Union City Blue

The Philadelphia Union have announced that they have agreed to a mutual contract termination with forward Jorge Perlaza. Perlaza joined the Union this season in a trade which sent MLS Superdraft first overall pick Danny Mwanga to Portland.  This move should come as a surprise to no one. Perlaza had not played or been available as a sub for the last ten Union games.

Perlaza had been sought by the Union prior to the 2011 season but signed with Portland. Perlaza, a Colombian forward, played regularly while at Portland. However, he failed to excel in the primary role of a forward in MLS, that of scoring, having scored only six goals in more than a season and half. His departure leaves the Union even thinner in what has been their problem position this season.

The Union appear stuck in a process of trying to undo the damage of the end of Peter Nowak’s term as coach and Diego Gutierrez’s term as sporting director. This termination follows the trade of forward Lionard Pajoy to D.C. United for midfielder Canny Cruz. With questionable contributions from Porfirio Lopez, Josue Martinez, and Gabriel Gomez, it would not be surprising if the remainder of the pair’s recent significant acquisitions depart the Union in the off season. This would free a substantial amount of salary cap room. Bakary Soumare, while he arrived at the Union shortly after Nowak left, still has to be considered a Nowak acquisition. He has played little for the Union since being acquired in June, leaving one to wonder if he came to the team with lingering injury or fitness problems.

The Union are currently 15 points out of fifth place and a playoff spot with eleven games yet to play. The good news is that they have games in hand on the teams above them in the standings. The bad news is that making up this point spread in the time remaining would seem unlikely given the team’s current offensive struggles. The Union will need some well though out acquisitions in the summer to turn this situation around.

In a move that should have surprised no one and may have answered the fervent prayers of some Union fans, the team announced today that Peter Nowak has stepped down as manager. Coach John Hackworth will take over as interim team manager.

After a leading the Union to the playoffs in their second season in 2011, everything seemed to unravel quickly for Nowak in 2012. With poor results and a series of unpopular player transfers, many fans were hoping that Nowak would go.  The failings of the Nowak era have been well documented here. The Union suffer from a lack of offensive production and neither personnel changes, coaching, nor line up changes seem to have made much difference. After a relatively successful season in 2011, the Union went on again to make major personnel changes prior to the start of the season, rather then leave the core of last year’s playoff team alone.  Coupled with constant lineup and formation changes, it has been very difficult for players to adapt and play together as a cohesive unit. Although Nowak talked a lot about developing young players, these players got very few minutes of actual playing time.

Nowak has been linked in the Scottish media with the manger’s job at Hearts. Although he may not be the front runner, he was rumored to have applied. Speculation will now run rampant as to who the new manager might be. I would not rule Hackworth out of the permanent job, if he can produce improved results in the second half of the season.

It goes to show that if you are off Twitter for a few days, all hell breaks loose. The Union are good at lulling you into a fall sense of security that nothing is happening, then executing a sneak attack.

The Union traded under-performing forward Danny Mwanga for under-performing forward Jorge Perlaza of the Portland Timbers on Wednesday. As you may recall, the Union were linked with a move for Perlaza prior to the 2011 season in the foreign media. My post on some of the strange goings on with Perlaza’s contract can be found here.

The upside for the Union comes in salary. Mwanga has a $250,000 base salary with $356,250 guaranteed. Perlaza has a $100,000 base salary with $115,000 guaranteed. Perlaza will take up an international roster spot. As I expressed in a recent post, Mwanga was a player that was not providing the Union will good value for money. He hasn’t scored a goal in over a year and has been injury plagued. Mwanga, a former number one overall draft pick, was in his third season in MLS. I think a fair period of time has passed for the Union to evaluate what he was going to do with the team. It was time for the Union to cut their losses here. With a change of scenery, both Mwanga and Perlaza may make a change for the better.

I realized that I may have goofed in writing the poll. I failed to include Amobi Okugo as an option at center back. I notice some poll respondents have indicated “other” for the backline configuration they would like to see for the Union. If you have other ideas for a defensive configuration, please leave them in the comments of this post.

In the wake of the bizarre circumstances surrounding the Danny Califf trade, it is clear that the Unionare a team in crisis. I was previously willing to make excuses for a slow start that could be turned around in the latter half of the season. Given the lack of transparency with both the MLS and the Union, it’s unclear where the source of the problems lies. Like many things in life, it is probably a combination of factors.

Most fans seem to be focused on Peter Nowak. The manager is usually the go-to scapegoat when a team fails to perform. Certainly on-field decisions concerning lineups and substitutions can be traced back to him. The steady stream of departures would indicate that there are fundamental problems in the relationship between Nowak and his players. When multiple players who seem to be good, upstanding individuals leave suddenly under suspicious circumstances, obliquely accusing the manager of lying, and vowing never to play for the man again, there is a problem. Nowak’s confrontational and controlling communication style doesn’t help matters either.

The Union went through another set of wholesale personnel changes before the start of the season. I was expecting that the playoff team of last season would receive tweaks rather than a major overhaul. Not only Nowak, but also Sporting Director Diego Gutierrez, and Operating Partner Nick Sakiewicz, presumably have input into personnel decisions. Many of theUnion’s on field problems ultimately seem to track back to players who are unfamiliar with each other and have difficulty communicating with each other. This may resolve itself with time, but the team may be running out of time this season.

Although some moves may be justified on financial grounds, there is limit on how much turnover a team can withstand without it being destabilizing, especially when you’re unsure of the players brought in to plug the holes. Management certainly deserves some criticism for the negative perception of how player transfers have been handled and perhaps for misplaced financial pressure on personnel decisions. Gutierrez bears some responsibility for bad judgment with respect for the additions to the roster this season that have been less than stellar and also some of the player relations issues. While this circus runs its course, fans are left wondering if allocation money can win championships.

The  Philadelphia Union unveiled new 2012 kits. It’s not a pretty picture, folks. The story on the new kits can be found here.  On the positive side, the dreaded C3PU kit is now a bad memory. However, we are faced with overly fussy versions of the original primary and secondary kits. They each contain one color too many as well as unnecessary and visually distracting embellishments.  They are one step short of bedazzled.

I will venture an unpopular opinion here. I am not a fan of signal blue.  I think it is effective en masse on TV on the Sons of Ben. It makes the SOBs easy to see in a crowd, especially at an away game. Its positive attributes end there. It’s not an effective or marketable uniform color. Like other shades of light blue, it is a weak color. Think baby blue, powder blue, signal blue, pink, peach, daffodil yellow. It’s an unflattering shade on most people and is garish for daily wear. I think it’s a hard sell to the majority of men who prefer darker neutrals. Coupled with primary yellow, it isn’t a good look. I was relieved when the Union unveiled navy blue and antique gold as their principal colors. Remember the locally and nationally maligned Eagles blue and yellow throwback jerseys of a few years ago? The SOBs and the Union  have inexplicably decided to revive this look. Just because theses are the colors on the Philadelphia city flag doesn’t mean you need to go there. The signal blue should be limited to use as a trim color on Union kits.