The Union have lost the title of a ‘dangerous team.’ Jim Curtin is urging his group to find it.

Jim Curtin has an extremely eloquent way of sounding completely frustrated.

Following a scoreless draw against Toronto FC, one that has the Union (4-4-7, 19 points) on a five-game winless streak at Subaru Park on a rain-soaked night full of uninspiring offense, the Union manager took the podium postgame and delivered the honest truth. That when it comes to the course of this season — it would appear that when it rains, it most definitely pours.

“Again, it’s a tough night and a tie [that] feels like a loss when we’re at home,” Curtin said Wednesday. “You know [that we as a] coaching staff try to put a positive twist on things and say, ‘We’ve kept some clean sheets now in consecutive games, in three games,’ which is good. But we have to hit the back of the net, and that has to start on Saturday against Montreal before the international break.”

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It’s true that while the Union haven’t necessarily been losing games, they haven’t been winning any, either. Sure, a 3-0 win in New England on May 18 was three points in the right direction, but there are no style points for a result in which the Union had a man advantage against an Eastern Conference bottom-feeder because of a red card early in the match.

Curtin even admitted as much postgame.

“Sure, we’re not conceding — but we’re not really creating a ton,” he said. “You know, we scored the three goals against New England, but let’s be honest: they’re down. They’re down a man early in the game. So it’s too extreme.”

That win was on the road, too. You’d have to go back to two months ago, yep, March 30 against Minnesota United, for the last time the club celebrated a league win at home. They’ll get an opportunity against another Canadian foe when CF Montreal comes to Chester on Saturday (7:30 p.m., Apple TV, MLS Season Pass).

One thing Curtin said that stuck out during the nearly 13-minute postgame exchange with reporters is how this Union collective is “nervous at home to make mistakes,” and that he was urging his team to “be brave.”

“Overall, [we were] not dangerous enough on the night, not scary enough,” Curtin said. “Obviously, it’s a positive to keep a clean sheet, as we’ve been leaking a lot of goals at home, but at the same time, we have to find a balance of, you know, being a little bit more brave. ...

“And that’s not a way for us to play, you know? Anytime you don’t get three points at home, it’s not acceptable.”

It was a statement he didn’t get a chance to elaborate on, after questions about Jack McGlynn’s work rate and the absence of forward Julián Carranza ultimately changed the subject. But in that early diatribe, the frustration of a locker room, a front office, and a franchise was evident through the one man employed to steer the luxury liner into calmer waters.

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“The frustrating part for me, and this is not a knock on the league at all, but it hasn’t been a year where you sit there and you go, ‘Wow, we got we got played off the field,’” Curtin said. “You know [those games when] we weren’t even close and you tip your cap [to the other team] and you go, ‘That was impressive.’ That’s happened before in the past. But this year, some of the games, we were in them, but we’re not doing that little bit extra to turn the luck our way. That’s what hurts the most.”

With rumors swirling around a possible departure of Carranza to Dutch club Feyenoord at the end of the season, the timing of his absence was interesting, considering that the Argentine wasn’t even on the game-day roster against Toronto.

But it’s not because he wants out, but more because according to Curtin, he asked if he could sit out to rest an apparent foot injury suffered in Saturday’s game in Charlotte — a knock he exacerbated during Tuesday’s training session.

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Carranza, who is earning $1 million this season, is a free agent at the end of the season and eager to get on the radar of Argentina’s coaching staff ahead of the 2026 World Cup. Even Curtin thinks that if that’s the goal, leaving MLS gives Carranza the greatest chance to do so.

But not Wednesday night. In fact, Curtin sounded hopeful to have him back for Saturday’s game against Montreal.

“I know you guys read all the transfer rumors and that kind of stuff, but, no, Julián has a real knock,” Curtin said. “I’d tell you the truth, trust me. Because if he was gone, I’d tell you that, too. There’s nothing for me to lie about. But he’s still our player at least until the rest of the year. The hope is he’s fine for Saturday. We’ll see. He’ll get treatment. Hopefully, he responds well to the treatment. He was in getting treatment earlier today, and [I] talked with them then. It’s not bad, but it didn’t feel good enough to go tonight.”