Philadelphia’s 2-0 loss To Atlanta highlights a few key weaknesses

The Philadelphia Union lost 2-0 to Atlanta Sunday in an extremely disappointing performance. Facing the statistically worst defense in Major League Soccer, the Philadelphia attack looked completely lost with only one shot on goal recorded. Atlanta jumped out early with yet another Thiago Almada goal from outside the box. The Union was behind the eight ball the entire contest until Brooks Lennon sealed it for the hosts in the 79th minute.

It was a dreadful performance from Philadelphia where they looked completely out of the match from the opening kickoff. Many will look to blame the loss squarely on the weakened squad, Philadelphia missing a few key players due to the ongoing Gold Cup, but that’s exactly the problem. Missing just a few players resulted in a drastically different Union squad than what we’ve seen at times this year.

All offseason pundits raved about the Union’s depth. Philadelphia managed to keep most of the squad intact while bringing in some new relief. However, this season has proved the exact opposite. New additions have struggled to make any impact at all, or even see the field. The Union is still relying on the same select few players to perform every single week. Here are just a few takeaways from yesterday’s 2-0 loss.

It’s Andre Blake or Bust

No offense to Joe Bendik, but his time as an MLS goalkeeper is over. Sure, he wasn’t ever going to stop the first goal, that’s just pure magic from Almada, but that second goal should have been saved. Pretty much you can’t rely on him to make anything beyond routine saves.

For as much has been made about the defense over the years, it cannot be understated just how much Andre Blake has saved this team over the years. Whenever Blake is not available, you’re not just fielding a slightly worst replacement, Philadelphia’s performance in net plummets. That in turn hurts the entire team. While he isn’t playing much for New York City, you have to wonder if Philadelphia should have kept Matt Freese another year. Can this team please look into another backup keeper?

Transfers Failing To Make an Impact

Woof this past offseason already has some stinker transfers. Of course we have to give credit to the team for bringing in Damion Lowe, but if it weren’t for the injury to Bedoya, who knows if they ever would have tried out the three at the back? Besides Lowe though, the other two transfers have been pretty dang bad so far. Joaquin Torres used up all of his magic on two moments, and has failed to do much of anything outside of them. Andres Perea? Well he can’t even see the field, seemingly in the doghouse for some reason. Two of the three transfers haven’t done much of anything, and it hurts even more considering what they lost.

Key Losses in the Offseason

I don’t think enough was made of some of the losses this offseason, and how Philadelphia has struggled to replace them. Kevin Kinkaid of Crossing Broad said it best, “Matt Freese and Cory Burke vs. Joe Bendik and Chris Donovan is the grand canyon of gaps.”

The Union’s struggles up front make the past losses of players like Burke and Sergio Santos sting all the more. The Union’s dangerous front three from last year has taken a step back. That was to be expected, they were playing at an incredible rate last year, but man the attack has struggled at times. Mikael Uhre in particular has been puzzling this year, he hasn’t consistently looked the same player.

The big problem is the Union can really only rely on those three attackers. They don’t have anyone to come in and provide a spark off the bench. Maybe score a goal when needed. Say what you will about their availability, Cory Burke and Sergio Santos could still provide value off the bench when healthy. Now you can only try throwing in Joaquin Torres, who’s not a true striker, and Chris Donovan, who’s not ready for this stage yet.

Struggles With Adaptability

This is pretty much the final overarching point. The Union in their current state are going to struggle to adapt. Jim Curtin has his players and system that he trusts, but outside of that there’s not a whole lot there. You have to hope for a remarkable run of health from the team so that everything can stay the same. Just yesterday you saw a perfect example of that. Bendik could not hack it in relief of Blake. Nathan Harriel simply cannot play on the left side or at center back, so he certainly cannot play at left center back.

Philadelphia is now in fifth place in the Eastern Conference, 10 points behind leaders Cincinnati, 2-1-2 in the last five games. Unless changes are made, the Union not only have to hope to stay completely healthy to maintain the squad they want, but those players all have to step their games up another level too.