‘Control’ not translating to goals for Union
CHESTER » The Union’s wheels are spinning through a familiar, unenviable rut. Through five matches, the team has created chances in abundance and goals rarely, posing a conundrum for Jim Curtin: How to reduce one of those commodities while increasing the other? And how, in sacrificing quantity for quality, do you ensure that something isn’t lost?
The answer is simple in theory but elusive in execution.
“You have to preach that the way we’re keeping the ball, the way we’re controlling the tempo of the game, the way we’re creating chances has to continue, but now ... defensively in our own box, offensively in the box, we have to be a little more ruthless,” Curtin said Wednesday ahead of Saturday’s trip to FC Dallas. “… When everything is clicking, those moments become simple and clear. Right now, it’s a bit of a fight. We have to ... continue to stress that we have created chances. We know what the plan is, we execute the plan, but now having the killer instinct in front of goal defensively and offensively.”
The Union (1-2-2, 5 points) have lacked that decisive edge, squandering an opportunity to build an early cushion of points on home turf. They’ve scored just three goals in five matches, four at home, and have just one goal in four-plus matches of 11-on11 play. The result is just five of a possible 12 points in the opening four home matches.
The prospective source of said killer instinct isn’t a mystery, either. CJ Sapong scored 16 goals in a career year in 2017. He has just one this season, despite 16 shots, only four of which have found the target, and has drastically underperformed on expected goals, a measure of how many goals a player’s shots are expected to yield based on location and situation. Per American Soccer Analysis, Sapong is at 3.2 expected goals, meaning he’s not capitalizing on his chances.
Likewise, signings brought in with the explicit aim of filling the killer-instinct void haven’t delivered. Borek Dockal has just a secondary assist in four starts and is still in the building chemistry phase. David Accam lacks a goal or an assist in five starts, the longest such drought of his MLS career, now in its fourth season. Accam started slowly last season, too, with just one goal and one assist in five games before rattling off goals in five consecutive matches in May.
The treatment of Accam’s cold streak is a microcosm for the Union’s perspective. Curtin emphasized that there is no panic, but there is a sense of urgency to right the ship. Despite the lack of goals, the Union have met certain offensive objectives.
Paradoxically, the change of scenery to Dallas (2-0-3, 9 points) could help. They’ve struggled prodigiously against Dallas, with a 1-5-4 all-time record (the win coming last year) and an 0-4-1 mark in Dallas. Including the 2011 playoff encounter with Houston, the Union are 2-10-1 in the Lone Star State.
Dallas is one of only two unbeaten teams left, fresh off a 1-0 win in New England thanks to Jacori Hayes’ first career goal. Oscar Pareja’s team has yet to find consistent finishing up top, and key figures Jesse Hernandez and Kellyn Acosta have yet to play due to injury. But Pareja has integrated more of the voluminous stable of Homegrowns, Reggie Cannon taking the lead. Jimmy Maurer, after five seasons with New York Cosmos, has deputized ably in goal, and Roland Lamah has supplied three goals and two assists.
Dallas has allowed just three goals in five matches, not a great matchup for a Union team seeking to get off the schneid. But Dallas is one of the top teams in MLS in possession at home this season at 54.8 percent, per Whoscored.com. The Union have struggled to break down teams when they’ve held possession advantages, opponents packing in defenders. The chance to work out the kinks on the counterattack, allowing Accam and Fafa Picault chances to run into open space, could provide a jolt.
“We’ll continue to stick with our attacking movements, continue to create chances and we do know that we have the quality within the group to break out of what’s been a tough little goal drought here early on through five games,” Curtin said. “We recognize now that we’re going to a difficult place in Dallas and we have not been a team that is strong on the road. We know we have some challenges to face. But at the same time, we have to go there with a mindset to take three points.”
It’s shaping up as another game for the kids in defense, with Jack Elliott having not trained fully as of Wednesday thanks to a groin injury that forced him out of last week’s 2-0 loss to Orlando City. Elliott is not listed on the injury report and did travel to Dallas, so he’s in the selection conversation.
If Elliott can’t make a 35th consecutive start, Homegrown Mark McKenzie will get his first, pairing with fellow 19-yearold Auston Trusty. If Matt Real and Keegan Rosenberry start again, it will create the youngest backline in MLS history, breaking the mark the Union set four weeks ago.