2020 Season Preview: Philadelphia Union

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2020 Season Preview: Philadelphia Union

Fans who like their soccer with a dash of philosophy will want to follow the Philadelphia Union this season. It was Aristotle who said, “the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts,” and it will be the Union that put that wisdom to the test. The Union are coming off their best season by all measures including goal difference, expected goal difference, points and recording their first playoff win. Sporting Director Ernst Tanner responded by letting three productive players go because they didn’t fit the style of play. His replacements have less compelling CVs but arguably fit better into the target shape. If the Union are going to take another step forward it will be because Tanner has channeled his inner Aristotle. Otherwise, the Union might slide back into the decade long mediocrity they suffered previously.

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Offseason Outlook: Philadelphia Union

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Offseason Outlook: Philadelphia Union

The Philadelphia Union are still enjoying their tenth and best season. They won their first playoff game against the I-95 rival New York Red Bulls. They won their most ever road games and finished third in a competitive eastern conference. Jim Curtin was given the freedom by SD Ernst Tanner to change formations, and he implemented enough tactical diversity to maintain an edge. It was the culture building season the franchise had been working toward, but their ability to continue this momentum will come down to the key new faces that Tanner is working diligently to add.

First, let’s document some visual proof of the relative Union’s success. The below chart reveals the five game moving average of the Union’s points per game over their history. Even a five game average is rough on the eyes, so I added one of the all-time great smoothing techniques to help. Velleman’s Smoother, developed by Paul Velleman, is the Johnny Walker Blue of smoothers. Let your eyes drink it up.

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Setting the Table: Week 12

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Setting the Table: Week 12

Welcome to Setting the Table, this week featuring a whole lot of Houston vs Chicago. Each week we take some time to focus on the best chance creators in MLS from the last weekend. If you want to see the best chances that were wasted check out Lowered Expectations. Here we focus on chances that ended with the ball in the back of the net.

#5 Nemanja Nikolic to Diego Campos, Chicago Fire, 16th minute, 0.369 expected goals
Passes in sequence: 2

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“Skilsinho?” Redefining what a successful dribble is.

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“Skilsinho?” Redefining what a successful dribble is.

Skill moves are one of the many great things about soccer. Watching the players twist and turn with the ball seemingly attached to their feet not only makes for fun highlight reels, but losing a defender also gives an advantage to the attacking team. As exciting as it is to see a player nutmeg another, it is equally disappointing to see him take one too many touches or misplace the following pass, squandering the effort put into the successful dribble.

As a Philadelphia Union fan, I have seen many times where Ilsinho uses his Brazilian footwork to dance around defenders, gaining the nickname “Skilsinho” from fans. Early in the 2016 season Jim Curtin lauded Ilsinho’s skills saying, “He catches the eye. He is a great 1v1 player, beat guys off the dribble which is a great skill to have.” And Curtin is not necessarily wrong since Ilsinho’s dribble success rate of 44.19% is just above the league average (43.37%) and better than the likes of players like David Villa (42.55%). So does this mean that Ilsinho is a more effective dribbler than David Villa? Well, not quite since Ilsinho often falls into that category of players I described above who will dazzle then disappoint with his footwork.

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