Under pressure, Curtin knows changes need to be made
CHESTER » The media room at Talen Energy Stadium held about as much praise as a team eliminated from the playoffs could possibly muster Sunday evening.
The Philadelphia Union had just annihilated a checked-out Orlando City team, 6-1. The club celebrated the career of Brian Carroll upon the midfielder’s retirement and welcomed in a new single-season scoring leader as CJ Sapong upped his tally to 16 goals. For a moment, you could forget that the Union were outside the playoffs for the sixth time in eight seasons.
But reality encroached with a question to manager Jim Curtin that curtailed the adulation for a team that played for pride Sunday. Did you — as the coach through three and a half upand-down seasons, as a Philly native — consider the possibility that this could be your last game
in charge?
“You might as well just ask me if I’m a human being,” Curtin replied. “Of course you think about things like that. When you guys ask, do you hear the boos? Do you think I have ears?”
Curtin’s response, for the umpteenth time in his tenure, encapsulated the bundle of contradictions that comprise the Union. On the one hand is the forthright Curtin, always willing to confront challenges. On the other is an ownership group that rarely speaks, into a microphone or with the checkbook.
On one side Sunday, the Union saw arguably the highest expression of the positives the 2017 roster promised. They got goals from Sapong. Fafa Picault, an understatedly outstanding signing, scored twice to go with an assist, taking his season total to seven goals. Ilsinho generated the elusive production from the No. 10 position with two goals and a helper. Haris Medunjanin and Alejandro Bedoya were magisterial in central midfield.
But on the other was the inescapable reality that the Union, for a second straight season, finished 11-14-9 with 42 points. In 2016, that got them into the sixth and final playoff spot. In 2017, despite
an improvement of six goals on goal-differential, they land eighth.
More than any positional or financial metric, those two extremes must be reconciled by the front office in the offseason.
“We’re not satisfied, but at the same time, the effort for the players for the entire season, they give everything,” Curtin said. “They give everything to the fans; they give everything to the technical staff.
“We ask them a lot of times to bring a knife to a gunfight, and they don’t complain. They bring it every day in training. I’d like to personally thank them for everything they did this season.”
Curtin, to his credit, has acknowledged the shortcomings repeatedly. He’s as puzzled as anyone that the Union could author performances like Sunday’s demolition at home but fail to replicate them on the road. Five of the Union’s 11 wins and six of nine draws came against MLS playoff qualifiers. The club tied its franchise record with 10 home wins.
Yet away from the home, the Union had one win and gleaned just nine points from a possible 51.
“We showed what we’re capable of,” Curtin said. “Again, the question isn’t at home; the question this year was on the road where we turned wins into draws and we turned some draws into losses. You look how
tight the table is, those are big points. In the key moments, we didn’t do enough on the road. We recognize that, but at the same time, when we’re playing as a team and everybody is operating and knowing their role and executing their role and responsibility, you can see that it’s pretty fun to watch.”
Curtin put into solid terms what had been coded in the messages of he and sporting director Earnie Stewart. The club improved in absolute terms, but it failed to keep pace with the escalating quality in the Eastern Conference, thanks in no small measure to the arrival of deep-pocketed Atlanta United.
The Union undoubtedly improved their roster depth, but too often the starting XI lacked the requisite punch — either from an out-of-shape Roland Alberg, a slumping Chris Pontius, the ineffective and/or unlucky Jay Simpson or second-year pros like Keegan Rosenberry and Josh Yaro who failed to take positive steps. The club’s early offensive issues forced countermeasures that left the team vulnerable defensively, and that seesaw was never evenly weighted for long.
The antidote is to add players who are unabashedly first-choice upgrades, at the wing and the No. 10 spot. They could get creative in translating their underachieving stocks of young talent to upgrade via
a more established starter.
The changes don’t constitute a house-cleaning. And they don’t necessarily mean relieving Curtin of his post; doing so and assuming the next manager will get the Union to the postseason with the same meager level of investment only deepens the rot. No matter who helms the Union next spring, he needs greater resources at his disposal if the club wants to avoid a repeat
of 2017’s disappointment.
And while Curtin’s coaching bona fides are open to interpretation based on his track record of results and player development, the one thing he can’t be accused of is running from the difficult reality facing his club. He proved that again Sunday, even with the hefty personal weight behind the answer.
“It’s professional sports. I understand it’s resultsdriven,”
Curtin said. “I give you credit for asking the question but I have a decent understanding of where I stand in the organization and I’ll continue to work to try to get it better. And I know it’s not good enough right now, but I’ll continue to work as hard as I possibly can.”