Anton Tinnerholm: “It’s not good enough.” (Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports)

CHESTER, Pa. — New York City FC has turned into the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of Major League Soccer.

The team plays relatively well in the first half, but loses it in the second half.

City paid for it in a 2-0 defeat at the Philadelphia Union Saturday night.

“In the second half of the last three games, we are in trouble,” NYCFC head coach Domenec Torrent said. “We have to improve.”

Added defender Anton Tinnerholm: “It’s not good enough. They created some chances and score, so the second half wasn’t good enough. Sometimes you have to give credit to the opponent as well.”

Goalkeeper Sean Johnson wasn’t about to push any panic buttons, despite the subpar performance.

“It’s not the end of the world losing a game,” he said. “It’s not the first game we’ve lost this year, so I don’t think there is any real reason to panic at this point. I know we’ve won at lot of games this season, so when we do lose, it’s not something we’re used to. Us as players, we’re disappointed, we hate losing, especially with the quality of the team we have.”

Still, NYCFC continued to experience defensive problems on the road.

“This week we practiced a lot our defensive line,” Torrent said. “We didn’t play bad in the first half with our defense. In the first half it was okay. We missed a lot of close chances. When that happens in football you can lose the game. We have to be more clinical when we have the ball in the six-yard box and we have to defend well, especially in the second half.”

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.