Where are we now
There were two enormous question marks during Philadelphia Union’s preseason: First, how would the team perform in the new 4-4-2 diamond shape Jim Curtin instituted as he sought the best way to implement Ernst Tanner’s high-pressing, transition-focused philosophy?
And second, what were the implications, both on the pitch and for the Union more broadly, as a club, of the arrival of the biggest signing in club history, Marco Fabian?
The first became a fascinating storyline throughout the season, with Curtin moving between a 4-4-2 and a 4-2-3-1 between and within matches as he used a deep but idiosyncratic bench — the team’s most effective substitutes, Ilsinho, Fafa Picault, and Sergio Santos, thrived in the 4-2-3-1 — to his advantage.