photo: Paul Rudderow

A rough outing for the Union saw Montreal sit deep and frustrate the home team while cashing in on almost every decent chance they created. Noted Union-killer Ignacio Piatti was up to his old tricks, notching two assists on two clinical Montreal counterattacks.

Worrying for the Union was the lack of cohesive offense created. Will teams sitting deep and looking to counter be the new norm as Philly looks to close out the season?

Player Ratings

Andre Blake – 3

Poor decision to come out to try and make a play on the first goal. Poor rebound control on the second goal. Hard to fault him much on third or fourth though.

Keegan Rosenberry – 3

Steps up to the ball when he should follow the runner on the third Montreal goal, with Daniel Lovitz running too easily behind the Union backline. No chemistry with Sapong trying to advance down the right side.

Jack Elliott – 5

Hard to blame Elliott for any of the four Montreal goals looking back at the video, but hard to give him much higher than average on a night when the opponent scores four. Still recorded three clearances and six recoveries.

Auston Trusty – 5

Great header to open to the scoring and notch his first MLS goal. Would like to see him prevent the shot that leads to the second goal, but to be fair, it’s a good quick, effort. Has a chance to clear as Lovitz slid his cross in for the third Montreal goal, but hard to fault him too much for preventing a goal from three yards out.

Ray Gaddis – 2

Poor pass to Picault leads to the first Montreal break for the first goal. Could have also gotten back to foul Piatti as he ran half the length of the pitch with the ball. Doesn’t track Saphir Taider on the second goal as the midfielder taps home on the rebound.

Haris Medunjanin – 4

Found himself on the ball enough but failed to play the penetrating balls that were needed to break down the compact Montreal defense. Would like to see him shoot from distance when the opponent is behind the ball as much as the Impact were.

Alejandro Bedoya – 3

After weeks of what seemed like endless energy, Bedoya looked tired and off the pace on Saturday. Should have done more to run with Taider on the second Montreal goal.

Borek Dockal – 5

Playing on an injured ankle, Dockal was industrious but not as clinical as we’ve seen him in previous weeks. Sends in a delightful ball for Trusty to head home. The assist was his 15th of the season, giving him the league lead as well as tying a team record.

Fafa Picault – 3

Another player just not involved on the night. Picault’s strength is usually with his speed in the open field and we’ll need to see how effective he can be when an opponent sits numbers behind the ball and limits his space as Montreal did.

C.J. Sapong – 3

Failed to get involved. Only completed 10 of 15 passes on the night.

Cory Burke – 2

Has had some quiet matches where’s he failed to be too involved but somehow popped up with a goal. Against Montreal, he failed to get involved but did not find a goal, or even a really good look toward goal. Will be interesting to see how the striker can adjust when teams get men behind the ball and he has to adjust to having less real estate to work in. Only attempted four passes on the night.

Subs

Fabian Herbers – 5

Replaced Sapong and showed a little bit more composure on the ball, but failed to have much meaningful impact on the game.

Derrick Jones – 5

After a couple of decent cameos of late, Jones made less of an impact against Montreal coming in for Dockal. Did complete 16 of 17 passes though.

David Accam  – 4

Replaced Burke in the 80th minute with the game more or less gone by that point.

Geiger Counter

Armando Villarreal – 6

Not a lot of big calls for the man with the whistle. I hardly noticed him on the night, a good thing for a referee.

Man of the Match – Alejandro Silva

Scored twice.