Stewart expecting results from Curtin, ‘better group of guys’
CHESTER >> For 18 months, Earnie Stewart has led the Philadelphia Union’s soccer operations. Many fans, though, have waited for a winning team, a true championship-caliber squad, going on seven-plus fruitless seasons, plus two years of anticipation before the franchise launched.
This helps explain the cognitive dissonance that is among the many things afflicting the Union’s arduous start to 2017. Still in search of win No. 1 in Saturday’s game No. 9 against New York Red Bulls, Stewart Wednesday again empathized with the fans’ plight of watching such indifferent soccer over the last 16 winless matches in all competitions. But Stewart’s purview isn’t to blow up a long-term project on the basis of eight games, just as, he points out, it wasn’t to start sending dimensions to the carpenter’s shop for trophy-case expansions last summer when the Union were flying high in May.
“We spoke about foundation last year the and we’re still building on that foundation,” Stewart said Wednesday. “All the clichés — ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’ and all that — it’s all fine and dandy because it doesn’t really mean that much. I realize that there has been a history before I was here and, fair or not fair, I have to take that into account. … But the idea we have is still the same, the messaging is still the same and I’ll always believe, because I have done this for years and years now, in what we are trying to do and still build on that foundation.”
Pressure has mounted in recent weeks on every aspect of a franchise that hasn’t won a game since last Aug. 27 and is mired in last place in MLS. But Stewart’s job is to look past short-term fluctuations to reap long-term gains. That’s why he’s steadfastly stood behind embattled manager Jim Curtin, insisting that the team’s process remains sound even if results haven’t followed. He pointed out the slim margins by which the team won many games last year en route to the playoffs, and small differences in form and luck have turned many of those results in the opposite direction this year.
Meanwhile, investments in infrastructure projects like the Union Academy and first-team facilities are designed to bear fruit down the road. With some of the struggles experienced by players being merely the growing pressure that comes with piledup losses, the main effort is to alleviate that strain to end the skid.
But that doesn’t mean Stewart plans on acting rashly or by the will of the mob.
“I’ve been in situations where changes have been made for change’s sake, and however you want to view it, you can say some were successful and some were not successful,” he said. “It’s not something I just believe in. I’m not saying that nothing will ever change, because that’s not the case. You see names change and everything, but the philosophy and the thought we have, that doesn’t change because we lose a couple of games. It would not change me if we won a couple of games in a row. It has to be the same, because that’s going to be our guidance to success in the future.”
Stewart reiterated his defense of Curtin, emphasizing the process the equation with defense.
“You can pretty much know if you have a good coach or if you have a bad coach. After one, two weeks, you know that,” Stewart said. “I see what our coaching staff does every single day. … Do I think he’s a good coach? Yeah. Do I think we all make mistakes in life? Yup, we sure do. As long as we learn from them, we’re in good shape.”
Stewart isn’t alarmed by the apparent regression of several players from strong 2016 seasons, in particular using the example of Keegan Rosenberry’s benching after the secondyear right back’s play fell short of the lofty expectations he set from a stellar rookie campaign. Stewart allows that some of the dips in performance owe to the collective lowering of confidence infecting the team.
He’s also backed Curtin’s rigid adherence to the 4-2-3-1 formation, espousing the benefits of giving players — particularly on a struggling team — stability in what is expected from them in their individual onfield roles.
But he also stated that he believes the club possesses side of a fullthroated “a better group of guys” this year with superior depth. It’s just a matter of turning the tide for the first win and allowing the process to bear fruit from there.
“We have to deal with a bunch of human beings that are on the field and are susceptible to all the influences from the outside,” Stewart said. “We try to keep that away from them so that they focus at their task at hand. And once they focus at their task at hand, I’m pretty sure we can get those results like we did last year.”