Union Come Out Unprepared, Drop First Leg Of Playoff Series With Houston 2-1
by Ben Feldman on Oct 30, 2011 10:00 PM EDT
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The scene was perfect on a brisk evening along the Delaware. PPL Park was ready. The 18,500 local fans and 25 or so Houston Dynamo fans that filled the seats and all the various nooks and crannies of the facility were ready. A national television audience was ready. The Houston Dynamo were ready. The Philadelphia Union, however, were not. From the opening kick, it was clear that Houston had traveled to Chester seeking not just a draw, but a victory. A mere five minutes in, Andre Hainault's header converted a perfect Brad Davis free kick to give the visitors the lead and leave Philadelphia fans silenced.
The Union would respond less than two minutes later, as Michael Farfan crossed a ball right into Sebastien Le Toux's run into the box, and the Frenchman did not miss, slotting the ball straight ahead into a narrow crevice between the goalpost and a diving Tally Hall. But ultimately, that seventh minute equalizer did little to change the momentum of the match. Houston continued to take the bulk of the possession and, frequently exposing Philadelphia left-back Gabriel Farfan, retook the lead in the 30th minute as Brian Ching sent a perfect ball straight behind the Union defense to the top of the box, where Calen Carr collected, put on the jets and cooly finished in on a 1-on-1 with Faryd Mondragon.
Both teams would have numerous high-quality chances throughout the rest of a highly physical first half, but Houston retained its possession game, and thereby retained its lead. By full time, six different players had received yellow cards -- four Union players (Gabriel Farfan, Stefani Miglioranzi, Sheanon Williams, Brian Carroll) and two Dynamo players (Danny Cruz, Adam Moffat).
There were no changes for either side at halftime, but it became painstakingly clear as the second half started to whiz by that the Union could not sit content with their current eleven if they hoped to equalize or, preferably, take three points. That it might cost them on the defensive side of the ball didn't quite matter at this point, despite the aggregate format of their playoff series. Jack McInerney, Roger Torres and Freddy Adu were all inserted in a 15 minute span, and by the 80th minute, the tide started to turn as Philadelphia's subs got their legs under them, some of Houston's starters' legs began to get heavy, and Philadelphia's backline began pushing up further and further.
Torres and Adu both had long-range strikes that went just off of frame, and a McInerney snap header near the penalty spot grazed off of the crossbar before coming back towards the six-yard line and promptly being cleared by Houston defenders. In the 86th minute, a pushed-up Philadelphia defense was exposed as a Dynamo clearance found Brad Davis, who -- pushed to the outside ever-so-slightly by a desperate Union backline -- let go of an absolute rocket from the top of the box only to be robbed by what can only be called a brilliant save with a flash of the hand from Mondragon. Philadelphia would have several near misses as the final minutes ticked off (Houston would have a few of their own as well, continuing to take advantage of the Union's last-ditch pushes forward), but would ultimately be unable to equalize. They are now faced with a deficit in the aggregate heading to Houston and Robertson Stadium for the series concluder on Thursday night that will see them need to lead by a goal after ninety-minutes if they hope to even make it to an extra-time session.
It must be said that Gabriel Farfan did not have a great night at left-back, and it also must be said that Union manager Piotr Nowak, in a match that he needed to win, did not put out his most offensive-minded lineup, instead deciding on a starting eleven with a little more defensive security, but in the end, his starters failed to win defensive battles while being unable to create serious offensive pressure. It now seems likely that Philadelphia will be all but forced into starting a more defensively deficient lineup on the road, where they are not as comfortable and therefore defensive responsibility is a must, so that his team can try to not just equalize, but overtake Houston on aggregate. Thursday has become an all-or-nothing situation for the Union if they hope to move on, and you can bet that the Dynamo will be ready for them.
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3-5-2
Ben,
Your synopsis fails to mention the most mitigating factor in the loss. Nowak rolled out the 3-5-2 for the first time in a match all season. Although it was proabably intended to make Davis work defensively (by throwing Williams and Garfan higher up the wings) and to minimize the effectiveness of his service (by adding Migz as a third cb) it backfired for a few reasons. First, as you pointed it out, it unsettled the backline (Garfan especially) and hindered our outiside backs to overlap effectively as the formation had to much width and left no room up the flanks for the wingbacks to push into. This led to a lack of possesion in the first half as Garfan had no where to goand settled to roam in no mans land and Williams often pushed up centrally due to the aforementioned lack of space on the wings.
