The Union’s Leon Flach is playing better lately. Here’s why.

If you think Leon Flach has been playing better for the Union lately, you aren’t alone. He does, too.

Flach had a poor game at the New York Red Bulls at the start of the month, highlighted — or perhaps lowlighted — by a 14-of-24 passing display.

In the Union’s three regular-season games since then, he has completed 15 of 17 at Colorado, 27 of 30 at home vs. D.C. United, and 16 of 19 at home against New England. He also connected on 21 of 23 passes as a substitute in the team’s U.S. Open Cup game at Minnesota United.

The truth is that Flach wasn’t doing all that bad as a passer in February, March, or April, either. His 76.2% pass completion rate in regular-season games this year is slightly down from last year (76.8%), and up from 2021 (74.2%).

But Jack McGlynn was so good, and contributed more to the attack, that he really stood out.

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Flach, who was born in Texas but grew up in Germany, gets that. His strengths have always been more on the defensive side of the ball. He has gotten better at helping the attack, though, and the Union’s formation changes in those games seem to have helped.

In the Red Bulls and Minnesota games, Flach played at the bottom of the Union’s traditional four-man diamond midfield in José Andrés Martínez’s normal spot. It can be a lonely shift, since the central midfielders are ahead of you and can be cut off by opposing teams that know how to jam the Union’s setup.

Then a team like the Red Bulls that presses as much as the Union does will chase to try to force turnovers. Minnesota doesn’t play that way, and when that game went to extra time, the dynamic was different because everyone was tired.

Against Colorado, Union manager Jim Curtin rolled out a much-anticipated 3-5-2 setup. Flach was flanked by McGlynn on his left and Alejandro Bedoya on his right, and they were all based in the same line of play. That meant Flach’s passing outlets were closer to him.

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Against D.C., Curtin went with a 4-3-2-1. That changed the back line and front line, but Flach’s role was similar: on a line with Matt Real to his left and Bedoya to his right.

Curtin then went back to the 3-5-2 against New England but tweaked it a little, lining up Martínez next to Flach and giving Dániel Gazdag a playmaking role in front of them.

“It depends a lot on the game, but that’s true,” said the 22-year-old Flach. “You have maybe a little bit more people around you, especially when, for example, you also have the chance to maybe make a switch [pass] from one side to the other.”

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The helping referred to above doesn’t necessarily mean creating scoring chances or providing assists — or even getting the ball into the attacking third of the field. Flach’s tallies in the last of those stats haven’t changed much in recent weeks.

Sometimes it’s as simple as getting the ball effectively to someone else who gets the attack going, such as McGlynn or Gazdag. But one play in the New England game really stood out for Flach’s desire to get the ball going forward.

In the 27th minute, Flach received the ball from Gazdag deep in Union territory, then hit a nifty pass over the top of the Revolution’s midfield to Martínez. He was in the open field, took off down the right side, then sent a pinpoint cross to Julián Carranza for a header that forced a strong save from Djordje Petrovic.

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“I wanted the ball. I was ready for the ball, instead of just — it sounds stupid, but — not hoping, maybe, to get the ball in a situation where we have pressure,” Flach said. “But I saw José, I was standing for the ball. … It was also a good job from José just to carry the ball and make a good cross. A team effort.”

Flach said he feels more empowered to join attacking phases of play in a 3-5-2 because having three centerbacks behind him instead of two provides an extra level of solidity.

“I can be aggressive — it’s more like the No. 6 position [in a 4-4-2], but you also have the freedom to run into the box,” he said. “You feel really safe with those three guys at your back.”

The three-centerback setup also lets outside backs Kai Wagner and Olivier Mbaizo get forward more, which forces opposing defenses to deal with them. Flach said that has given him more space to work in.

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Sometimes, it’s that the Union are just doing something different from a setup they’ve used for years.

“I think it’s normal that a lot of teams, they know we play the diamond, they make their game plan accordingly,” Flach said. “So I think we surprise some teams.”

And sometimes, it’s one of the simplest reasons of all.

“It’s also a thing of confidence if I’m honest,” Flach said. “If you’re confident, you play different passes, you have the feeling you have more time or space.”

They’ve varied things up so much lately that it’s less easy to guess how they’ll play in Saturday’s visit to rival New York City FC at Citi Field, the Union’s first trip there (7:30 p.m., Apple TV, paywalled).

NYCFC has shifted some games from Yankee Stadium to the Mets’ home this year because of scheduling conflicts. The 2021 MLS Cup champions will soon start construction on a new soccer stadium in Queens, across the street from Citi Field’s right-field stands, with the aim of opening it in 2027.

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