Things We Learned from the Philadelphia Union’s win over Montreal

The Philadelphia Union added another 3 points to their name near the top of the table on Sunday night, securing a 4-1 win over the Montreal Impact. The win was sloppy, and could easily be attributed to a red card against the Impact in the 16th minute, but it was a win nonetheless.

The Union are now in sole possession of second place in the Eastern Conference, and if Columbus stops winning someday, they could even have a chance at first.

There are a few critiques and takeaways from this match, so let’s take a deeper dive into Sunday’s match.

Sloppy Passes, Sloppy Play

For a 4-1 victory, the Union didn’t necessarily look the best. Too many passes were directed at nobody, and just about everyone had their moment where they sent a high quality pass to thin air. In the past few matches, the Union has struggled with bad passing and tough mistakes with the ball, but they haven’t shown themselves like on Sunday night.

Luckily for the Union, Montreal didn’t really capitalize on these mistakes. The Impact usually ended up with these balls toward the fringes of the pitch, and didn’t do anything with them. However, there were a few occasions where keeper Andre Blake gave the ball away in dangerous territory, where a better team than Montreal would find themselves one goal closer to earning some points.

Andrew Wooten, the Menace

I really hate to continue to rage on Andrew Wooten, but at this point I think of nothing else. It says something about the Union when their starting forward’s best play of the game is when he mishandles the ball next to the goal.

Sergio Santos was fit and ready to go when he came into the match. And Anthony Fontana is clearly showing his skills, and he looks like he could go for a good 60 minutes, if not 90. Outside of his “assist,” Wooten had one half decent chance at goal, which was a run which ended up with Wooten missing the ball by 5-10 yards. Andrew Wooten simply isn’t justified in starting, which says more about Curtin and the office than Wooten.

Two in PPG, One in our Hearts

In better news, the Union are now solidly in second place, with 24 points, a +10 goal differential, and 2.00 PPG. With all the complaining that I make and all the grumbling about what could be better, this very well looks like the Union’s best season.

They’ve consistently been able to match up with each opponent they’ve faced, with the only exception really being the Portland Timbers back in the MLS is Back tournament. Even their loss against the Columbus Crew didn’t look overly one sided, and had they won that game, the Union would be on top of the East and on top of the league.

There is still plenty of season left to play, but it’s easy to like this team and to be excited about the way that they play.

What did you learn from the match? Let us know in the comments.