1: I was really surprised by the lack of energy and intensity, especially in the first half. I mean Philly wants to play a slower game in general but that doesn’t mean we have to match that. Passing sequences were slow without much verticality. Even without Josef’s intensity I didn’t expect it to be as plodding as it was. 

2: I guess Gonzo went into the locker room at half and said, that’s it, no more cake! The quality of play was raised but not the pace really. At least we were better with the ball and kept it in the unions half.  But, even with better control  of the match, we didn’t have a lot of clear opportunities. 

3: Guz is the only reason it was only a 1-0 score line. The back line looked out of sorts. Miles especially was lacking, which was another surprise. To be honest, no one really showed up. Much of the struggles might be chalked up to not having Alan Franco due to yellow card accumulation. Gonzo did mention that this last Thursday’s training session wasn’t sharp. Maybe one too many cake smashes. He’ll have to figure out how to approach balancing training and rest with the squad. How to balance kind of being the fun positive energy guy with also being demanding. Balancing that is probably made even more complicated because of the issues with Heinze. 

4: Rob Valentino wasn’t with the team and hasn’t been for the past few days due to Health and Safety protocols. Coach Pineda mentioned his absence as making things more difficult. That’s a little curious for me. I mean, is Rob’s absence that much of a factor? Is he really that spark? I only bring it up because Gonzo specifically mentioned it as being a factor. That’s odd for me. 

5: This was a weird and kind of concerning match. I can’t really point to anything tactically speaking that was a problem. We didn’t play badly persay, we just didn’t really play at all. Under Heinze we could point to exhaustion and even questionable tactics, but the players always showed up. So this was pretty weird to witness. Hopefully this is just a weird blip. No more cake smashes until the energy is back.