Photo by Marjorie Elzey
Despite controlling the majority of play, the Philadelphia Union had to fight to find a late equalizer against Montreal Saturday night in Chester at Subaru Park. While a draw was probably a fair result, Philadelphia will be disappointed not to have collected all 3 points at home.
On to the ratings…
Player Ratings
Andre Blake – 7
An overall good night for Blake, didn’t have a shot on the goal and wasn’t called into action on other saves. Was strong coming off his line on corners and was good in distribution.
Olivier Mbazio – 5
Got beat early and earned a yellow card 5 minutes into the match, but was stronger defensively as the match went on. Wasn’t involved as much as he usually is offensively.
Jakob Glesnes – 5
An okay night for Glesnes, had some turnovers out of the back and lost his man on the Montreal goal. Wasn’t tested much outside of that.
Jack Elliott – 7
A strong outing for Elliott, who was composed with the ball and didn’t give any looks at goal. Made nice recoveries to deal with Montreal’s speed and helped set up Sullivan’s equalizer.
Kai Wagner – 5
A lot of touches in the offensive zone and a lot of crosses into the box for Wagner, but no real end product to show for it. Made nice recoveries and wasn’t tested defensively.
Leon Flach – 5
A lot of running on the night for Flach, playing in the role of Alejandro Bedoya until his substitution. Does well getting into positions upfield, would like to see him shoot more, however.
Jamiro Monteiro – 5
Back in his preferred role in the midfield, and making his first start since seeking a transfer, Monteiro struggled to connect with teammates at times. Tried to dribble out of trouble one too many times and didn’t get many looks at goal.
Daniel Gazdag – 4
Still struggles to combine with teammates at times and seems to struggle finding the game. Willing to put in the work defensively but wasn’t on the ball enough to drive the Union attack.
Jose Martinez – 5
Made good defensive tackles and recoveries, but wasn’t pushing the ball upfield much. Had some bad turnovers in the center, creating a few Montreal counters.
Cory Burke – 4
Not much of anything happening for the big man up top. Didn’t have very many looks and was a deserved sub.
Sergio Santos – 6
Santos had some balls to run onto and get some looks at goal, putting some just wide. Somehow wasn’t seriously injured during that first half fall. His speed remains the most lethal point of the Union attack.
Subs
Alejandro Bedoya – 5
Nothing flashy for the captain in his 30 minute appearance. Didn’t really push the attack either but seemed to take up a more defensive position anyway.
Jack McGlynn – 5
A good 25 minute run out for McGlynn, getting some game minutes and getting into advanced positions pushing for an equalizer.
Kacper Przybylko – 4
Had an outing much like Cory Burke, struggled to find the game in his 25 minutes.
Quinn Sullivan – 10
Came on the field for only 9 minutes and brought much needed energy into the attack. Got a great equalizing goal 6 minutes after coming on.
Player of the Match – Quinn Sullivan
9 minutes was all Sullivan needed to grab a goal and the headlines. Woke up the Union attack when other subs couldn’t.
Geiger Counter
Chris Penso- 2
Called a very tight game in the first half, even giving out 2 yellow cards in the first ten minutes. Was inconsistent in the second half and didn’t stop play after the ball struck him. Had no patience for time-wasting though, giving out multiple cards.
Several of these are too high, most notably most of the midfielders (not counting Sullivan). It seemed like every loose ball bounced toward a Montreal player which I blame primarily on the midfield. Martinez especially had a poor game as he kept trying to force the ball on the dribble much as he did a week and a half ago in Mexico. Fortunately Montreal doesn’t have the players to make him pay for his turnovers but he really needs to work on his decision making.
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Including CCL, the has played over 25 games this season but at times it stills seems like they are on game 1 or 2 in their communication with each other.
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I’ve already commented on Penso in the game review so all I’ll just say is that he’s an embarrassment to a league that’s already a pretty embarrassing league based on the way it is run.
