Photo courtesy of Philadelphia Union
It was a messy affair for both teams Saturday night, and while the Union had some chances to earn a (likely undeserved) point late in the game, they ultimately fell short.
Player Ratings
Andre Blake — 7
For chrissakes, please don’t get hurt, Dre. Blake did well to come off his line often, but it’s a bad sign when he has to put himself in such physically precarious positions so often.
Keegan Rosenberry — 4
A surprisingly sloppy performance from Rosenberry. His night was plagued with a number of giveaways and lost 50-50 battles, and he failed to get forward for much of the game. Not his fault Rivas was played onside on the opening goal, but he was unable to recover.
Oguchi Onyewu — 4
For the first time this season, Gooch was noticeably off-pace. He had a few solid tackles at the top of the 18, but failed to impose his will on Cyle Larin and Carlos Rivas. Got totally turned around on the second Larin goal.
Richie Marquez — 6
Yet another solid match from Marquez. Cool, calm, and collected, he handled everything that came his way with composure.
Fabinho — 2
A rough night for Fabinho. Beyond playing Rivas onside for the first goal – and subsequently losing a footrace to Larin – he was continually beaten and hit aimless long ball after aimless long ball to relinquish possession. His glimpse of the back of Larin’s jersey for the Orlando striker’s brace cemented the outcome of his evening.
Haris Medunjanin — 6
Did well to distribute when called upon, but failed to break Orlando’s empty bucket midfield and solid backline shape. Was nice to see him push forward a bit more than previous matches. His corner delivery put some dangerous balls in the box, though no one in white got on the end of one.
Derrick Jones — 4
I’m going to be a little harsh on Jonesy because you can absolutely see what he’s capable of. Again, he fiercely marauded the center of the pitch with gusto, but his engine often took him out of position while chasing down attackers. He too caught the seemingly team-wide bug of poor passing and frivolous turnovers that spoiled the Union’s ability to control the ball or the game. He simply needs to be more confident offensively.
Alejandro Bedoya — 4
Was all over the pitch, but with little to show for it. As the game progressed, his forays into the final third became more dangerous, though ultimately benign. Would expect him to bring more composure to the midfield when the team is as disjointed as they were throughout the match.
Fabian Herbers — 5
After a terrific performance last week, Herbers was entirely absent in the first half. Came back stronger after the break to see more of the ball and set up the goal before being subbed off for Ilsinho.
Chris Pontius — 4
Pontius’ game revolves around him popping up in good spots and taking opportunistic looks on goal. That simply didn’t happen enough Saturday evening.
CJ Sapong — 6
Did well to take his goal, but did very, very little outside of that in his first start of the year.
Substitutes
Ilsinho (60’) — 6
It was good to see Ilsinho back on the field. Worked hard and drove at defenders when given the opportunity, and was unlucky to see his effort hit the post as the game wound down.
Alberg (77’) — N/A
I tend not to fault Alberg because he’s not getting much thrown his way, but he’s not exactly exerting himself either.
Picault (86’) — 5
Just for that terrific ball to Bedoya in stoppage time. Would like him to find some real estate for more long runs up the wing, but it’s hard when his minutes come in opponents’ bunker time.
Geiger Counter
Fotis Pazakos – 5
I mean, after last week a sentient jock strap would have been a welcome sight in a yellow shirt. Pazakos called a fairly even game in a rough and physical match.
Player of the game
Andre Blake. Might as well just keep this here week after week.
Bedoya at 4 is probably right, but it is getting harder to suppress the side of me that wants to give him a 1 or 2 at most. Two games in a row he has been handed the opportunity to give us 3 points on a silver platter. In both games, he missed. The PK vs TOR and the point blank header vs ORL. As the captain and highest paid player in Union history, Bedoya simply must do better. The first half was a shockingly poor performance. I was sitting at 700 wondering whether everyone was hungover or thought purple was blue.
I don’t see how much blame can go to Bedoya for not putting that header in. Good positioning and a little luck for the goalie is what saved that. After outplaying Toronto and only getting a point, would have been nice to sneak out of Orlando getting a point they didn’t really deserve.
^ Yep. Unlucky, not on par with a botched PK. However, Bedoya hasn’t been firing on all cylinders and it’s been disappointing. Then again, let’s not forget he’s not a #10. Plain and simple, we will continue to stagnate and fail in this formation relying on positions we CANNOT fill.
He did play as an attacking mid in France though. I think he’s been hurt by the winger play more than anything. We had good wing play against Toronto and Bedoya looked much better. Against Vancouver and Orlando the wing play was bad and Bedoya looked bad. I honestly don’t know if it’s Bedoya’s fault or the wings fault or just a structural issue.
Ha, I was at 700 too so was probably groaning along with you!
Pazakos was definitely even handed, but he let the game get way more physical than it should have. I don’t know if I’ve ever watched so many obvious fouls go un-whistled in my life. There were NFL tackles out there — guys rolling off of defenders backs with no play made on the ball whatsoever. MLS has got to get a handle on that shit. It’s really ridiculous. Guys in this league know they can simply plow into anyone with the ball and they’re likely to get away with it.
