Jim Curtin knows he needs to get the Union’s attack back in gear this week

If you thought the second half of the Union’s 1-1 tie with Montreal on Saturday was boring, well …

“That second half was boring, to be blunt” Union manager Jim Curtin said afterward. “For both teams.”

It perhaps was supposed to be that way for Montreal, whose manager Wilfried Nancy was pleased to leave town with a point.

“Playing in Philadelphia is never easy,” he said, a compliment that plenty of Subaru Park regulars will accept.

But it wasn’t supposed to be that way for the Union. Curtin was just as blunt on that point, too, when he said that recording just two shots on goal “isn’t enough in our home stadium.”

So was Dániel Gazdag, who said, “In the second half, we just didn’t play good enough.”

» READ MORE: Union lack attacking spark in 1-1 tie with Montréal

The question for this week is what to do about it. And it’s not a good week to have to do something, because the Union’s next game is at Nashville — not just the teams’ first meeting since last year’s playoffs, but the opening game of the Music City’s new 30,000-seat soccer fortress, GEODIS Park. That will not be an opportunity for Gazdag and company to play lots of proactive, attacking soccer.

But the Union need to put the work in anyway. It’s now been three straight games that they’ve scored just one goal, and only once did the goal come from a Union player in open play.

“Things we need to work on: our movement again, getting used to the timing of movement, the runs that we make,” Curtin said. “Sometimes it’s in behind, sometimes it’s to come off the centerbacks to create a different situation. Sometimes we need to create more layers of players, to not just all be in one straight line up on the front line.”

The pieces to assemble are clear. Even the most frustrated fans awaiting Mikael Uhre’s first Union goal can see that. But every time the Union got the ball into dangerous attacking positions, the charges forward fizzled out amid Montreal’s packed defense.

“When I talk about the attack improving, you know, that includes our outside backs joining at the right time; that includes our No. 8′s joining at the right time; that includes José [Andrés Martínez] playing through the lines more often to find Dániel,” Curtin said. “So it’s everybody that needs to be a little bit sharper. … In practice we’re executing, but now it’s a whole different story when you have an opponent wearing a different jersey that is hungry to prevent goals, too.”

The reference to outside backs was significant. Curtin admitted he thought about bringing in Olivier Mbaizo for Nathan Harriel during the second half, but wasn’t willing to risk Mbaizo as a defensive liability.

As an attacking threat, though, Mbaizo’s ability to break down a defense on the right wing was needed. And it might not have needed to be as a right back. What about a switch to a 4-2-3-1, as the Union used to do late in games with Ilsinho, to force opponents to suddenly have to play against a different style?

“Olivier is a great player — I have no doubt he’ll be back contributing soon to the group — and there’s multiple spots he can play,” Curtin said. “We have to find a way to to get him to help us and join into improving the team as a whole on the attack.”

Curtin has been reluctant lately to make any changes to his team’s regular rhythm, most notably still using Jack McGlynn as a late-game substitute — and using Paxten Aaronson as an even-later-game substitute.

But Saturday’s game was more evidence that some refreshing is in order. Curtin saw it, admitted it afterward, and now is tasked with making it happen.

» READ MORE: The Union’s Olivier Mbaizo dreams of the World Cup after being part of Cameroon’s qualification