Defensively, Philadelphia did well early on, particularly in the first twenty minutes before things went awry. The Union seemingly learned from their mistakes from last week as they prevented Dallas from getting a second bite of the cherry on set pieces with a number of headed clearances; however Dallas went on to dominate in the air, winning 15 aerials duels to Philadelphia's 6, or about 71 percent.

A physical game seemingly favored Philadelphia, having done decently in the first half to break up play and keep Dallas from developing a rhythm, but the injury to Williams and the sending off of Pfeffer dissuaded them from this approach and Dallas- Mauro Diaz in particular went on to largely dominate the game.

Prior to Williams' injury, Castillo ran at him, choosing to cross more often than cut in which wasn't a problem for the likes of Vitoria and White; however, with the switch of Gaddis to right back following Williams' injury, Castillo absolutely tore at the Philadelphia defense, completing 14 dribbles all game, the most of any player on the field. Just as in their previous game against RSL, Philadelphia's inability to offer support to a wide defender in a one-on-one situation caused them problems. The one instance in which this wasn't the case, Le Toux came back to assist Gaddis and their combined closing of the space forced Castillo centrally where the pockets of space he loves to dribble into were limited, and he was dispossessed by Maurice Edu.

Furthermore, prior to Pfeffer sending off, an event which changed the game (more on that late), Nogueira was being given free rein to float around, and it benefited Philadelphia as he linked up with the wide midfielders and tried to find space centrally and the fullbacks pushed up as well. This created several chances for the Union's wide midfielders to get passes to Aristeguieta so he could get a shot off in the box. However, after Pfeffer's sending off, Nogueria seemed caught between two worlds, he was forced in part further up the field but to little positive affect, as the “secondary striker” runs or support that would have been there from Pfeffer or even Le Toux drifting centrally were lacking.

Nogueira couldn't commit to an attacking role due to his defensive responsibilities, which eventually saw him caught on the counter attack on a number of occasions and a problem Coach Curtin aimed to solve when he brought on the defensive minded Michael Lahoud, switched to a back three, and pushed Nogueira up. Passing improved, but unfortunately, by that time, Philadelphia's front three looked tired and isolated. The role typically played by Christian Maidana of linking up with the forward was missing and Aristeguieta seemed very isolated at times. Fernando was forced to try and do things on his own, completing 4 dribbles relative to none in his game against RSL. The lack of an attacking midfielder or even a second striker to partner Fernando really hurt the Union going forward and perhaps rather than pushing Nogueira further forward, a second striker should have been brought on. That being said, they still tried to play to Fernando's strengths, sending in 20 crosses throughout the game, but only completing a poor 15% of them.

One other tactical move to point out, the placement of the quick but non-natural defender Atiba Harris worked very well as it seemed to quiet Wenger, who despite working tirelessly only got the better of Harris on a couple of occasions, the most notable of which led to a very tame shot by Aristeguieta. Harris won 6 aerial duels, made 3 tackles, 4 interceptions, and 4 clearances.

Despite an individual error from Fabinho that cost the Union a goal, the fans shouldn't make him the scape goat, sooner or later, Castillo likely would have gotten the better of the Union defense, error or not and Philadelphia were lucky not to concede several in the last 15 minutes off of fast breaks. That being said, Fabinho's numbers actually point to a respectable performance and he did a better job to cope with Akindele in one-on-one situations than Gaddis did with Castillo. This is perhaps in part to Akindele's less explosive nature compared to Castillo, but also in part due to his natural left-footed-ness. Fabinho completed the joint most dribbles of any Philadelphia player with 5, a sign of his inclination to get forward but also managed a team high 8 tackles, as well as two blocks, two clearances, two interceptions, and not a single foul committed.

Finally, it could be said that despite doing well to claim several balls in the air, M'Bohli's failure to come out of his goal quickly enough cost the Union a goal (a specialty of on-loan sweeper keeper, Zac MacMath), but given M'Bohli's solid start to the season and Andre Blake's injury, he should be given the benefit of the doubt.

Overall, Philadelphia fans will feel hard done, having played well in the first half and having corrected some errors from previous games, but soccer can be a cruel game and the Union will have to cut out individual errors and find a solution to getting goals without Christian Maidana if they really want to make a run at the playoffs this season.