Photo: Kyle Grantham

In the wreckage of the Union’s worst season in nearly a decade came an offseason of change.

The departures included some of the club’s most popular people, such as longtime manager Jim Curtin, stalwart defender Jack Elliott, and Homegrown midfielder Jack McGlynn. Add in last season’s departures of Julian Carranza and Jose Martinez, and the turnover is about as dramatic as Union fans have seen in the club’s history.

(It is not, to my knowledge, true that sporting director Ernst Tanner just hates everyone whose first name starts with the letter “J.”)

Between the poor results last season, the roster and staff turnover, and the perception that the Union are being left behind by MLS’s big spenders, I think it’s safe to describe fan morale as… low.

But the beauty of soccer is that there’s always another season, another game, another chance. That new season begins this weekend, with the Union’s new manager, Bradley Carnell, taking the helm of a roster augmented by three international acquisitions (Ian Glavinovich, Jovan Lukic, and club-record signing Bruno Damiani).

Here are five of the big questions I’ll be watching as the new-look Boys in Blue head down to Orlando this weekend.

What is Bradley Carnell’s deal?

We have to start with the manager. Jim Curtin was here for so long that it’s hard to remember what it was like to have anyone else in charge of the club. And Carnell is the first manager in club history that isn’t either the inaugural manager or a promoted assistant coach. He is something new — for better or for worse.

Carnell’s 1.5-year stint with St. Louis City offers both reason for optimism (he led an expansion side to first place in the Western Conference) and pessimism (he managed to get fired half a season later). He started his coaching career with New York Red Bulls, and all reports are that he’s an adherent of Red Bull-style soccer.

It will take time for Carnell to settle into the role, but a few early indicators will be telling. It will be a good sign if the high press looks coordinated and effective in the early going. I’ll also be watching his substitution patterns — will he be more proactive with his bench than Curtin? — and his tactical flexibility — is he wedded to the 4-4-2 diamond, or does he have a plan B (or C) if teams catch on to the Union’s gameplan?

Carnell faces a big challenge in replacing Curtin, a local hero and popular figure with the fans. My advice is simple: win games, and the people will be happy.

What the heck does this midfield look like?

For years, we had a pretty good sense of what the Union’s diamond midfield would look like: Martinez the destroyer at the back, Alejandro Bedoya the do-everything shuttler, Daniel Gazdag drifting around ready to pounce, and a collection of youngsters battling to complete the diamond. Last year, it was McGlynn and Quinn Sullivan who took over the shuttler roles, with more success in attack than in defense.

Change has come. Martinez and McGlynn (and Leon Flach) are gone, while Bedoya is almost certainly entering his last season (he turns 38 in April). In their place are Danley Jean Jacques and Jovan Lukic, two foreign exports adjusting to life in Major League Soccer.

Frankly, I think this could be a big upgrade for the Union. While I understand some of the disappointment over McGlynn moving on, the simple fact is that he did not show enough athleticism or awareness to suggest he would be anything more than a defensive black hole in a role that requires defense. The Union would need to build the entire team around McGlynn to maximize his abilities and minimize his drawbacks, but he is simply not good enough to build the whole team around, and Tanner did well to get value for him. The trio of Sullivan, Danley, and Lukic could give the side enough energy in midfield to protect the backline and help launch attacks forward.

Of course… that’s a big if. If either Danley or Lukic can’t make the grade here, the depth behind them isn’t much. Bedoya cannot play every minute anymore. Jesus Bueno failed to seize a starting spot last year after years of grooming. CJ Olney is 18 and has played 18 MLS minutes.

In my mind, the Union will win a playoff spot if the midfield signings pay off… and might sink to the bottom of the table if they don’t.

Can the defense rebound after a massive regression?

The Union’s collapse last year can largely be attributed to their defense. Massive regressions from Elliott and Jakob Glesnes combined with injuries that kept Andre Blake out of the lineup meant that Philadelphia shipped goals at a shocking rate. Their 55 goals allowed was the most since the 2016 season and more than double the amount conceded in the banner 2022 campaign.

With Elliott gone, attention turns to Glesnes, who never looked right last season after undergoing sports hernia surgery. The Norwegian may not be able to recapture his Defender-of-the-Year form, but it would be a big help if he can be an above-average MLS center back.

The depth next to him is also a big question. Glavinovich has just 27 senior appearances at 23 years old, while Olwethu Makhanya still has not made his MLS debut after joining midway through the 2023 season. (17-year-old Neil Pierre might be a defender of the future, but he can’t be expected to be a regular starter this year.)

It will be a big help if Blake, now 34, can stay healthy. The club’s longest-tenured player managed just 13 league starts last season. But he still looked much like himself, conceding just 14 goals. His backups, Oliver Semmle and Andrew Rick, do not inspire confidence.

There’s work to do to fix what has long been a position of strength for the Boys in Blue.

What will we see from Cavan Sullivan?

There is no shortage of hype surrounding the Union’s star prospect. The 15-year-old Sullivan is promised to Manchester City when he turns 18, and he became the youngest player in MLS history last season. He’s impressed with Union II and certainly could press for minutes this year.

That said… look, he’s 15 years old. It is hard to imagine him being a regular starter this year, much less a star, as much as the marketing machine might want him to be. For his own sake, I hope Carnell & co. are judicious with their use of the youngster. I’d like to see him string together a few strong 20-minute substitute appearances in home games before he graduates into a bigger role.

Sullivan has immense talent, and I’ll be fascinated to see how the Union help him blossom over the next couple years.

Who grabs the two striker spots?

With Tuesday’s signing of Bruno Damiani, Carnell now has three senior attackers for what we expect to be two regular starting spots. (I feel bad crushing Chris Donovan, but I think his time as a Union regular ended the day Curtin walked out the door.)

Mikael Uhre has the most experience and a pretty good goal-scoring record in MLS (32 regular-season goals in three seasons), and his field-stretching ability could fit the Red Bull style. Tai Baribo fought his way off the bench last summer and produced nine goals in 21 appearances; I think he’s a more technical player than Uhre and can make more happen in and around the box. And Damiani is the wild card — reports are that he’s tall and physical, but he’s also adjusting to a new league and doing so without the benefit of a full preseason.

Expect the manager to mix and match in the early going to find a combination that works well. All three will have their moments this season, and it may be the case that certain pairs work better than others.

Overall, I’m not as worried about the Union’s ability to score goals as I am about their ability to prevent them.