How the 2023 Union Stack Up: Offsides

The Philadelphia Union lead the league in offsides this season with 85 through 33 games.

It’s hard to read too much into this stat line beyond the reality that the Union like to play direct. When you’re playing long balls to your forwards a lot the timing is going to be off and opponents knowing that are going to work hard to execute the offside trap.

Though it may not feel like it watching, the Union are only 10th in the league in long passes attempted (2,615). They are 19th in long pass completion (54.8 percent).

The Union are in the bottom three in passes attempted (13,739) and total distance of passes (194,750), which is consistent with them being in the bottom three in the league in possession (46 percent).

The Union are also bottom three in the league in drawing opponents offside with 33.

The Union were whistled 57 times for offsides last season. That was ninth most in the league. The league leader (Chicago) had 77 offsides.

Julian Carranza leads the team with 26 offsides followed by Daniel Gazdag and Mikael Uhre with 16 each. Carranza is second in the league behind Christian Benteke’s 37. That’s right, Benteke has half of DC United’s 74 offsides called against him in 2023.

Does this stat matter?

It would probably matter more if the Union weren’t also fourth in the league in goals with 56. But looking at how bad Chicago was last season (12th place in the East, 22nd overall) doesn’t make it look like a stat you want to top the league in.