With Los Angeles Galaxy on the docket for this weekend and a three-match winning streak underway, Jim Curtin spoke about how his club can continue to build on their strong defensive form as they face off with one of the best strikers in modern history. Zlatan Ibrahimovic has had a hand in over half his team's goals this season and was a handful for Philly's back line a year ago.
Big Z is a lot to handle
“He’s a world-class striker and I’m not going to say anything stupid and get myself in trouble and have him angry coming into the game that’s for sure," Curtin joked. "We will have to do our best to try and limit him, but he is going to hurt you over the course of 90 minutes at some point and you have to try and make it as easy and predictable as you possibly can for Andre to make a big save for you.
"We really respect the Galaxy a great deal but we can’t be scared because if you are scared going into that building with their talent and quality they have, you’ll get embarrassed.”
Competition within the group is high
When he looks at the players that will try to close down Ibra on Saturday, the Union head coach is excited with how hard his players are competing for spots in the first eleven. "You can see now at training a group that is very confident, that is very competitive and pushing for minutes which as a coach you want," Curtin said. "You want that environment where everybody has their head on a swivel of who is going to be starting, the 18 so there is a real healthy competition at every spot. Our group continues to get better each and every game which is something that we are proud of."
Philly's midfield remains an area with intense competition, and new signing Jamiro Monteiro made an impact off the bench against FC Dallas. However, Curtin said it's hard to take off any of the players currently in the starting lineup, including teenage homegrown player Brenden Aaronson. "He’s been a guy that as a coach you can’t take off the field," the head coach admitted. "Obviously, I root for him because we’ve been together for a while but at the same time everything he’s done, he’s earned and deserves to be on the field. He’s dominated games, in Atlanta, against Columbus and for moments against Dallas, he’s left a really big impact.
"By the way, he also runs and covers more ground than anybody," Curtin added.
Updates on Sergio Santos, Derrick Jones
The head coach gave further updates on Derrick Jones and Sergio Santos, one of whom played for Steel last weekend.
On Santos, Curtin said: "“He did good in a wild game against Swope Park in Kansas City, good for him to get minutes and it’s good for him to score. Anytime you hit the back of the net is a good thing for a striker."
Unfortunately, the latest news is less positive. "Felt like we were making forward progress and then had a little bit of a setback with a little issue in his knee," Curtin continued. "We will get pictures taken with an MRI and then we will assess on exactly what it is, but unfortunately, he trained yesterday and wasn’t able to train today, kind of out of the picture right now.”
Jones was slated to join Santos on the Steel FC roster last weekend but picked up a late ankle injury that kept him out. "All you can do is respect that decision that it’s too painful for him to play and that was that," Curtin said. "Hopefully, he can do it this weekend."
Differences between opponents crucial to keep in mind
To conclude, the head coach said he thought that the last few matches showed his squad was in a good place but that each new team presented new challenges. "“We mentioned that as we talked through film today," Curtin said. "You look at Cincinnati on the road where they sit deep and let you have the ball and can break quickly on the counter who are completely different than FC Dallas where they want to put together 600-700 passes with technical, quick, young players that are high pressing. Now you face a Galaxy team that is completely different than both of those teams who have been in a good run of form at home and away. They have some world class players in their group and it’s always difficult to go to Los Angeles with the travel and all the variables that go into that."
A final factor that Curtin will be considering is how an early goal allowed FC Dallas to sit back and try to protect a lead. The Galaxy will certainly come out aiming to get on top early and force Philly to push numbers forward, so the Union will need to be ready to adjust on the fly as they did last weekend.
Philly heads to LA for a 10:30 p.m. ET showdown on Saturday, April 13 on PHL17.
