The Columbus Crew secured a win at home against Eastern Conference foes Inter Miami to gain a vital three points in the playoff race. A lone Luis Diaz goal and a solid defensive stand led by Milos Degenek and Eloy Room gave the Black & Gold the edge in the end. Despite missing star player Lucas Zelarayan, the team had an overall better showing compared to recent matches and controlled the pace during stretches of the game. Caleb Porter and the coaching staff made a few tweaks to their system for this home stand that resulted in Columbus emerging victorious in the end. Let’s dive in.
Committing more players in the attack
Possibly one of the most positive things from this game was the way the Crew went forward in attack. Granted, this was not a game that Columbus should have won by 4 goals, but they kept Miami under pressure throughout the contest. One of the ways they did this was by throwing more men forward in attack.
The biggest example of this was the way that Steven Moreira and Will Sands joined in the attacking fun. Often times the wingbacks would fly up the field alongside the wingers, but instead of going outside by the touchline, they tucked infield and let Luis Diaz and Derrick Etienne occupy the wide areas.
This tweak gave the two midfielders who also joined the attack multiple options to spread the ball around and try to find the attacking angle. Having all these options to pass to also allowed the Crew to possess in Miami’s half of the pitch, taking the pressure off of Milos Degenek and Jonathan Mensah to swing the ball around.
The magic number for the Black & Gold was seven. Seven was the number of players that Columbus would typically push forward in the attack. The front three along with the wing backs and two of the midfielders created problems for Inter Miami, and also played a vital role by keeping the away side away from Eloy Room and the Crew goal.
The “revolving door” midfield
It is a rare occasion when Crew fans get to see a midfield trio without Columbus’ beloved number 10 apart of the group. This became reality on Wednesday night thought, when Lucas Zelarayan picked up a pre match knock and was scratched from the starting lineup.
Though the Black & Gold were missing their top playmaker, the trio of Darlington Nagbe, Artur, and Aidan Morris filled in perfectly, but in a unique way that we had not seen before.
None of the three midfielders are a true attacking midfield player like Lucas Zelarayan, so instead of sticking each particular player to a set position, Caleb Porter opted for what I like to call a “revolving door” midfield. This is a style of play that allows the midfielders to create and fill in whenever the others are out of position
For example, when Aiden Morris would do his workhorse thing and go press an opposing player high up the pitch, Artur or Nagbe would slide into his “set position” to fill in for him. Once Morris recovers back, he would then slide into whatever position was vacated by the other midfielder.
This is the reason why fans would sometimes see Darlington Nagbe sitting deep one moment, and then five minutes later he would be up at the edge of the box. This isn’t a tactical instruction from Caleb Porter, it is more or less him telling his midfield to play freely, but to also communicate and fill in for each other.
The call worked out, because the Black & Gold midfield was all over the pitch and was a rock-solid trio throughout the night. This was essential in Columbus’ quest to secure all three points.
Refreshed pressing
Over the course of 27 games Crew fans have seen a lot of variations of pressing from the Black & Gold. If you look back over previous Tactical Reviews it is something that I tend to highlight a lot, because it is so incredibly important and subject to lots of change.
This game was no different, with Columbus pressing in a different formation than the one they set up in at the beginning.
Caleb Porter came out of the gate in a 4-3-3, but quickly his pressing formation morphed into a 4-1-4-1 or sometimes a 4-5-1. The back four would stay back to eat up any long balls sent forward to get past the press while the one defensive midfielder would mark the “split man” so Miami couldn’t counter. The other two midfielders and the two wingers would form a line of four and man mark any midfielders or wingbacks who tried to get the ball to feet. This is why Aiden Morris and Artur were so high up the pitch at times comparative to recent matches.
Finally, Cucho Hernandez would hold down the fort up top, chasing the ball all across the pitch. He didn’t have the ferocity he had in the Cincinnati game, but he still provided good pressure and forced mistakes from Miami.
The foundation of a good game plan is set on how effective you can be in making the other team uncomfortable. Caleb Porter and his coaching staff hit the nail on the head this game, not letting Miami get any hold on the game throughout.
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