Photo: Daniel Studio

A disappointing week was capped by a 3-1 loss to Toronto that was every bit as bad as it sounds. Even though TFC has significantly improved over the course of the season, the extent to which they were able to commit men forward against a compressed Union defense told viewers everything they need to know about how the 2015 season has gone for these clubs.

Since this match has very few implications, let’s focus on the most notable aspects of the Union’s setup and performance.

Deep defending

Philly was pinned back from the opening whistle. Yet the team, and Andrew Wenger, were impressively compact for most of the match. Toronto mainly tried to move the ball to the right then push it back inside where Michael Bradley and Benoit Cheyrou were stepping inside the half and looking for Giovinco behind the midfield. The Union’s response was to send one defensive midfielder to the ball and letting the other drop centrally to sit in passing lanes.

TFC did not force the ball through the center, but instead tried to shift the defense around and attack from the left once they had established possession in Philly’s half. So: Enter up the right, attack the middle, then attack the left. That is a lot of ground to cover, but the Union shifted well.

Issues arose when the home side brought the fullbacks into play, overloading the wide areas when Sapong and Ayuk trailed the play. Philly recognized this threat, however, and the depth at which they defended signaled a belief that Richie Marquez and Steven Vitoria could handle Jozy Altidore’s aerial prowess.

And they did. Although Altidore scored off a cross, winning the ball in the air had little to do with the goal.

Wenger shows the touchline even though he has support central and Altidore can take that corner space.

Wenger as a left back

Jim Curtin likes Andrew Wenger. Pundits and analysts like Andrew Wenger. Unfortunately, opposing defenses also took a liking to Andrew Wenger in 2015, enjoying the anxious winger’s indecisiveness and tame dead end runs.

But for Curtin, there is simply too much talent to ignore. So Wenger has been reborn as a defender on a team desperately in need of them. As a right back against New England, Wenger showed calmness on the ball but positioning issues, often staying a step behind his teammates and making the offsides line a jagged one.

Off a turnover (not his), Wenger is back in the defensive line quickly, and not a step behind as he often was against New England.

On Saturday, Wenger moved to the left side of defense with CJ Sapong providing little cover in front of him. Luckily, the newly minted fullback was up against the impressively pointless Robbie Findlay, who demurred whenever he had an opportunity to attack. The real threat came from Jackson, who overlapped well and often beat Sapong upfield. Michael Lahoud offered good cover, but Wenger found himself isolated against Jackson numerous times.

The theme to Wenger’s one-on-one defense was: Play it safe. Jackson attacked with speed, looking to get to the endline. Wenger pushed him that way, using his balance to stay with the right back and keep him out of the center. It was a fun matchup to watch, particularly so because Wenger, for the most part, kept up.

Toronto looked to switch play to the right where Findlay could take on Wenger. Luckily, it’s Robbie Findlay so not much happened.

That “play it safe” strategy worked well against a side that held Bradley and Cheyrou deep and only pushed Osorio into the box to help Altidore and Giovinco. Jackson would get to the endline, put in a cross, Marquez or Vitoria would block it out, and Wenger would clear it. (He had an unreal eight clearances!)

The cost of that conservative defensive strategy was that Wenger tended to grant too much space both around the box and further upfield. Let me note at the outset that this is a fixable issue and should temper but not eliminate the notably improved play Wenger showed in the second game of his rebirth.

Stepping off is a natural reaction for a player new to the back line because there is no natural support. Unlike in midfield where there is usually a line of defense strategically placed behind you, in the back you are relying on teammates to read the game and follow runners to give you cover. Although both Lahoud and Marquez did a laudable job supporting Wenger, the tendency to feel like he was on an island was written all over the converted winger’s positioning.

For example, Wenger would offer the touchline to a defender even when they met at the top of the final third. The Union’s defensive system, like most, is designed to have a deep midfielder slide over to protect the center. The fullback, then, should offer the inside to an attacker because a) that’s where the support is, and b) offering the touchline allows a striker to take that space and pull a central defender out of the middle, rarely a desirable situation.

