‘We failed in a lot of areas,’ Jim Curtin says of Union’s loss at Montreal

Jim Curtin’s sentiments Saturday night seemed all too familiar, to him as much as to everyone else. For the second time in three weeks, his Union team was on the receiving end of a 4-0 thumping, this time at the hands of the Montreal Impact at Stade Saputo.

Curtin tried to keep an eye on the positives of the season overall. He didn’t tear into his players, or call anyone out individually. It’s never been his style, and if you’re waiting for him to blow a gasket for theater’s sake, you’re wasting your time.

But he knew this game -- the Union’s 7th all-time loss in 10 trips to Montreal, for the record -- wasn’t one for sugarcoating.

“We do have to stay a little bit positive, as hard as it is tonight to lose, and the way we lost hurts,” Curtin told reporters after the final whistle. “We failed in a lot of areas tonight: coaches, players, everybody came up small.”

It may seem obvious to say that the Union’s defense was more at fault than the offense, but it bears saying. There were stretches of the game, especially in the first half, when the Union played the better soccer. That wasn’t talked about at the end, though, and it shouldn’t have been.

“We have to stop leaking goals," Curtin said. “The way we’re giving them away is too easy. If teams earn it and make a great play, you can kind of tip your cap and say okay, I can live with that, but when we’re passing balls directly to them and it’s leading to breakaways in midfield, I have a tough time.”

If there is something for Union fans to hang their hats on, it’s that the team hasn’t lost consecutive games since the first two games of the year - and perhaps not coincidentally, Jamiro Monteiro wasn’t on board yet. The Union have lost just five of their last 19 league games, including Saturday, and followed three of them with some of their most important wins of the year: home vs. Montreal on April 20, at Orlando on July 4 and home vs. Chicago last weekend.

But with a trip to Wayne Rooney’s D.C. United up next, you’re forgiven if you choose to hold on to your hat instead. The playoff race starts for real now, and the course looks increasingly treacherous.