Just to give an example as to how badly the league is run, they have the all-star game (which is a really stupid game in the first place) at 9:30 Wednesday night on the west coast. Then they have 3 league games scheduled for Friday night, all in the eastern time zone and all starting less than 48 hours later. So basically the top players for those teams playing have to play, travel cross country the next day and then play again the following day. There is absolutely no excuse for a league that wants to be taken seriously to pull off that kind of BS.
There is just no world where one shot on goal vs a 7-7 team at home is anywhere close to adequate.
cross, cross, cross, cross, cross…ad nauseam
I think what we miss the most from last year is a willingness of players to attack up the middle. Not sure if it is the departures, arrivals or different coaching.
I don’t think the issue was cross, cross, cross so much as shoot wide, shoot wide, shoot wide. They had 13 shots with only one on target. That’s an execution issue rather than a strategy issue.
Monteiro was the best player on the field until Sullivan came in. I don’t understand people picking apart every time he doesn’t produce an assist when he gets the ball. That’s not his job. Was he so good in 2019 that we’ve set unreasonably high expectations? He was our best player as Blake had a down year, and I don’t think he’s really regressed, moreso that the rest have caught up. Martinez makes similar defensive stands, Wagner has become the best at his position in MLS, and Aaronson proved to be much better at the 10 last year, which we assumed to be the case beforehand. So why do people act like he’s not doing enough at the 8? And let’s not forget he had never once started on the right for us.
Oh and his job is more difficult with Gazdag not having built chemistry quite yet and 2 strikers that don’t run like Santos. Seems like whenever he drops a dime to Burke and Przybylko they’re too slow or waste it.
The biggest issue I had with Monteiro Saturday night was that he kept drifting over towards the left side of the field even though he was ostensibly playing on the right with Flach on the left (unless it was Flach doing that). This left the right side open with only Mbaizo over there and Montreal was able to get the ball over there and create chances on a few occasions.
I tend to agree that Monteiro had a good game – at least while he was playing the 8. When he moved to the 10 (with Gazdag moving to striker – even though we actually had 2 strikers on our bench for a change!) I thought Monteiro’s form took a dip. And really, that’s not at all surprising; we already know that he tends to have a far larger impact while playing the 8 instead of the 10.
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I think more than blaming Monteiro here, I think a 6 rating is a bit more fair. The issue with him falling out of the game comes down to Curtin’s substitutions, not necessarily Monteiro’s play. But hindsight is always 20/20; it’s easy to speculate what might’ve gone differently if Curtin put in Aaronson for Gazdag instead and left Monteiro where he was. Or various other possibilities.
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It’s also worth pointing out, I guess, that if a reader thinks a player should have a 6 and the writer gave a 5, that’s probably close enough to not matter too much.
Blake a 7? He didn’t attack the cross on Montreal’s goal. Had he attacked it straight on, we’re likely talking about a tough 1-0 Union win. Yes Glesnes lost his man, however, a more aggressive play by the keeper there prevents the goal from happening.
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Wagner is too low. One of the best players for the Union on the night.
I think that’s wishful thinking. It’s a beautiful ball because it freezes both Glesnes and Blake, a lot like the cross from the Columbus loss last season that froze Bendik. Credit where it’s due.
Also, I think both Glesnes and Blake thought Elliott was going to get a touch on the ball as it was going through the box, but it was out of his reach.
As I bemoaned in the postgame, criminally bad defending by Glesnes on the cross that resulted in the goal.
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Simply inexcusable not to track the Montreal player or any player at this level that deep inside the box. The only logical outcome for the player on the ball in the flank was to hit a hopeful ball towards goal. That goal never should have happened. I’m still fuming at the player.
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A point drop AND a benching in my opinion.
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This kind of inattention to detail is EXACTLY why this team is foddering around week after week with no real mojo finger fucking it’s iPhone.
The most glaring observation I made of our starters is that Jamiro is the only player that has technical skill. I was shocked to see Dre dropping dimes on the cross bar last night though! the dude kicks like 1 out of 3 goal kicks straight out of bounds to the left!