretch of 4 to 5 games and does have good quality going forward. Defensively, he’s always been a liability, and that’s kept him from becoming a bonafide LB starter in this league.

Jeremy: Maybe, but even if he maintains this level of performance, the Union still need a younger left-footed LB on the roster moving forward. Maybe Raymond Lee can be that player, but we don’t know

Can this team make the playoffs?

Eli: Why not? MLS has made a laughing stock of the playoff format by allowing 60% of teams to make the postseason, and with this Eastern Conference? Plenty of teams have games in hand on the Union, but they are a 3-4 game winning streak away from making a postseason claim, even if coming in 6th isn’t much of an accomplishment.

Mike: No. I don’t think so. Yes, the MLS allows too many teams in, and with so much parity, anything is possible. But I’ve yet to see the consistency in results and performances that make me believe this team can make it this year.

Ed: No. That six teams now qualify from each conference is ridiculous, but the Union have no margin for error.

Peter: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Kevin: Yes, because the new MLS postseason format is a joke. Finishing in 6th and getting a wildcard game would be nothing to celebrate.

Jeremy: Maybe, but I’m with Kevin—just getting into the playoffs isn’t going to mean this team has solved all it’s problems. It’s understaffed and underfunded, and until at least one of those issues is addressed, it will struggle perpetually.