March 07, 2016
Kevin Kinkead/For PhillyVoice
Union players during practice in Chester on Monday, March 7, 2016.
The Philadelphia Union were back at practice in Chester less than 24 hours after Sunday's season-opening 2-0 loss in Dallas.
Starters from that game did light fitness work, while players who didn't see the field spent time playing short-sided games. The team has off on Tuesday, then resumes week-two preparations on Wednesday.
PhillyVoice caught up with Curtin one-on-one following training.
Philly Voice: Thought's on Sunday's game, now with some time to reflect?
Curtin: "We're not happy with the performance, from the staff, to the players, and across the board. Everybody wanted to come out and show a new style and a new 'fight' that the team had. We wanted to give something positive to the fans and we came up a little bit short. I'm disappointed in a lot of areas. We looked a bit timid compared to how we were in the preseason. We're all disappointed in that.
"To take some things away from it, in possession we were a little bit better, that would be one positive when you look at the stats. But at the same time it wasn't good enough and we didn't create enough chances. We didn't deal with their top three guys, the guys that we talked about all week. I think we came up small in that test. We have to look forward to Columbus; I think we had some guys get some good experience in their first MLS action. I think they learned from it. We'll look at the tape again on Wednesday, review some things, and try to improve."
When you take another look at the match, there was a good chunk of time, maybe 45 to 50 minutes, where it was still a one-goal game. Did you feel like you had a shot at an equalizer?
"I thought, in the first half, Dallas came out and played with almost a back three in the buildup, where they threw Atiba Harris forward on Fabinho's side. It took us a little while to get adjusted to that. We tweaked it at halftime and kind of inverted Vince (Nogueira), kind of pushed Vince up and flipped the triangle a little bit and we were able to press them a little better and played in our end a bunch.
"We still didn't create enough chances, but at the same time, like you said, it was 1-0 for awhile there and we had a couple of good looks at goal. We didn't get it, and in the second half Fabinho makes a mistake, which he's aware of. He was disappointed with his performance on the day. I just think collectively as a team we didn't have enough guys that had strong performances."
You mentioned in the post-game comments that Richie Marquez had a bit of a hamstring issue.
"Yeah, he had a groin, slash, you know, it sort of wrapped around his thigh [Curtin motions to the back of his upper leg]. He's back now though. We didn't want to rush him back in this game. He's ready and available for selection as a starter going into this week. We'll assess it and make a decision, but with him, Ray [Gaddis], and I'd put Roland [Alberg] in there too, he had the visa (issue) and missed a chunk of preseason, but instead of rushing guys back we went with guys who played the bulk of the minutes in preseason and performed well in preseason. It didn't work out our way, but I still think there are some things to build off of."
Did you feel like there were enough guys out there demanding the ball, showing to the ball, and trying to get involved?
"That kind of goes to the timidness. For whatever reason, and credit to Dallas first of all, they're a very good team, I think they're going to be a top team in the west and their in their home opener. But we did a good job each preseason game of raising the bar from Jacksonville, to Toronto by the end.
"In this game, we didn't raise our level to meet what was needed, which was a difficult road game in a team's home opener. We kind of survived the first 15 minutes, then Dallas kind of took it to us from that point until halftime. We dodged a few bullets and were a little fortunate. Again, at 1-0 we had a few opportunities to get back in the game. But yeah, it wasn't good enough all around and we came up short. With those guys' injuries and different things, and being away, this was the group that the staff chose, and we came out short."
Last year, Monday would have been a regeneration day, but the guys are out here today.
"Yeah, for each instance, in a Sunday game to a Saturday game, there's a template that we use now for how we can best recuperate and perform for the next week. So, depending on whether it's a west coast game, an east coast game, a Saturday, a Sunday, maybe a Wednesday in there, there's a pretty clear cut structure to it.
"This week, being a Sunday into a Saturday game, we'll have 'regen' today and push the group that didn't play. They have the bulk of the minutes Monday, then we're off [Tuesday] and then we begin preparation on Wednesday."
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