It seemed unlikely that the Philadelphia Union's unbeaten run would extend into the double digits, but there's still disappointment with the way it ended.

For a team that's been well-organized and hard to break down, there were several moments of uncharacteristic frailty this past weekend.

Even in prior losses this season, Jim Curtin's team has rarely performed poorly. Red cards may have crippled their chances in the Seattle and Chicago road games, but the team responded well enough and almost forced a result on both occasions. Maybe the only truly poor performance was way back in the season opener against Dallas.

That's why this one was a letdown, because it didn't look like the focused and well-drilled team we've seen in 2016. The Union were flat through the first 60 minutes and didn't generate much in the build up, resulting in a total of only four shot attempts for all eleven starters combined. The Union bench provided a spark in the attacking third, but two second half goals weren't enough to dig out of an early 3-0 hole.

No Nogueira

Vince Nogueira is gone for good, which means the Union attack is going to take a few steps backward.

In prior games this season where Nogueira was unavailable through injury, Curtin turned to Warren Creavalle at the number eight spot, and the two players couldn't be any more different.

Creavalle is a defensive midfielder with a high work rate, ranginess, and ball-winning ability.

Nogueira is a prototypical ball mover and deep-lying facilitator.

The Union have found success with the Creavalle/Carroll combination by keeping the shape, protecting the backline, and really falling into a conservative defensive posture. The formation wasn't any different with Nogueira out there, but it just flowed better with the Frenchman dropping deep to start the buildup.

Sequences like this one in the first half show the difference between the two players:

This piece of buildup play starts well enough, with Brian Carroll dropping in to receive the ball. Keegan Rosenberry pushes forward with an overlapping run and Ken Tribbett is able to get the ball to Creavalle between the midfield and forward lines. With time and space to pick out a pass, Creavalle lumps one for Chris Pontius that goes out of play.

That's a scenario where Nogueira would have probably kept it on the ground, cycled it to a fullback, or even pulled back to hold possession. Sometimes he didn't even move into that space, instead dropping deeper to open up that pocket for Tranquillo Barnetta.

That's just not Creavalle's game. He's not going to pick you apart with line-splitting passes, or switch fields with a long diagonal, or pirouette under pressure and find a safety valve.

In other phases of the game, he did seem to do alright. He had two half-chances on late runs that were set up by Sebastien Le Toux. He worked hard as he always does and tracked back defensively in support of the backline.

But his distribution just wasn't there. He went 11 for 16 in the passing game and ended up coming out at halftime. Creavalle has been a solid number six this year, but you can see how the team is different when he plays the eight.

Grades

Starting XI: Blake, Gaddis, Marquez, Tribbett, Rosenberry; Carroll, Creavalle; Le Toux, Barnetta, Pontius; Herbers

Fabian Herbers: C-

Just not enough touches for him in this game. He earned the penalty kick leading to the first Union goal but finished with zero shots.

His best chance of the game may have come in the second half when he was played in by Ilsinho, but the first touch took him wide of goal. He did a good job to square up and keep the play alive, but by then the scoring chance was gone.

Without C.J. Sapong on the field, the Union just lose that physical holdup play from the CF position. They also can't outlet by lumping the ball up the field, since Herbers isn't that type of player.

Sebastien Le Toux: B

It was a really nice sequence in the 12th minute when he won a slide tackle in the corner, then popped up to play a dangerous cross into the box.

He set up Creavalle again before halftime with a nifty layoff, but could only watch the ball sail over the net.

In a poor first-half performance, Le Toux was one of the more active and energetic players out there. Later in the game, he moved up to the striker spot and had a half-chance or two come his way.

Tranquillo Barnetta: C

He tried to get on the ball and make things happen, but oftentimes just had the space close up around him.

He kept working to try to scratch out a chance or two, and almost pulled something off in stoppage time when he tried to pick out Le Toux inside the box.

Chris Pontius: D+

Only 12 touches for Pontius before coming out of this game early in the second half.