But when you are playing it safe, your priority is keeping the ball and the man as far away from the box as possible. For Wenger, this clearly meant pushing people wide. And he did so quite successfully, only putting the team in danger when Giovinco’s intelligent runs in front of Marquez were spotted.

Overall, Wenger-as-defender was a far better player than Wenger-as-winger has been in 2015. In defense, it is possible to simplify the game, and stopping an opposing player is a quick confidence builder. On offense, even a good move can end with a missed shot or imperfect pass, so building confidence is notably more difficult.

Wenger may not stay in defense, but it is heartening to see him build trust in himself because the Union should be squeezing every positive they can out of these final few matches.

ALL Union key passes

The double-deep midfield

Not for the first time this season, Jim Curtin opted to play Brian Carroll and Michael Lahoud together, highlighting the duo’s defensive prowess and offensive limitations. To put it plainly: The Union simply cannot generate offense with a midfield that cannot play long passes and a creative player who prefers to collect the ball inside the opponent’s half.

And unfortunately, this is no theoretical statement. The Toronto match was a particularly poor offensive performance because the wings were either playing out of position (Sapong) or playing hide and seek with themselves (Ayuk, who still hasn’t been found). But looking at the Union’s passing chart, it becomes clear that Carroll and Lahoud would not have been able to pick out the wide players even if it had been Barnetta and Le Toux on the touchlines.

Without Nogueira, in the midfield, the Union could not play anything but short passes, and as a result they were consistently closed down in their own half.

Both midfielders offer a square pass first. This means they get even with the ball carrier to give a safe outlet instead of moving a few yards ahead to a position that allows them to turn upfield and move the ball wide. This is less a criticism than a simple statement of fact: Brian Carroll and Michael Lahoud play like defensive midfielders. Expecting something else would be like paying out the nose to add to a well-stocked position and assuming it will somehow make the rest of the team better (that’s a bye-bye burn).

Overall

Philly looked like a team that was still recovering from a gut punch. And they are. Meanwhile, Toronto looked like a team that will be extremely annoying but eventually nonthreatening in the playoffs (with a tiny caveat named Giovinco).

For the Union, this was little more than a chance for Steven Vitoria, Fernando Aristeguieta, and Andrew Wenger to raise their stock heading into what promises to be another interesting and confusing offseason. At the very least, Philly has their 2015 goalkeeping position locked down. And in Brian Sylvestre and John McCarthy they have good competition for the number two spot. The frustrating thing is that there are few other spots on the pitch where things look different from the end of 2014. CJ Sapong has emerged as a force in the box, but only in the sense that he can hold the ball and finish from close range. He is a work in progress as a finisher and as a mover between the lines, where he rarely curled into corners as a long option.

Richie Marquez has shown he can compete each week at the MLS level, but it is still unclear (still!) whether Maurice Edu will be next to him or whether the captain will return to midfield (seriously, still!!).

Tranquillo Barnetta was brought in to essentially fill the hole Andrew Wenger forcibly vacated by playing most of the season like a kid at his first middle school dance. Barnetta is an upgrade, but one the Union did not think they would need at this time last year. The rest of the team, subbing Fabinho in for Sheanon Williams, looks a lot like it did at this point last season. The bench is disturbingly thin, ageing veterans are relied on for major minutes (Carroll) or big plays (Casey), and the identity that Jim Curtin so desperately wants to establish remains as elusive as the hardware Nick Sakiewicz even more desperately wanted as some sort of absurd justification for his impressive mismanagement of an MLS franchise.

In other words, 2015 has been 2014 again. Except now the non-Chicago teams that were splitting rent in the basement have spent good money on good players and are aiming for at least a ground floor apartment. Philly cobbled together a tweaked version of the team that captured lightning in a bottle to sniff the playoffs a season ago. But this time there was no perfect storm.

All fans can do is show the players they support the effort, and hope that changes at the top of the club will filter down to field level sooner rather than later.

Player ratings

Andre Blake – 7

Another impressive outing from Blake wasn’t enough to secure points, but it did point to a level of consistency that even Jay Sugarman knows has been lacking in goal. The athleticism and shot stopping raise eyebrows, but organizing a back line that was a mishmash of starters, backups, and wingers was arguably the more laudable achievement.

