By Will Kuhns in Washington, D.C. Seeing fans call for his coach’s dismissal did not seem fair to D.C. United forward Jaime Moreno. The perennial all-star feels there are too many other factors to blame for the team’s five-game losing streak, which ended Wednesday night with a 2-1 victory over the MetroStars. “At the end of the day, Thomas doesn’t go on the field,” Moreno said. “He puts the players on the field, and maybe people are not happy with the players he chooses, but that’s his job. It’s up to us, the players, to win the game.” Moreno, who underwent knee surgery in January and missed the team’s first two games, believes that the nagging health concerns among the team’s veteran players affected the early results. Defender Eddie Pope began the season with a sprained toe and missed two games, goalkeeper Mike Ammann sat out the opener with a hamstring strain, midfielder Marco Etcheverry has been tormented by a sprained toe most of the season and Moreno’s knee is not yet at full strength. “If the veterans were all at 100 percent, it might be a different story right now, but we have to live with that,” Moreno said. Even with the injuries, Moreno thinks that the older players should be asserting their leadership more, especially since offseason trades made United such a young team. “The experienced players need to step it up a little bit more and show the younger guys the way to win,” Moreno said. “We know we are going to make mistakes but we cannot make mistakes and then not give 100 percent.” The team has played well and even dominated teams during stretches of this season, but the combination of missed scoring chances and defensive letdowns dropped United to the bottom of the Eastern Division standings. The low point was a 3-0 loss in Dallas last Saturday, which Rongen termed “disgraceful.” Including overtime, United had allowed eight goals after the 75th minute mark this season. Against the MetroStars Wednesday, there was no late lapse in concentration, not even after a red card to Jose Alegria put D.C. down a man for the final eight minutes. Instead, goals by Moreno and Abdul Thompson Conteh stood up to give D.C. the victory. “I guess everybody’s getting angrier and more confident, putting excuses aside and playing together,” Moreno said. “That’s what we need. This is a good win for us.”