There are a lot of words that could describe the result of Philadelphia Union’s 3-2 loss to DC United Sunday. Frustrating and disappointing come quickly to mind.

But the one that fans, coaches, and players cannot escape is much worse: Inevitable.

From the moment the Union went up 2-0 in the fourth minute, there was a sense of confusion which quickly gave way to uncertainty, which eventually gave way to dread and, after Nick DeLeon’s tying goal in the 66th minute, inevitability.

Philadelphia was the better team for 35 minutes to open Sunday’s match, but they were the lesser team at the final whistle.

Fabian Espindola doing his Maidana impression in the second half Sunday.

What changes turned a one-sided match on its head? And why didn’t the Union have a better response once the tide turned? We will try to answer the first question. The second will — hopefully — come up at Jim Curtin’s presser this week.

Because Philadelphia Union should have left RFK Stadium with at least a point.

Speed of play

Let’s start with the obvious: The Union are extremely dangerous on the break. Or, put in harsher terms: The Union are only dangerous on the break. After going ahead by two, the Union took three more first half shots in the DC box. All of them came on the break. In the second half, a deep defensive set neutered the counterattack and the Union did not take a shot until Fred’s 75th minute effort after the match was tied.

The secret ingredient to Philadelphia’s offensive success is undoubtedly the speed of play out of the back. When the Union transition quickly from the back four past the midline, they present real and immediate problems through Cristian Maidana, CJ Sapong, and wingers that can create their own space below the box. However, in any other scenario the Union are neutered by an odd lack of patience and a frustrating lack of movement.

All season, blame has been placed on the wing players, who push high then seem to disappear into opposing defenses like some sort of useless ninjas. But it is clear that the problem is larger than Sebastien Le Toux and Andrew Wenger.

Unoin first half shots after going ahead 2-0.

The Union rely on Cristian Maidana for the majority of their offensive creativity, with Vincent Nogueira kicking in a fair amount whenever he is healthy enough to go the full ninety (which may not be for a while after he said following the loss that he had injured his quad). Maidana almost exclusively sets up shop near the touchlines about 20-30 yards from goal. Find him anywhere else and you are likely to a) Find him without the ball, and b) Find him during a Union loss.

Theoretically, Maidana can create overloads by sneaking off to the wings and running the offense. Yet that has not been the case. Instead, Maidana simply collects the ball on the wing and plays a ball into the center of the pitch or crosses it. And as Philly’s first goal showed, this is not a strategy without merit. If Maidana can drag a midfielder to the edge and find Sapong in the box, Philly is an incredibly dangerous team.

However, Maidana and the wing players still lack a fundamental understanding of the wingers’ roles. Should they be checking central when the Argentine is on the wing? Should they run in behind? There may be no correct ‘should’ answer. But the evidence is clear: Right now the wingers don’t really know what to do. They get stuck out there with Maidana and act as neither an outlet nor an overload.

Against Portland, the Union were bailed out by the Timbers’ deep midfield, which allowed the ball to be moved off a wing, through Nogueira, to the far side of the pitch. Without Nogueira’s aggressive checking, those dangerous wing positions became black holes unless Philly was in a counterattack. Resolving this issue is would finally make the Union more than a one-note offensive team.

In the buildup to the penalty, Zach Pfeffer did not step to Davy Arnaud, allowing the vet to pick out a pass and lope into the box.

Defensive pressure

When Fabinho went down with a minor arm injury, Ben Olsen snuck over to the Union bench and stole their defensive tactics board.

Or at least that’s a fair assumption based on what happened next.

For the final ten minutes of the first half and most of the second half, DC United methodically probed Philadelphia’s defense with a patient, outside-in approach. Here’s how it went: Play the ball to one side, wait for Sapong and Maidana to rotate over, then play the ball across the back to the other side. Once a winger steps up to the fullback, play the ball inside to Perry Kitchen or Davy Arnaud, who can then hit a longer pass back to the touchline where the winger has taken up space behind either Le Toux or Ayuk. Once the Union fullback steps high, play the ball back into the middle (or just dribble there) to allow Chris Korb or Taylor Kemp to push forward.

Over and over this same sequence occurred on Sunday. The opening goal came off a slight twist in the narrative when Nick DeLeon simply waltzed past Zach Pfeffer’s half-hearted defense, picked his head up, and found Korb behind Fabinho. The details were different, but the theme remained the same: Draw the Union winger too high or too narrow, then use that to either attack the space in front of the fullback or pull him high and attack space behind. It’s weird that a tactic can be so simple, or so effective.

