Rate the U: Up a man and points left on the table

It is the morning after yet another draw by the Philadelphia Union, and it leaves me wondering what it will take for the Union to get three points finally. Since the U’s last win on April 9th, they have lost against Toronto and drawn against Montreal, Nashville, LAFX, and the New York Red Bulls. Not to mention the loss against Orlando City during the week to get kicked out of the U.S. Open Cup after their first game. 

Saturday’s game was slightly different from the previous for draws in league play this time. The U owned most of the momentum. It took about two minutes in the second half for the boys in blue to get on the board. Thanks partly to the give-and-go between Daniel Gazdag and Sergio Santos, Gazdag converted his shot for the game’s first goal. Speaking of Gazdag, his performance was once again a thing of beauty. The Hungarian Midfielder took three shots in last night’s draw. He also had a 70.8% passing success rate in the game. 

Besides Gazdag, a new Union signing is making a name for himself and a case for the team to pick up his contract, Julian Carranza. The striker on a season loan from Inter Miami is playing arguably the best he has in MLS. While his goal from last night got called back for being offsides, he still had two shots on target out of his three total ones. If the Union can get a healthy Mikael Uhre on the pitch to sit up top with Carranza, the offense will be a thing of beauty. 

Until that happens, I expect the Union will continue to struggle, finishing in the final third. A couple of times, players like Sergio Santos had a decent look to try and put the team up a goal. Instead of taking the shot, he would elect to pass it to a player that was either covered or making the play go backward. Santos is still looking for his first goal of the season and has plenty of chances to attempt to bag one, including last night. In fact, out of the eight games he has been in the season, he has only attempted 11 shots. That fact is slightly skewed because 5 of those attempts came from the San Jose game on March 5th. Out of all those shots, only 2 of them have been on target. Santos is a man the Union needs to be in form, especially since he and Corey Burke seem to be the subs Jim Curtin brings on for some offensive spark when the team is at full strength. 

Enough about my thoughts, we want to know what you thought of the performances? Rate the players and head coach Jim Curtin and provide feedback on the match in our Community Player Ratings Poll.