Philadelphia Union Soccer Roster & Training

I had basically two, three sessions with the boys, and thanks for asking

But it's a process, right? And we're looking at, we know the cause, club values, our development

And that's what we're looking at, too. And, you know, Ernst has given me the grace to look at the roster very early on

And obviously, we've evaluated that roster. And we're always in the market for looking, for sure, you know

But I think I wanted the opportunity just to see within the principles that I'm trying to apply

and how that sort of plays out on the current roster that we have right now

So, you know, we've had a couple of obstacles in the first, I would say, 24 hours of getting here

but we've sorted that all out. It was all good. Luggage got stuck at the airport in London Heathrow, but it was all fine

So we managed to get the guys organized with cleats and runners, and then we could get on with our program

But I would say once that's all cleared the green lights, we've been up and running, and things have been looking really good

So today was a really great training session in the morning, I must say. I've been sort of caught up with, we pronounce it Jan, so Glavinovic

He fits in very well with our principles. He's a really good, solid box defender, 100%

So, I mean, obviously, once I had the agreement with the club

then I got up to speed with Jan, you know, just in terms of his principles

and how he's built. He definitely is a very comfortable centre-back with and without the ball

He has some good timing of his tackles He runs the line really well and he defends the box excellently So you know we really like what we seen so far And that just presented the case here in Marbella

Yeah, listen, I mean, we've had good open conversations with the players, you know

And we've, you know, it's my job to, one, implement a style and a philosophy that resonates with the club and with the team

So it's been my job now over the short term of the last two, three days, even in Philadelphia, you know

during the medical testing, I've already conducted phone calls with all the players before I even arrived

You know, once I got announced, I caught up with all the players on a phone call because they were dispersed all

over the world. We got back into Philadelphia before the medical testing

And there again, you know, I've caught up with senior players. I've caught up with younger players, you know

just to get a general sense and a vibe of, of, of the team and the current status check

Yeah. And it will be very confident and very positive. that we can hit the ground running

Yeah, I mean, we're trying to establish baselines of our foundations. And obviously, we're evaluating that every single day

And every day we go further, it gives us a little more insight of how we built

and where we need to look towards. So, you know, I wouldn't say it's clearly said and done

I think we are always looking. And I think there are definitely positions that are still open

where we could feel we might need to explore the market. And I know we are close in certain positions

So, yeah, we'll keep on pushing that agenda. But yeah I just focused right now on this group There a lot of work to do It pretty much a refreshed philosophy of the Philadelphia Union

and there's a lot of work to do. I believe it's a small issue

Ernst and I have caught up about it, not in great length, but, yeah, it's a minor issue

and it's pretty close to being resolved from what I'm hearing and won't impact us going forward over the next couple of weeks

Yeah, what they do bring is a lot of hunger, right? A lot of work rate, a lot of intensity, obviously inexperienced at the MLS level

So this is like a real deep dive in the deep end, right

And we've seen some good things. But I must say, a lot of the guys have stepped up to the messaging

I think the energy around the group, I think the spirit and mood around the camp

despite whatever travel woes we've got in here with, has all been excellent

whether it's young, old, experienced, not. So, yeah, it's just been a very good cohesive group at the moment

And when we play on the field as 11 guys as a unit, we need this connectedness

We need this as a collective in order for our philosophy to work. So, yeah, we've seen good integration so far of young and old

The beauty is that, you know, I told the players the flip chart is clean

It's clear, right? And there's names to be put on that flip chart come game day. But what I've seen from Jacob, you know, he had to have something postseason

a minor intervention and that's he's recovered really well from that listen I mean Neil just still cutting his teeth into the trade of being a full time pro centre back so there a lot to learn and grow Alwetu seems to be very up to the challenge I would say

Very physical, very quick. He came in very fit, as did Jacob as well as Jan

So I think there's going to be good competition, and not just the centre-back pairing

I think in every position on the field, competition is healthy. If we train and compete harder in training

than any of our opponents on game day, then we'll be able to match the teams that we come up against

In transition, that's where we want the majority of our business to be done

And if you can do all the ysis or the thesis over all the World Cups

or all over the leagues all over the world, in and around that 60%, all goals are scored in that phase

With the 30% is the set pieces. So 30% of all goals being scored in set pieces

and in possession, quite surprising, you know, the things that a lot of people value the most

Only 10% of the goals get scored within that, right? So we put our emphasis in our training methods within that 60% game model

and work on all the pieces accordingly. Not to say that I don't want to have the ball, I don't like the ball

I enjoy the ball myself as a player. But for me, it's about the quality on the ball as opposed to the time on the ball

So if we can have whatever percentage possession, but that time is quality on the ball

and we're inflicting pain on the opponent and then we're getting success, then I'd rather do that for sure