Photo: Kyle Grantham
The Philadelphia Union’s rough start to the season continued with another ugly home loss, this time to the San Jose Earthquakes. Let’s get right to the ratings.
Player Ratings:
GK Andre Blake – 6
Not much to do on the goal, not much to do otherwise.
LB Giovanny Sequera – 5.5
Caught out of position a few times, including by Timo Werner’s brilliant pass for the only goal of the match, but it’s hard to hold it against the surprise Union II callup. Had perhaps the Union’s best chance of the night with a nice cutback and shot in the 57th minute.
CB Nathan Harriel – 5.5
Should have scored on a diving header right after half-time. Otherwise an uneventful night.
CB Japhet Sery – 5
Was solid enough defensively, but the Union need better possession play out of the back.
RB Frankie Westfield – 6
Over-aggressive at times in the back, but one of the few potential sources of joy for this Union team going forward, including with two key passes and six successful crosses.
DM Danley Jean Jacques – 5.5
There were a few signs of the old maurading midfielder from last year, but the central midfield has been much too passive through the start of the season.
DM Jovan Lukic – 5
Not terribly involved other than getting a yellow early in the first half.
AM Milan Iloski – 5.5
It’s still not clear where the Union’s creativity and attack is going to come from this season, but Iloski consistently looks the most likely. Unfortunately, he has not yet found his form from last season.
AM Indiana Vassilev – 5.5
Vassilev had two good opportunities around the top of the box, one in each half, but placed his shot right at the keeper both times.
FWD Agustín Anello – 3.5
Apparently had one shot and completed one pass before being subbed at halftime.
FWD Bruno Damiani – 3.5
Closest he came to scoring was when he nearly blocked a pass from the San Jose goalkeeper in the 30th minute.
Substitutes:
(45’) Ezekiel Alladoh – 4.5
Decent penalty shout in the 65’, but might have been better served just taking the shot.
(66’) Jesus Bueno – 5.5
Always covers a lot of ground and keeps things ticking, but rarely makes things happen in the attack.
(74’) Stan Korzeniowski – 5
Another combative performance from the big forward, who is already becoming a bit of a fan favorite.
(74’) Alejandro Bedoya – N/A
(82’) Ben Bender – N/A
Geiger Counter
Armando Villarreal – 5.5
Ignored a decent penalty shout on Alladoh, but otherwise I can’t say I really noticed him.
Player of the Match: Timo Werner
The German brought a touch of class to an ugly game, and ultimately that was the difference.
What’s Next
The Union will have to figure things out fast before they host Club América in the Concacaf Champions Cup on Tuesday, March 10 at 7:00 PM.
I think I watched a different game. Only 2 starters and 1 sub less than a 5? This team was horrible last night. Blake’s score is on target. Maybe give Sequera a 5 since it was his first game and at times he was the best player on the team. Other defenders should all be below 5. Midfielders and forwards? All below a 3 for me. The team was crap last night and could easily have lost 0-6 rather than 0-1 if San Jose had played like a halfway decent team.
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The Union will NOT figure things out before Tuesday. Best hope is a 0-0 draw like they had at home against Pachuca 2 years ago. Then they can get blown out in Mexico City.
I’m going to agree with the rating of Westfield, his crosses and passing in the second half gave me hope that as the season goes on maybe he can start to replace Wagner as offering width in the attack. Is he as good as Wagner right now, not at all. But trying to find positives from this start, this is one I’m betting on.
Offensively, yes, although he had at least one cross late that was way too strong. Defensively, though, when Winer wasn’t wining and was actually trying to play, he pretty much owned San Jose’s left side so it was Frankie’s job to defend him…and that didn’t go so well.
Iloski and Cavan need to be the AMs. There’s zero creativity coming from Anello and Vassilev. Strikers are starving for service let alone a line breaking pass.