photo: Paul Rudderow
The Union suffered a second consecutive 4-0 road loss, this one at the hands of a Montreal Impact team that hadn’t won in four matches. Ignacio Piatti returned for hosts and sparked a route that saw the Impact put on a clinic of counterattacking football.
While the defense will rightfully be criticized for conceding four times, the offense never got going and it never really felt like the Union would find a breakthrough going forward. Marco Fabian was again lackluster, particularly in the final third, and got little help from the rest of the Union midfield. Like the loss in Salt Lake City, the losses of Jamiro Monteiro and Kai Wagner were evident. Monteiro can’t get healthy quick enough as the Union are 4-4-4 with a -6 goal differential in their past 12 games and definitely lacking bite in the center of the park.
Player Ratings
Andre Blake – 2
We’ve seen Blake keep the Union in big games with his amazing shot stopping ability. Montreal on Saturday wasn’t one of them. Hard to blame him specifically on any of the Montreal goals as his defense turned to Swiss cheese, but the second goal at the near post is a save we often see Blake come up with.
Ray Gaddis – 1
Absolutely horrendous night out for the right back. Either has to step up or stay goal side on the first goal. Has not to head the ball 20 yards backwards or win the 50-50 battle with Max Urruti on the second. Knowing he’s the last player back on the fourth goal, he has to close the ball or commit a foul to slow the counter. R.J. Allen should start in D.C.
Jack Elliott – 2
We’ve seen Jack Elliott time his tackles to perfection for most of this season. In Montreal, his timing seemed way off. Stepping forward only to be beaten by quick passes. Beaten too easily in the air.
Auston Trusty – 2
Much like Elliott, Trusty just couldn’t get his timing right. Always too late to the tackle or committing to the wrong man as the Montreal counterattack carved through the defense.
Matt Real – 3
Not really a terrible night for Real, starting in place of Kai Wagner. Never looked out of place. Only got 56 minutes before getting the hook with the Union in desperation mode.
Haris Medunjanin – 2
Would love to see Haris shoot from distance more to keep opposing goalkeepers and defense more honest. We know he has it in his arsenal, why doesn’t he let fly more often?
Alejandro Bedoya – 3
Probably the best of the Union midfield on Saturday, which is not saying a lot. Finished with two key passes and was unlucky not to grab an assist when Kacper rang the post.
Brenden Aaaronson – 2
It’s time to give the kid a rest. Aaronson surely has the technical abilities to compete in MLS but has been largely ineffective working off the left in Monteiro’s absence.
Marco Fabian – 2
On a night when the offense needed any kind of spark, the play-maker again did not bring his A game. He again dropped too deep to receive the ball and failed to link the midfield with the strikers with much success. It will be interesting to see if Fabian can gain some consistent form when Monteiro returns.
Fafa Picault – 2
Found it difficult to be involved for most of the evening. With Montreal content to sit deep and let the Union keep the ball, Picault had little room to run behind or much opportunity to press the Impact defenders in possession.
Kacper Przybylko – 3
Had two of the better chances of the night. Forcing a decent save from Evan Bush on 36 minutes on a shot where he probably should have scored and then ringing the post just before halftime. I personally would have been interested in seeing Przybylko get a breather with Wooten coming on.
Subs
Andrew Wooten – 3
Hard for Wooten to get into the game playing in Jim Curtin’s “throw every offensive player on the field” formation.
Ilsinho – 3
Not even the cheat code could stave off this disaster.
Anthony Fontana – 4
Late cameo for last week’s goal scorer. Not much to do already down 4-0.
Geiger Counter
Jair Marrufo – 6
Little controversy in a match that Montreal won easily. Was right to give a yellow card to Urruti, who put in a truly terrible tackle on Auston Trusty in the first half.
Men of the Match: Lassi Lappalainen and Orji Okwonkwo
The alliterative midfielders both tallied twice.
fabian dropping so deep has to be a product of the team ball movement. either he’s being coached that way or the lack of montiero has really stifled the ball movement through the midfield that much. he made some runs but there never seemed to be an outlet for him which is on the forwards. i wouldt bump him up but not much further than a 3 though. that was a worse team performance than against RSL.
IMO 2 is right for him. Aside from how far he is dropping back – to where Haris was earlier in the season – it seems like he is trying to play a different style of offense. Seems like Fabian wants to do a couple successive “give and goes” to cut directly through the midfield but the rest of the team want to swing it back and forth from side to side.
Seemed like whenever Fabian passed the ball sat night, he wanted it back, but they kept it swinging away from him.
Then he was too slow to catch up with play when it got to the final 1/3rd so he was out of the play.
I know I seem to be harping on The Kid but can someone explain to me what his role is offensively. Constantly plays sideways and negative, seldom seeks to get on ball and attack to dismark teammates. Almost never isolated 1v1.
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Otherwise scores reflect properly. Shit match. Not okay.
Its because he is a natural 10 but curtin is an idiot who plays him out of position. He needs to play fontana there. I don’t understand why curtin keeps doing this especially to young players.
Fontana has had at least one ankle injury absence this season.
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So far, touch all the wood you can find, he has had no major injuries this year from which he has had to recover.
Too high for everyone
– Negadelphia
For all the pressing work Fafa and Przybylko do, they stand around way too much when we have the ball. It worked ok earlier because Aaronson and Monteiro move so much but things fall apart when either is out.
this.
Can anyone explain where the defense is in depth… What’s going on with McKenzie that he isnt up on the first team? Why aren’t we looking for the right back we so desperately need? Ray ain’t gonna do it anymore.
McKenzie is down with Bethlehem the last few in a row, probably to get his mojo back by playing several 90 minutes matches.
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Recovering from Appendicitis surgery is taking him some time.
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He has not been dominating the world while playing with the Steel, either.
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He is the captain of the backline down there, which is a new role for him at the professional level for the organization.
Wow, do we miss Monteiro or what?!?! Big Woo is right, when will we replace Ray G.? He is the weak spot other teams attack. Speed wrecks him. The whole team played tired, even with a week off.
Replace Trusty too. He’s actually worse then Ray this year
Consider the depth chart. Mbaizo has had surgery of some kind on a knee cartilage.
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After that you are pulling first-team players out of position.
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Bringing up anyone signed to Steel FC is not an option for regular season MLS games. You must 14 or fewer field players available for the extreme hardship rule covering field players to kick in.
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There is no option system equivalent such as in Major League Baseball, so none of Issa Rayyan, Walter Cortes, or even Nate Harriel — who is an Academy player not signed to Bethlehem but who has been getting lots of minutes for Bethlehem at right back recently — is available.