Agreed. While not really favoring a team, he let that game get out of hand right away and called a pathetic match. Poor job.
Yeah, the calls were even, but everyone was lucky that didn’t get out of hand. Rarely does a game stay physical without someone taking matters into their own hands. That could have gone down that path.
.
I like the physical play, but it has to get reigned in a bit to protect the players.
Sounds like we need to see Wijnaldum sooner rather than later.
Exactly my thought. Fabinho is opening the door for him, and if Wijnaldum isn’t able to walk through it then it might be time to change the “In Earn We Trust” mantra.
Look at the details of where Wijnaldum sits in the salary cap structure. He didn’t have the chops to get more that the reserve classification, and he’s not a home grown player, so he’s at the minimum ($53,000).
.
Yes, Earnie said all the right things about competition to start, etc. But the money says he’s a development project.
Not sure why Rosenberry is so high. He had a terrible game.
Yeah, he and Fabi were equally woeful in my opinion. Give ’em both 2s.
+1 As did Bedoya. I just saw the highlights and Rosenberry plays Larin onside on the second goal as well. If held up the defensive line, it would have been offside.
Agree, but he did start working well with Ilsinho up the right flank once the U began to get it together in the second half.
Fair enough. I have been hoping that getting Ilsinho back would bring out the best in Rosenberry.
A smart manager would change things up after three games and two sad points. How unfortunate we won’t be granted that luxury. Formation change, Herbers off, Bedoya out wide, Ilsinho on, 3-backs (half-kidding), anything at all would be nice. We got some time before DC to implement change. C’mon Jimbo.
You’ll see Ilsinho, most likely. Keep in mind that he’s been hurt. This was his first game back from injury.
.
Starting with DC, we’ll likely see Ilsinho starting and Herbers off the bench. That will likely have a positive cascading effect. But it is to be seen to what degree.
Didn’t you know, according to MLS.com- Herbers has cemented his spot in starting lineup.
.
Ho-hum.
No one on this site seems ever to think of defense and two-way play.
.
Ilsinho has worked hard to be in better shape. He deserves a chance to show he can improve the defensive aspect of his play.
.
It is a threshold he must cross.
.
Do we wish to be ranked with the Minnesota Loons?
Is it bad that I saw the 7 for Andre Blake and my first thought was “damn, that’s too low!” May just be the goalie in me.
.
Medunjanin at a 6 is also a bit surprising. Maybe I have trouble seeing his contributions, but he offers very little in defense, and I haven’t really seen any “wow” balls from him. He just seems…really anonymous out there.
Yeah I fluctuated on Haris. Trying to be positive, but when I rewatched the game he certainly failed to contribute as much as one would hope. Ultimately I went high because he did put so many good balls in the mixer once the U finally stopped trying to do cheeky set piece plays.
I’ve watched every game so far and, maybe it’s just a lack of full observation for me, but Medunjanin seems to warm up in game. He starts off pretty invisible, popping up for a pass here and there, but not getting a ton of touches. And then when the game enters the final 30 minutes, he’s popping up everywhere with a well placed diagonal. Maybe it’s just me, but he really seems to put a stamp on a game for me later.
I agree and his D is not flashy but he’s generally in good positions to cut out passing lanes which is something hard to notice watching live because it keeps the play away from high. Kevin Kinkead had shown that in one of his articles so full credit to him for that point.
Agreed… here’s a guy in Haris who I imagine can gut a defense with flat or vertical balls to space behind defenders…except, none of our wide players are able to get to that run– for various reasons.
.
He’s not anonymous though- the anonymity belongs to the teammates he has on the field not allowing him to do what he is likely best at.
.
IMO.
Well, Derrick Jones makes no attempt to pass creatively forward more than ten yards but instead looks for Medunjanin. the backs look for him as well.
In a game that needed veteran leadership and the ability to play simply and retain possession… paging Alejandro Bedoya paging Alejandro Bedoya.
.
A road game in Orlando is one of the reasons you are here… to not make us look like a little league baseball team playing travel soccer.
.
Sun Rocket on the ready…. FABINHO–
.
“—Set the controls for the heart of the sun.
…
the heart of the sun.
the heart of the sun.
who is the man that arrives at the wall?”
.
.
.
Holy Hell that game was abysmal. AB.Y.SMAL.
I appreciate that you took the time to watch that dreck anon and take the time to “award” scores. You’re the real hero.
.
I imagine elementary teachers all over the DelVal handing out punishment assignments to bad students,”Since you didn’t turn in your assignment on time, you will rewatch the Union Orlando match and break down the tape to see the defensive lapses!”
Parents would be lighting up the principal’s line with complaints about draconian corporal punishment.
“thank you SIR may I have another.”
Best “Geiger Counter” ever… HAHA!
Onyewu had a yellow card, which meant he could not take Larin down with a professional foul before Larin’s second goal.
.
I judge that a sound decision since they would have gone down to ten men, he would have been suspended for the DC match, and rookie Jack Elliott would have had to start in his place because Ken Tribbett is still hurt.