A bit of history tonight for the Union: Tonight will be Jim Curtin's 300th career MLS game coached. He's the 11th coach to hit that round number, and he has the fifth-highest PPG of those to get there pic.twitter.com/qvrlDRaxiU— Matthew De George (@sportsdoctormd) July 8, 2023
Does anyone honestly think that a different coach would get better results playing a RB at CB, Rafa at AM and Chris Donovan at forward?
A new coach won’t work really. Especially with Sugarman’s refusal to spend. Curtin and Tanner are doing the best they can with the box they were given to work in.
The right back has played CB numerous times before and has done well. He was the best CB on the day. Even playing Donovan is bad coaching. Donovan offers nothing and I'd love to know why he's even on the roster. Rafanello was told to man mark Sergeant Biscuits all game, which I felt was a weird coaching choice. Now, of course Sugarman is the real problem here, but I think Jim needs a bit of the blame, too.
In another segment of Morning Footy on @CBSSportsGolazo, hosts, including @CharlieDavies9, @AlyTrostMartin, @TMeola1 and @NotAlexis, discuss Jim Curtin and the continued pressure that he faces.Davies shares:"My point with Ernst Tanner, I don't think he is in the hot seat. If… pic.twitter.com/Czx82bYNc1— José Roberto Nuñez (@JoserNunez91) June 26, 2024
TIL I could probably go on tv and do a just as good meh job of talking about the union as the "pros" can.
Clip of Curtin on his job security:"I know what I have done for the club. I know the highs we have had at the club in the last six years. Those are great, but it's a 'what have you done for me lately' business. There's always pressure. You always have to try to improve and get… pic.twitter.com/tkO7jZCZzw— José Roberto Nuñez (@JoserNunez91) June 30, 2024
For the sake of discussion let's assume the job becomes available. With his current resume would Curtin have a real shot at it?
IMO, no. US Soccer, should they decide to move on from GGG, will need to go with a higher profile coach. If they go with a coach from MLS, who has no other coaching experience, they'll get crucified by the press and their fans. IF US Soccer were to hire a coach from MLS, Curtin is the most likely to say yes if they offered him the gig. I can't see Noonan or Cherundolo leaving their situations right now for the USMNT job. Oscar Pareja might also take it considering the plight of Orlando currently (who spend less then Philly as well). That said, IMO, Curtin would do a much better job with the current USMNT players than GGG has. Curtin would be much more pragmatic, and would also let the creative players be more free. I don't know how Gio Reyna would fit into a Curtin side though. He kind of reminds me of Chaco in that he's great offensively but he doesn't do a lot of defensive work that is required of a modern midfielder. If we go back to when Earnie was hired as Sporting Director that was one of the things Curtin brought up in his discussions with Stewart on how they wanted the Union to play. If we're looking at things through an honest lens, the Union under Curtin rarely have gotten their doors blown off in games. Have they been outmatched because of talent deficiencies? Certainly. The team always has a good gameplan. The team has by and large nearly always outperformed the sum of its' parts under him. I kind of understand the fans frustrations with Curtin's reluctance to use substitutions, and make too many lineup changes. OTOH, I understand where Curtin is coming from because if we honestly look at the hands he's been dealt, the players on his bench weren't better than the ones already playing. Some will accuse him of being too loyal to "his" players. An argument can be made there, however, he benched Jack Elliot for McKenzie and Trusty (teenagers). He benched Marco Fabian for a teenager. Some will say he played Bedoya too much. Let's be honest, Bedoya is an ageless wonder, He's been their best two-way midfielder since the day he arrived in Chester.
When people say fire Curtin, are people forgetting that we are missing our best players along the spine of the team? Starting GK - Andre Blake - Injured Borderline Starter CB - Damian Lowe - International duty Starting CDM - Jose Martinez - International duty Borderline Starter CM - Alejandro Bedoya - Injured Starting CAM - Daniel Gazdag - International duty. (DP) Starting ST - Julian Carranza - Sold (DP) Starting ST - Mikael Uhre - Injured (DP) If any other team in the MLS was missing this many important players I doubt they would do well.
Please fire Jim Curtain. Please do so today, so the Chicago Fire can hire him tonight. Maybe, have the unveiling at half time. We will happily take another Philadelphia cast off. It would make up for us taking Kacper and Herbers off your hands. Thank you. Oh, and I imagine that we'll do our best tonight to help you out of your losing streak. You are welcome in advance.
Taking this way back to 2014. Who do we think is next in line? Jim did a great job with the little resources he was given. He just could never get over the hump. Best of luck to him as long as it's outside of MLS!
Agree with this. Shocked when I saw the headline in my news feed yesterday around midday. After the initial shock wore off though, and looking at things a bit closer it may not be all that surprising. Jim was politely critical in nearly every press conference about the level of spending, I imagine that can get tiring to those writing the checks. Then when we look at fan complaints about Curtin over the years: too reliant on "his guys," his reluctance to use newer players unless forced to (Baribo, Bueno, Danley, Perrea, J. Torres, etc.), a reluctance to give more minutes to the promising young players on the team (P. Aaronson, Vazquez, Olney, Q. Sullivan (earlier in his career), Makhanya, Craig, etc.), his lack of substitutions/predictable sub patterns. If fans are seeing this, Tanner and ownership certainly are too. I would imagine there was frustration from all sides. From things I've read and heard, as much as Curtin was growing frustrated with the lack of increased investment from ownership, the organization was growing increasingly frustrated with Curtin for the above. It doesn't help when Baribo wasn't played for nearly a year, and then when he does he starts scoring goals immediately. So when I read and hear about how they didn't replace Carranza.... they didn't replace Martinez.... Danley is going to be a fantastic player in MLS. Baribo is a goal scorer. We as fans certainly may not initially like the replacements because they didn't cost the Union $5M+ on a transfer fee. How many fans have complained the past two seasons that Bedoya played too much? Same with Elliott and Glesnes when they struggled and made silly mistakes that seasoned pros shouldn't be making? It certainly didn't help Curtin when we are seeing the development of all of this talent across the way at YSC, and it's not really getting integrated into the first team. Even when the subs bench is lean. IMO, as much as it hurts the fans and the organization and Jim, this divorce will benefit all parties in the long run. Jim will be a better coach for this, and ultimately, as much as fans don't want to believe it right now, the Union will be a better team as well with a new voice. I honestly get the impression that Tanner wants to make more significant changes to the roster than Curtin agreed with. When add all of the above into that equation..... I'm hopeful this will end up being like when Red Bulls fired Petke, and not like when Tata left Atlanta.
Great post. Wasn't shocked just didn't expect them(both) to actually do it but maybe that was a bit of MLS1.0 thinking on my part. Agree it was probably a bit of post season clarity and coming to some sort of "Doug Peterson" moment with each other.
Inside the Fallout Between Jim Curtin and Philadelphia Union https://www.givemesport.com/inside-the-fallout-between-jim-curtin-and-philadelphia-union/