The Columbus Crew split the team’s last two games. The Crew won at home 2-0 against a dismal Toronto FC squad before going on the road to fall 2-0 to the Houston Dynamo in the Texas heat.
Despite head coach Wilfried Nancy rotating his team for the game in Houston, the Black & Gold used similar tactics in both games. The style of play in both matches yielded different results.
Let’s dive into what tactical choices Nancy made.
A fluid front three
With the addition of forward Diego Rossi, Columbus is more versatile in the attacking half than before. When midfielder Lucas Zelarayan played, he was a true No. 10 with forwards Cucho Hernandez and Christian Ramirez playing as No. 9s. Hernandez dropped deeper at ties and had a sense of free roaming to his game, but it was a more structured front three.
With Rossi now inserted into the lineup, the attacking front three has become more fluid. The Uruguayan is multi-faceted and can play as a striker, attacking midfielder or winger if needed. Nancy has allowed his attackers to have a sense of freedom about their positioning, with general guidelines on where they start on the pitch.
Out of the gate against Toronto, Ramirez and Hernandez started as strikers, with Rossi playing underneath as a No. 10, but that soon changed. Rossi was a bombarding attacking midfielder, meaning he likes to make runs in behind the defense like a striker. Once he vacated the attacking midfielders’ space, Hernandez dropped and picked up the role of a No. 10. Ramirez roamed up top, but was mostly side-to-side instead of dropping deeper like a midfielder.
This is why the Black & Gold’s attack was so hard to pin down with these three on the field. Opposing teams can’t lock down one area of the pitch that they think Rossi or Hernandez will be in because the South Americans will just recognize that and move into space. If the Columbus attackers can find the open space, the midfield duo of Darlington Nagbe and Aidan Morris will play to their feet and allow them to either turn or pass quickly. This is why the Crew continues to be exciting and score so many goals.
Of course, against Houston with a rotated squad, the Black & Gold lost some of that versatility. Attacking midfielder Alexandru Matan and forward Jacen Russell-Rowe are talented young players, but they are set positionally as a No. 10 and No. 9 respectively. The transition across the pitch to be able to take up different positions has not quite developed for them, which is part of the reason why Columbus struggled on Wednesday.
For only being in the first season of the Nancy era, the Crew attack looks as potent as ever. It will only continue to get more dangerous as that front three builds more chemistry.
Columbus’ pressing aiding the possession
The entire league knows that the Crew loves to have possession. In fact, Columbus leads the league in possession at 57 percent. This high rate of possession helps the Black & Gold create good chances and break an opponent down, but it’s largely due to their press.
Columbus is a high-possession team that plays a high defensive line because the team likes to press. This is not an all-out press like the New York Red Bulls, it’s a methodical pressure that makes an opponent sweat.
This press starts with the front three. The attackers take away and man mark most of the defenders in a resisted press. This means they will play off by about 19 yards until they get the ball, which at that point the Crew pushes up. Behind these attacker, the two central midfielders mark the cutoff opponents. This typically is the other team’s midfielders. The Black & Gold want to take away any split balls that can make their way into the midfielders.
Columbus’ wing backs will push high to mark either the opposing outside backs or dropping wingers. Typically, a lone center back may move up to mark a stray midfielder or winger, leaving two center backs dropped at all times. These two remaining center backs mark the striker.
How does this relate to possession? The idea behind the press is to take away all of the opponent’s “comfort options” and force them to play dangerous passes to get out of their defensive half. The Crew takes away the easy, short and split passes as much as the team can and attempts to make the opponent go long to the striker.
This worked well against Toronto on Saturday. The Canadian side could not find a sustainable way to play through the Black & Gold’s press, so TF had to play the ball long for the striker. The two center backs marking that striker had a numbers advantage and be able to win the ball.
Once Columbus won the ball back, the Crew already had most of their players high up the field from the previous press. Then the Black & Gold can either try to counter quickly while the opposing defense is regrouping or opt to start possessing at a high volume in the attacking half.
This press has been the pinnacle of Nancy’s defensive structure. Even though it does have some pitfalls (getting overextended and outnumbered on the break), it has worked really well for Columbus.
Steven Moreira, the midfielder
Moreira wears many hats for the Crew and has since he came to the Black & Gold. The Frenchman started as a right back but was moved to center back this season in Nancy’s three-center-back system. He is multifaceted, but over the past few games, he moved into the midfield more than he has much of the year.
Make no mistake, Moreira’s true position is right center back, but on offense, he regularly moved into the midfield. This could be a result of Columbus going down a goal early in the match against Houston, but this move played a specific role on the offensive side.
In a recent tactical review, it was highlighted how Nagbe tends to shift over to the right side to be a connecter to wing back Julian Gressel. Against the Dynamo, Gressel didn’t start, but Moreira bridged the gap between the middle of the field and his replacement, Mohamed Farsi. By Moreira shifting into midfield on the right side, Nagbe was able to step up higher into attacking spaces and be another option on the inside.
This left the Crew more vulnerable at the back, but at team has to take risks when chasing the game and Moreira has proven to be an offensive contributor.
As the Black & Gold moved higher up the field, so did the Frenchman. At one point, he waited for a cross at the top of the penalty box like an attacking midfielder, This is the brand of soccer Nancy wants to endorse. It’s not positionless, but a free-flowing offensive buildup that varies on the opponent’s condition.
If Moreira sees and opening to join the attack, he has full authorization to get up the pitch. It may not happen every week, but Moreira may be hunting for more goals in the future.
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