Photo: Courtesy of Philadelphia Union

I attended the “Practice and Q & A” Philadelphia Union held last Saturday morning for premium seat season ticket holders. Here’s some of what I saw and heard, including observations from Jim Curtin and Earnie Stewart.

Practice

Jim Curtin sketched the structure of a typical practice week. Its rhythm will interest coaches for the timing of the pregame “dialing back.” If the last game was on a Saturday, Sunday is a regeneration day (lactic acid removal for those who exceeded their aerobic capacities at various times in the game). Monday is a day off. Curtin called Tuesday and Wednesday high intensity, high workload days, and Earnie Stewart mentioned them as the times two-a-days occur.

Thursday, not Friday, is the easy day, because the sports science people say that’s when it does the most good. And then on Friday there is a short practice with short bursts of high intensity, highly competitive work. It is better to have competed intensely close to game day.

That last is what we saw. Spaces were truncated. An opening passing exercise stopped every two and a half minutes to switch into the next of its four total phases. No one group of the three — into which the squad was divided for the subsequent two consecutive 7-v-7 small-sided exercises — was ever going all out for more than five minutes without a two and a half minute break. The rest of the time was individual: shooting, stretching, long ball precision, and so on. None of the exercise was ever anaerobic. (When energy demand exceeds the body’s ability to provide it aerobically by burning oxygen, a different chemical reaction kicks in, adding energy anaerobically without burning the not-available oxygen but creating waste products like lactic acid which inhibits future effectiveness. Light gentle exercise within 24 hours flushes out the bad stuff.)

Players

Earnie Stewart stated that the team has received no serious offers for Andre Blake. His contacts are aware of Blake, have heard that he is doing well, have mentioned him, but no one has made an actual formal offer.

He pointed out that Maurice Edu still shows hints of favoring his leg. My eyes agreed. It was not in the heat of play, but while moving at a relaxed jog during the passing drill that there was still a very slight “hitch” in his “gitalong.” Within the restrictions described above, he looked good. He was playing the center of the field in both the 7 v 7s.

Eric Ayuk is back. His head is shaved and he seems to have added chest muscle since the spring.

Derrick Jones was a full participant in training. He did not stand out, neither badly nor well. He belonged.

Neither Matt Jones nor Tranquillo Barnetta was present on the field.

Earnie Stewart’s decision

The decisive factor in the Sporting Director’s decision to join the Union project was his visit to the Academy at YSC. All the usual boxes had been ticked positively, but the Academy visit was unique. “Ah Zed,” as a European pronounces “AZ,” had seriously thought about creating an academy, but had thought of nothing like what exists in Wayne. No other academies he had visited compared to Richie Graham’s. There has been much talk of the Galaxy and Red Bulls, but he dismissed their programs as not comparable.

When he visited the campus, every academy boy came up to him individually, shook his hand and introduced himself, and welcomed him, all the while looking him in the eye. It was not the content of the program, but the poise and self-confidence of its members that stunned him.

The father of two clinched his answer by telling us that his younger child, a shy, diffident 14 year old boy, is going to YSC this coming year, and that he the father is thrilled by the opportunity. He wants that comfort-with-self for his own son. His wife was uncertain, then she visited for herself, and the deal was closed.

Scouting

Stewart described the organization’s scouting process. He pointed out that scouting departments are expensive. He said that the current group totals three. He mentioned that Kyle McCarthy has developed a system of “analytics” which they continue to improve. He named Chris Albright. Whether Stewart himself is the third person, or whether there is an unspecified third party, or even whether Kyle McCarthy is one of his trio, remains unclear.

He emphasized that as far as he is concerned, the important thing when putting eyeballs on a player is to watch him practice.

He described two basic theoretical models for scouting, each made up of the same components but different in sequence. Conventionally, you see the player, talk to the player and then collect data.

Using “analytics,” you collect the data first to identify the player, then you see the player, and last you learn as much as possible about the whole person that might become a player for you on your pitch. “Analytics” hopes to reduce the “needle in a haystack” dimension of scouting.

He called the Union locker room chemistry fantastic. Nurturing it and preserving it is very important. Gaining the fullest possible understanding of the human that comes along with the soccer player enables nurturing and preserving both group chemistry and the person.

Think about it

A final thought that comes from direct contact with an impressive “straight shooter.” It develops a comment of his reported earlier elsewhere when Stewart said that Major League Soccer’s style of play most closely resembled that of the Bundesliga, that Eredivisie was less close.

It is conventional wisdom that players coming from other leagues go through a noticeable, sometimes lengthy, adjustment period to what MLS demands, both physically and mentally.

Before Stewart’s arrival, Tranquillo Barnetta came to the Union from Schalke 04 in the Bundesliga. Without being precise to the exact day, Barnetta has been here one year. A single datum proves nothing. But, how long was his adjustment period, particularly mentally?

“Go scout the Bundesliga, please,” said the Union fan.