With Miqz stationed centrally and deep, the Houston attack pushed through the middle to exploit his lack of pace and pysicality. This neutralized Califf and Valdez’s ability to stabilize the middle of the box, leading to the 2nd goal and causing issues in marking assignments on the 1st goal from the freekick.
You can argue that they were unprepared, but this story begins and ends with tactics. Maybe Nowak paniced since old serb wasnt available, maybe he looked to exploit or nullify Davis on the wing. Regarless his tactical plan proved to be dead wrong and that was the Union’s undoing tonight. At the end, they were forced to throw ball after ball into “the mixer” but they do not have the personnel to capitalize on that. None of the players on the field at the end of the game are anything special in the air and it was a useless endeavor.
Again, tactically, Nowak should have looked to change the game sooner, but he waited to long on his subs. And when he brought them in they were not suited for what the game became (Adu and Torres are not winning header’s in the box). In the end, it seems that Nowak lost the coaching battle to himself and let his young team down.
Moral of the story? Trust your players and put them in familiar roles during the playoffs.
Spot-on!
The 3-5-2 was the equivalent of a prevent defense. By dropping Migz, Califf and Valdes so deep, it really gave Cameron and others way too much time to play into weak spots in the Union defense (i.e. Garfan). On the other hand, while pushing Williams may have given Davis a bit more to do defensively, it allowed Ashe a free ride down the left-hand side.
Title of the article is wrong. The Union were OVER-prepared, not under-prepared. Too much thinking, not enough acting in the first half.
All that said, it wasn’t an unfair result and the Union live to see another day. It could have been a lot worse if they’d been caught on the counter in the second half. Mondragon’s save on the breakaway may prove to be the play of the game.
Are you sure they defended as a 3-5-2? For the first half (which is as long as I got to watch before the feed crapped out on me) it looked like they were defending as a 4-4-2, and sitting back a lot. Whatever the exact formation, I thought it was working pretty well tactically, Houston had a lot of possession but were doing nothing with it. They didn’t look like breaking the Union down until the second goal, and that was a product of just horrifically bad defending. The back line was flat, as if they were going to step up and defend an offside line, but then back pedalled en masse. That says a lot more about their coaching and defensive discipline than it does about the formation tactics-wise. Similarly for the first goal, it was a good delivery and a nice finish, but there is no way a guy should be able to back-header the ball unchallenged from there, it’s an easy angle from which to defendthe delivery, poor defensive discipline again.
Going forward, I thought they were dangerous on the break, had too much pace and power for the Houston back 4, and when LeToux and Mwanga held up the ball, the 5 were flooding the Houston midfield. Garfan was finding all kinds of space in front of the Houston back 4. The shortage of possession means they have to take the few chances they get, and defend with ruthless discipline. They only got half of that right.
I agree that playing players in unfamiliar roles is a big problem, but if you get the defensive discipline right, those are very effective tactics for knockout football.
Officiating
I am surprised this article failed to mention the poor officiating. Not that it was an excuse for the slow play of the Union; however, it was somewhat of a factor. The lead official failed to get the game under control. Instead of setting a proper tone, he handed out cards to the Union like Halloween candy to the neighborhood kids. This, in turn, cause more physical play, first with the Union than with Houston. By the time we got to the second half, there were two fouls by Houston (one inside Houston’s 18) that should have been called; but they slid because of the overall poor officiating.
Agree
Houston fan here, and this has been one of our sub-topics for the year is the level of officiating this year. This was put on display with this match: you’ve got two well-matched teams who are not afraid to get in there and get physical on the tackle, and with a playoff atmosphere it only intensifies things. I’ll concede that it appeared to be a handball by Davis in the box, but then again you should’ve been down to 10-men with that Farfan high kick on Cruz. It just kept escalating and I was sure someone was going to be sent off. For us, the two most likely to get carded got carded: Cruz and Moffat.
It was a gut-wrenching game: I haven’t felt that ill watching a game in ages, but we’ll see how things finish up Thursday.
Corners....
Why is Le Toux taking our corner kicks still? At one point he waved off Torres so he could take it himself… I love the guy but he has to realize, as one of the tallest people on the team he should be in the box…
I agree with dangeroo though – much of the blame goes directly onto Nowak. He needs to figure out what works and then stop trying to fix what isn’t broken. IMHO he subbed in Torres way too late for him to get into a rhythm and be effective and the 3-5-2 was just awful. With all the changes the players can’t get into a regular stance on who covers who, especially on defense, and that is causing a ton of our problems.
by three20three on Oct 31, 2011 9:43 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Nowak did indeed get the tactics wrong from the start, and doesn’t seem to have taken responsibility for that, which bothers me. I am in Houston and am not trolling. I like you Phunion guys and in general root for you, though never for Nowak as I still hold him responsible for screwing up the Olympic team (again with bad tactics) in 2008.