Brian Carroll: C-

A tough game for Carroll to settle into, he initially made a nice recovery before having his pocket picked, leading to the second NYC goal.

He eventually settled in a bit and helped the team get back into the game in the second half. His header off the later set piece came off a New York player for the second Union goal.

Warren Creavalle: D+

His game began with a couple of early aerial duels, then he recovered nicely to stuff a David Villa square pass on a counter attempt.

There was a weird sequence in the 31st minute, where he lost the ball on a tough pass from a center back, then got away with a foul on Andrea Pirlo before losing the ball again a few seconds later.

Defensively, he was his hard-working self, but just didn't seem to influence this game with tackles, interceptions, and recoveries in the same way that he normally does.

He came out at halftime for Roland Alberg.

Ray Gaddis: C

He gets unlucky on the first goal when the ball bounces off a shin and allows R.J. Allen to keep running into the channel.

On the second goal, he busts a lung on a recovery run to get back into the play, but Jack Harrison's brilliant backheel jolts the ball free for a first-time David Villa strike.

Gaddis conceded the foul leading to the third goal, but again it was him recovering into the channel to make up for someone else's mistake.

He also looked to split from the wall on the Pirlo free kick, but it's hard to tell if the ball goes in that gap, or around the wall instead.

Richie Marquez: D+

Nervy to start the game, Marquez lost Frank Lampard on a first-minute shot attempt, then missed Ray Gaddis on a routine pass about 20 seconds later.

On the first goal, he rotates out to cover Allen, but seems slow to get back into the play, which allows Frank Lampard to sit right in front of the goal without being offside.

Before the half, he may have prevented a third goal by covering in the right channel when Ronald Matarrita was able to slice through.

Ultimately, he's partly culpable for the third goal, with a turnover about 30 yards out that allows Lampard to break free and earn a restart.

Ken Tribbett: B-

He did enough to deflect Tommy McNamara's original shot on the first NYC goal. The ball sort of squirts through the Union defense and falls right to Lampard for the easy finish.

Tribbett was the better of the center backs in this game and had a decent scoring chance off a corner kick later in the game.

Keegan Rosenberry: C-

The lack of meaningful buildup play, combined with the squeezed size of the field, really limited Rosenberry's ability to get forward for most of the game.

His long throw was a weapon coming into this one, but the Union just didn't get to use it enough, because there wasn't a ton of touchline possession down the right flank.

Andre Blake: B-

Blake was beaten on Villa's 50-yard chip attempt, but give him credit for recovering to snag the follow-up shot.

Before the half, he had a lunging punch on a Jack Harrison cross. He added a stop in the 90th minute to keep it a 3-2 ballgame.

There wasn't much he could do on the second or third goals.

Substitutes

45' Roland Alberg: B+

Jim Curtin doesn't normally sub at halftime, but I really liked the move to bring in Alberg early. In previous appearances, he just wasn't getting enough minutes to have a meaningful impact on the game.

It took him a bit before he started to find the ball, but it was mostly positive stuff when he came on, banging in a smooth penalty then driving that low shot that Josh Saunders almost flubbed into the net. Later, the turn and cut into the box was brilliant, but the cross left something to be desired, and you could tell he felt the same way by his reaction.

He tried a free kick that didn't come off, but it's positive to see a player step up and try to get on the ball and we saw last Wednesday night what he can do in dead ball situations.

53' Ilsinho: B

He started on the left in front of Gaddis, which is a fullback/winger pairing that I don't think we'd seen this season. Eventually, he started to slide over to the right, and that's when he had the really nice combination with Herbers that just didn't amount to a final product.

Without Nogueira in the fold, Ilsinho is going to have to get into the starting lineup and add some attacking quality to the side.

77' Walter Restrepo: B-

Restrepo's addition pushed Le Toux up to the striker spot.

His first touch actually ended up being a shot on goal, with a challenged effort that didn't have much juice on it.

He was active during his 13-minute shift and looks to be a real option off the bench.

Referee: Silviu Petrescu: B

There were three shouts for penalties in this game, and I think he got each call right.