The Columbus Crew secured its second win of the young MLS season on Saturday night with a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Fire. Substitute Jacen Russell-Rowe opened the scoring for the Black & Gold before Chicago equalized just a few moments later. Fellow countryman and substitute Mo Farsi won all three points for the Crew deep into stoppage time with a rebound tap-in. It was another rotated lineup for Columbus, but Wilfried Nancy had Aidan Morris and Sean Zawadzki play different roles throughout the night to secure the win for the Black & Gold.
Let’s dive into the contest.
Morris’ positioning
Morris is known around MLS for being one of the best ball-winning central midfielders in the league. His ability to tackle and retain the ball is critical to how the Crew play as a team.
On Saturday though, his role shifted slightly. Morris cheated more toward the left side of the field than he usually does. On a typical night, he lines up alongside Darlington Nagbe in the center of the pitch. This time, he resorted to playing as a half-pivot near the left flank.
This move had a few different fallouts. Morris’ positioning as the pivot on the left side allowed Yaw Yeboah to push higher up the field and play more like a natural winger. Due to Morris occupying his former space, Yeboah was now one-on-one against Chicago’s outside defender. Those are the matchups that Nancy wants his team to find and exploit.
Morris setting up more on the left also allowed him to overlap Yeboah. This let Columbus diversify their attack and keep the Fire’s backline guessing at times.
Another thing to note is how the rest of the Black & Gold’s lineup catered to this new connection on the left side. Zawadzki and Max Arfsten pinched in towards the middle of the field to try and assist the overload of the left side.
Despite all the positive outcomes of this move, there were fallbacks too. Taking Morris out of the midfield left Nagbe alone. Chicago now had a numbers advantage, and it was difficult to get Nagbe involved in the game. This caused a lot of the Crew’s issues in building out of the back in the first half.
At times, Arfsten would move into the center of the field but never found his footing as a true central midfielder. This is why Columbus committed so many turnovers in the first half and allowed the Fire to create some good scoring chances.
All in all, it was not a bad move from Nancy. It did not impact the game as much as he hoped it would, but in the end, the Black & Gold came out with the victory.
Zawadzki’s versatility
There are not many positions on the field left that Zawadzki has not already played. In Columbus’ matchup with Chicago, the young jack of all trades filled in wherever he could.
At the beginning of the match, Zawadzki played as the right center back in Nancy’s three-or-five back defensive system. He was the bridge to Arfsten on the wing and extra support on the outside of Rudy Camacho.
At times he ventured up the pitch to join the attack, but in the first half, he mostly stayed in his positional place. That would all change in the second half.
After halftime, his role shifted in possession. He technically still played as the right center back, but he would move into a central midfield position on offense. This allowed Morris to stay as the half-pivot on the left and Nagbe now had help on the inside.
This simple change meant Columbus always kept Camacho and Malte Amundsen back on defense. Both wingbacks would still get forward along with Zawadzki and the rest of the midfielders.
Zawadzki’s ability to drive at defenses and connect with Nagbe and Morris made this move pay off. It left the Black & Gold a bit light on the back end, but it is a gamble that Nancy is not afraid to make.
Later in the second half Zawadzki moved again, this time back to the center back position in the middle of that back three. Derrick Jones came on for Camacho, sliding into Zawadzki’s former position in midfield. This meant the young American moved back to defense for the remainder of the match.
Zawadzki’s positional adaptability is something that the Crew will cherish down the stretch of this season. In a year with so many competitions, they will need a guy who can play two or three positions to fill in when needed. Both Zawadzki and Morris’ positional versatility contributed to Columbus winning this game.
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