Philly had no answer. The Carroll-Pfeffer midfield was too deep to pressure the first ball inside from the DC fullback, but Le Toux and Ayuk kept pressing that fullback even without support. This left a gaping hole in the Union’s defensive shape that Nick DeLeon on the right and, for the final 55 minutes of the match, Fabian Espindola on the left, used as a lab for ever more incisive attacks.

White and Edu allow Saborio to pull them far too deep into the box, gifting Espindola time and space in a very dangerous area. The resulting shot led to DC’s second goal.

Lay blame?

Here is a case in which it is easy to point the finger at Jim Curtin, Mike Sorber and the coaching staff and ask, “Why don’t you fix this?”

But then more questions come up: How? Do you ask the wingers to back off? Do you ask the central midfielders to step up? Do you ask the whole team to step up? Do you tell Maidana to be a bit more disciplined in his lateral drifting?

These are all reasonable approaches. But then you have to face the harsh reality that is the Philadelphia Union roster. (Remember: This is a club that “solved” their fullback issues by waiting until Fabinho came good then trading away their positional depth because it was the only value they had outside of the starting eleven. Also remember: Fabinho was apparently a hot commodity before the expansion draft but was deemed too valuable to let go. But Sheanon Williams and his longer-term consistency? Apparently not too valuable).

The Union use Zach Pfeffer, who has been groomed since age 16 to be a US international attacking midfielder, as Vincent Nogueira’s backup. Nogueira is a player of such industry and talent that he essentially defines his own position as almost a creative Gennaro Gattuso. Pfeffer, in contrast, is a very young player who, at every level, has been an attacking midfielder a la Chaco Maidana.

So yes, Pfeffer’s defense left a lot to be desired on Sunday. But ask yourself: What would Chaco in that same role have looked like? He would have looked like Pfeffer without the youthful bounce in his step after he got beaten.

Around Pfeffer, Philly has the hard-working converted striker Sebastien Le Toux and the teenaged Eric Ayuk. Le Toux is a hot-n-cold playmaker, and when he is cold he does what he always did as a striker: Use his superior fitness to chase down defenders and try to force turnovers. At times, this strategy works well. But when it doesn’t, it leaves a gap that is low hanging fruit for any opposition coaching staff that spends an hour in the film room.

Ayuk is, again, a teenager playing his first minutes in anything close to a high level. His defense is, as should be expected, a work in progress.

All of this is not meant to call players out. Quite the opposite.

So much wrong on the 3rd goal: Fred leaves Espindola to guard empty space, Le Toux and Fabinho both step to Korb and leave DeLeon alone, Edu then tracks DeLeon and leaves Saborio for White. White leave Espindola for Gaddis, and at that point fate takes over.

It is to say that this is what you get when you build a roster that assumes soccer players are capable of playing at the same level no matter where on the field you put them and what you tell them to do. The Union franchise is like a live testing center for this theory. They initially tried Chaco Maidana in a wide role, they moved Amobi Okugo into the back line and out again. They have moved Maurice Edu into the back line, out, and back in again. They played a right back with no left foot at left back for a long, long time with only the thinnest of covers. They pretended Andrew Wenger was a striker despite Montreal’s need at the position and simultaneous willingness to give up on Wenger. As outlined above, they continue to make Zach Pfeffer’s transition from prospect to player more difficult by asking him to simultaneously transition from attacking midfielder to a number eight.

And note that this short summary leaves out any “roster management” at the goalie position because even sarcastic quotations can’t make that palatable.

In short, yes the players could do a better job defensively. And yes, the coaches could do a better job explaining what an organized defense should look like and how to achieve it. But the genesis of the Union’s defensive problems are at the roster level. Last year’s offensive problems? Same story. Moving players around to fill gaps — even if that move is only from attacking midfield to the engine room — has the potential to unearth previously hidden talents (see Chris Wondolowski this season in San Jose). But it can also lead to inconsistency as a player slips from time to time along what is certainly a steep, steep learning curve.

A positive note

For all of Philly’s ups and downs this season, one thing has become abundantly clear: Getting the ball to CJ Sapong in the opposition box works. It is the on-field equivalent of yelling “Bieber” at a crowded Chuck-E-Cheez: Chaos ensues.

Sapong made the same run twice in the first four minutes. The first time, he cut in front of Steve Birnbaum, asked the young defender if he knew the quickest way to the weight room, and calmly put the Union ahead.

The next run was nearly identical, as Sapong sliced in front of Birnbaum and watched Le Toux’s pass from the wing roll past everyone in to the far corner of the net. It was the perfect example of how a player can affect a game without showing up anywhere on the stat sheet.

