Philadelphia Union vs. New York Red Bulls Match Preview | July 6, 2024

Red Bull in Philadelphia renewing their rivalry Saturday night in Chester Joe appreciate you coming on giving us a couple minutes a union team right now that is struggling I don't even know if that's the best way to say it it's been what six seven weeks since they've been able to get uh a win and based on even the game the other night in Chicago um th things are not in a good way right now if you're a fan of the Union yeah not whatsoever and it's not what they're they're used to right this is a team that's uh built this standard up over the last five years uh to be one of the best in the Eastern Conference and it it is weird because Jim curtain at the start of the Season said this was the stretch of the Season where the team had to prepare for absences uh you know Daniel Gaz at the Euros Jose martinezz Damen L cup America but I think things kind of flipped immediately once Andre Blake got hurt uh and I think we're starting to see that even more uh now of these last few games where the goalkeeping issues have just has been uh really startling to say the least I mean uh they're scoring goals uh and even with a depleted attack without Julian coranza uh Michael U has been on the Shelf with an injury for the last few games so you know creating an attack hasn't been their problem defending has which is a complete 180 from what they've been known for and what they've built their Foundation off of well especially when you factor in even with the guys that haven't been around you still have glus and you still have Elliott and you still got Vagner I mean essentially the back four and I get no Andre Blake that's a big piece but the guys in front uh are the same um take me through what maybe was the mindset of this Union team today through training a little bit after and I watched it it was it was even if you're a non- Philadelphia fan it was tough to see the collapse that took place the other night in Chicago I I would think this is a team right now that's just searching for answers yeah and the the biggest searching for an spot's been in goal um Jim curtain a few weeks ago uh put Andrew Rick a homegrown goalkeeper in looking for a spark and he didn't do anything wrong um in the in that game but the defense still gave up opportunities on the Counterattack shots from distance and that's been their biggest thing no matter who the goalkeeper been all season uh so we went back to semla on Wednesday night uh and the biggest weakness he's had all season is just dealing with crosses it's just a major weakness in his game uh and it showed you the the equalizing goal Chicago scor came off a corner that shouldn't have been a corner he could he just caught the he just failed to catch a ball uh easy in the Box batted it away uh for a corner kick so it's little things like that and you kind of bring that out to the entire team right defensively it's is it making the right step is it uh making a clearance or not making clear it's it's like split-second decisions some of it's bad luck of course you're going to run into that throughout season but I mean I think a lot of it does have to deal with the goalkeeper situation uh if you if You' seen the last few years the way they played with a backup goalkeeper in most instances in the past few years it's been Joe bendick uh look it's a big drop off from Andre Blake so of course there's kind of the I guess the extra pressure on these center backs but the center backs themselves haven't played well either even with Blake and that's the concerning part so yeah it's it's easy to pinpoint it on goalkeeper um and goalkeeper errors for sure have been a problem but I think you're right in saying that the defense has has taken a step back for sure too and that's been really startling Joe on the on the flip side tell me right now as of you and I recording 24 30 hours before kickoff uh coming on Saturday what are the positives that the union are leaning on right now Jim curtain one of those more positive coaches in Major League Soccer usually can try and find the bright spot in even a pretty dark time for his team in his franchise what are they relying on to think hey we'll be able to bounce back from this well they scored three goals on the road and multiple times you know on the the postgame Wednesday and and even today he mentioned like if you score three goals on the road in MLS you should win um and that's not been a concern which is crazy because Julian coranza just gets transferred to fyord Mel U has been out uh he was declared out two to three weeks last week with inductor strain and Daniel gazek just made his first start back from the Euros on Wednesday so you would think it'd be the other way around right where the defense would step up to hold up a weakend attack but that's not been the case um Wednesday night Quinn Sullivan uh really stepped up and and had a really strong game Jack mclin scored from distance his quality uh has shown throughout and it's going to be interesting to see how they approach this being a a third game in in eight days uh but they don't have depth and that's the thing U is still out Jesus Bueno who's taken a part taken upon the Jose Martinez role in a way is out with an ankle injury he suffered on Wednesday so they're down to two Strikers Ty bbo who himself sat out Wednesday with a back issue and Chris Donovan who uh entering the season was the number four forward so a lot of a lot of the onus is going to be on gazdag and Sullivan to their credit they played really well on Wednesday and got to that point but yeah it is going to be a struggle uh to create chances if everything's not flowing uh with those two backup Strikers Joe how often uh this week even in a short week have you heard but it's a Red Bull team that Philadelphia has been able to handle as of late so you could say that I think about a few teams in in the Eastern Conference uh the revs and DC are kind of in that Bunch as well I think that's the first time I've heard that though like morale is so low uh in the fan base right now just from reading everything online um and they're really frustrated with ownership it I don't think it matters at this point who they play um they just want to see a win it's been a really long time since they've seen one at home the home Forum another one of those things that's just been startling that it's just disappeared so I think yes it'll be sweeter for the fan base if it's against Red Bulls but I think in this case uh three points against anybody would be celebrated Joe follow for Philadelphia Union fans and those in Major League Soccer appreciate you coming on at J tany 90 is that like Upper 90 are we going Upper 90 with the end of that no it's just the year I was born all right Joe appreciate it than thanks for coming on look forward to seeing you in person tomorrow awesome thank you