That being said, this tie is in no way over. You guys have a lot going for you coming in here. If you get an early goal, this tie is on.
"We don't care who finishes second." -- Celtic's Peter Lowrie
As I said
back at DT, Nowak seems to be taking a page from Vizzini
I’m thrilled about where we are but yes, you Philly boys scare me. I know alot of the second half was frenzy and fury but there were some legit chances in there. I expect to see more of the same (with perhaps more focus) on Thursday. It could end up being a barn-burner since you guys are coming to attack and we’re likely looking to counter
That reference is brilliant.
I’m stealing it for an article.
Managing Editor for Brotherly Game, SBNation's Philadelphia Union blog and contributor for SBN Philly. // @scottdkessler
"College is only 4 years, but the Eagles are for life." - Ironhank
by Scott Kessler on Oct 31, 2011 4:02 PM EDT up reply actions
50-50 Balls in the Air...
Maybe it wouldn’t have made a massive difference in the game, but outside of Valdez and Califf and more often than not Williams, there isn’t a single player on the team that wins 50-50 head balls, and many make half-hearted attempts when they go up. Maybe we’re the shortest team in the league, I have no clue.. but we don’t win 50-50 headers worth a damn. How many goals off corner kicks do we have this year? 1? Maybe 2? Thats a pretty poor statistic if its true, given the number of corners won on the year. I’m not saying everything above isn’t also true, I’m just adding this to the list…
by Domin8ing the Big Ten(11) on Oct 31, 2011 2:25 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Unprepared
“Unprepared” maybe a strong word for Houston game. I’m thinking more of a “slow” start. It’s hard for me to disconnect as a fan of the Union on this one. The fan in me says they had a slow start in the beginning and then showed great heart and possession in the second half. There were plenty of balls sent into the middle, but the lack of being able to get up in the air and finishing in the box killed us. The analytical side of me says this game was par for the course and it was a typical game in sequence as far as the flow of the game (they have had plenty of slow starts followed by strong second halves this year). Add to that the fact that the Union have had a hard time coming up with a substantial amount of goals at times (way to many draws this year). Anyway, I’m really looking forward to the next game this Thursday and hope they can pull this out with the goal differential (I hate this format. I would much rather them play to win a game than a series but I get it. It’s a money thing). If my par for the course comment holds true. They should be able to come back Thursday with a win. I guess the real question will be. Is it enough? I hope so!
Farfan "High Kick"
If you come in with a high boot and you kick a player in the face, you should probably be sent off, end of story. That being said, I think everyone needs to take the time to watch the replay of the foul here: http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2011/11/01/unions-farfan-clears-air-flying-boot-houstons-cruz . Before any contact is made, Farfan brings his foot down (possibly because that’s when he realized where Cruz was), and made contact with Cruz’s hip. As Cruz was already falling over backwards, Farfan’s knee hit Cruz’s shoulder, but the brunt of the impact is on his hip. It was a bit reckless and deserving of yellow, but that’s it.
To me
I know there wasn’t any malice in his challenge; in fact, the guy he fouled, Cruz, could’ve easily been guilty of doing the same kind of challenge on any given match day. But, it was reckless and in fairness, without the benefit of replay all you see is Farfan’s boot going into Cruz’ face. I think any of us could agree that if that happens, you put yourself at the mercy of the ref and in MLS, that’s a terrifying place to be. Definitely a yellow, but I don’t think you could argue too much if it were a red either. Fortunately for you guys he escaped with only a yellow but more importantly, I don’t want Marrufo near another playoff match this year.
At this point its all done and dusted and I just hope we get a ref who will call a fair match.
And I promise you guys I’m not trying to wind you up but really, the Valdez knee to Bruin’s head was unnecessary not only just in the match but for your team in general. You guys play hard but I don’t think dirty (at least from what I’ve seen), and that move inched towards dirty. Your players are good enough that those stunts aren’t necessary. And believe me, when the Houston players do idiotic things (I’m looking at you, Je-Vaughn Watson) we call them out on it. It just brings unnecessary disrepute to a good team.
Anyways, let’s get ready for a barn-burner tomorrow night!
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