Ray Gaddis – 4

That swing-and-miss on Altidore’s goal is going to haunt, as will Jonathan Osorio’s footskills.

Steven Vitoria – 6

The big man gets a goal by attacking hard on a set piece. His bounceback second half has been heartwarming, but it hardly justifies his large salary. In all likelihood, Vitoria will be a good guy passing through Philly on his way to a role on a lower tier European bench. His positioning has improved over the course of the season, and his confidence in the tackle has grown as he took on more of a leadership role in back next to Richie Marquez. It is very possible that Vitoria shows up again in MLS at some point later in his career, but it won’t be at his current cap hit.

Richie Marquez – 4

That own goal was an unlucky one, and Marquez was oddly unchallenged the rest of the match as Toronto looked to back Jozy Altidore up against Vitoria or attack Wenger wide. The tools are all there for Marquez, who has shown off his speed over the last month and continues to look like his ceiling is a high one. Playing with a consistent goalie and central defensive partner is a necessity for the young center back next season.

Andrew Wenger – 6

See above. Wenger looked so much more confident as the defender in a one-on-one than he has the attacker in 2015. The quick feet, acceleration, and change of speed that make him such a frustrating underperformer were all there to see, and his calmness under pressure was a welcome addition to the back line (though, at the same time, that calmness makes his misplaced passes all the more frustrating).

Michael Lahoud – 4

Lahoud put in another strong, physical performance under constant pressure from some of the better offensive players in the league. And he was probably lucky to leave without a caution after a number of lunges were either executed perfectly or evaded the eye of the wildly inconsistent Ricardo Salazar. When playing with Brian Carroll, though, Lahoud needs to be more of a distributor or the Union never get out of the back. He wasn’t and the Union didn’t.

Brian Carroll – 4

Through 70 minutes, Carroll was an aggressive pest in an impossible position. He tried to press high to prevent long crossfield balls that isolated Andrew Wenger, but he also needed to cut out balls through the center that allowed Giovinco to run at the defense. Um, notgonnahappen. Carroll checks the effort boxes, but he needed to be more of an organizer and less of a catalyst to help a midfield with a teenager and a striker lined up wide.

CJ Sapong – 5

It has been difficult for other teams to stop CJ Sapong when he gets a head of steam through the box. So the Union did it for them. Sapong has shown flashes of quality on the wing this season, but he has not been a threat on goal from the wing. Nor has he been a particularly good defender when the team is pinned back (he sure can press though) which made the decision to push Sapong wide seem experimental, desperate, or just plain weird.

Eric Ayuk – 3

Did he play? Really?? In this game??

Cristian Maidana – 4

Inconsistent set pieces (though that assist was quite nice) and a lack of precision from the creator exposed the Union’s struggles in and reliance on transition offense. Maidana was off the pace, and that’s how a team takes zero shots inside the box for 65 minutes.

Fernando Aristeguieta – 4

At times, Aristeguieta seems like that guy you play pickup soccer with who works hard, gets to the right places, but just doesn’t have the touch to make anything happen once he’s there. Aside from his goal against New England, Aristeguieta was a one-dimensional threat most of the season and didn’t show the speed or touch to replace what Conor Casey gave the Union during last season’s strong run (specifically, distribution and ball retention from an advanced position).

Substitutes

Vincent Nogueira – 5

The team’s best midfielder on the night, but his competition was not strong. Nogueira was restricted from switching fields, but he worked to get forward more than usual.

Tranquillo Barnetta – 6

The only Union player able to create enough space to switch fields, Barnetta also had the team’s only key pass from open play. Trying really hard to see that as a positive…

Sebastien Le Toux – 3

Two for seven passing, zero for three in the offensive half. Le Toux was definitely feeling the effects of Wednesday’s match.

Geiger counter – 4

Ricardo Salazar called another riddle of a match. He let some clear fouls right in front of him go unpunished, then acted galled that rough tackles occurred moments later. Philly probably benefited from the referee’s inconsistency, but it remains a lot easier to play soccer when you know what the man in the middle is going to call and what he’s going to let go. With Salazar, that is rarely the case.