And this is the truth that has emerged with Sapong in a central role: Get the ball to his feet in the box and he will make something happen. He’s too strong and too quick for most central defenders, and DC relied heavily on Perry Kitchen’s excellent positioning and help defense to keep Sapong in check.

Sapong has become the most dangerous attacker on the Union since Jack McInerney’s rich vein of form landed him a spot on the 2013 Gold Cup roster. Unfortunately, while DC United can plug DeLeon, Pontius, Michael Farfan, Miguel Aguilar, and even Chris Rolfe into wide midfield positions, Philly can only call on converted strikers and Eric Ayuk. Thus, a two-striker system featuring Sapong and Fernando Aristeguieta crashes hard on the rocks of an inflexible roster.

Substitutions

Why did they come so late?

I have no idea. They should have come earlier. Not much else to say since the final score does the talking here.

Player ratings

Brian Sylvestre – 4

The second goal was a rough one to give up, with Sylvestre caught between trying to grab the ball and push it wide. That said, the defense certainly left their goalie out to dry by allowing Espindola to spin out of pressure and wind up a rocket from 20 yards out. Then letting two guys charge in alone for the rebound. Sylvestre only faced two other shots on frame and both were from distance.

Gaddis – all defensive actions.

Ray Gaddis – 2

Once Espindola moved to the wing, Gaddis was in trouble. The Union fullback has a tendency to drift narrow to help Ethan White, and DC used that to feed Espindola and Taylor Kemp up the left side. Gaddis did a lot of defending below his own box, and that is rarely a good sign. Gaddis was on site for three of DC’s goal-scoring opportunities — he gave up the penalty, got sucked in by Espindola’s run on the second goal, and arrived too late to disrupt the Argentinian on the third — making it a rough day at the office for the only right back on the roster.

Ethan White – 4

White tends to catch a lot of blame for ambiguous problems because, let’s be honest, he has made a lot of glaring individual errors. But White was not the culprit on Sunday. He played his position as expected, which is to say he played a bit too deep and moved the ball a bit too slow, but he also did it without being overaggressive on Saborio and giving up silly fouls. White and Edu had a world of difficulty figuring out what to do with players that dropped into space in front of Saborio, but that’s not a problem to lay at White’s feet alone.

Maurice Edu – 4

Taylor Twellman joined the chorus singing songs of praise about Maurice Edu’s leadership, and the way Philly’s locker room has stuck together despite so many faceplants this season is a testament to Edu’s growth as a captain. But to play devil’s advocate: Why so many faceplants? And what should be expected of Edu when his team is so obviously shelling for 60 minutes? That seems like a situation that demands a leader step up and push the team forward. Edu is learning on the job and that needs to be his next step.

Fabinho – 5

Fabinho had no glaring errors and no moments of brilliance. He was steady, and that remains a positive for the once-mercurial fullback.

Brian Carroll – 4

Carroll was asked to do far too much for far, far too long in the second half. Long after it became clear that the game had passed Zach Pfeffer by, Carroll was still charging out and trying to pressure DC’s midfield (see the buildup to the third goal). Additionally, the midfielder never got on the same page with the defense on how to handle the ever-widening hole between the retreating back line and the midfield.

Eric Ayuk – 4

One headed chance and a few jukes aside, Ayuk was little more than a pylon for Taylor Kemp to sprint past.

Sebastien Le Toux – 5

This is a tough rating because I still don’t know if Le Toux was doing what the coaching staff wanted or if he was overstepping his defensive role by pressing so often. I’ll go with a 5 because he scored and because the consistency with which Le Toux played aggressive defense suggests he was instructed to do so and was not purely freelancing.

Zach Pfeffer – 3

See the analysis. Pfeffer plays conservative passes in a deeper role because he’s still unfamiliar with the territory. Additionally, his defensive pressure is wildly suspect. Pfeffer played too far off Davy Arnaud in the lead up to DC’s penalty, allowing Arnaud to turn, look for options, and pick out Saborio before running through to the box for the penalty.

Chaco was too deep and trying to force things after finding Sapong for the early opener.

Cristian Maidana – 4

Disappeared after setting up the first goal. Kitchen lockdown.

CJ Sapong – 7

Another strong game from the striker. He gave Birnbaum all sorts of problems and could have scored a hat trick if Philly had been able to feed him all game.

Substitutes

Fred – 3

So Vincent Nogueira has a quad injury. Fantastic.

Fernando Aristeguieta & Vincent Nogueira – n/a

Too little, farfarfar too late.

Geiger counter – 4

Drew Fischer was fine. DC couldn’t get close to Philly at first, then Philly couldn’t get close to DC. Made for a pretty easy evening for the ref.