The Columbus Crew tied yet again on. Friday night, blowing a two-goal lead in stoppage time after a Luis Diaz red card forced the Black & Gold down to ten men. While this isn’t the worst result the Crew could have hoped for, the squad will be left frustrated with the way that they let a two goal lead slip away in the dying moments of the match. Columbus had a distinct game plan of how to attack Montreal that had its pros and cons, but in the end only yielded the Crew a point. Let’s dive in.
Columbus constantly pressing high
We’ve seen many variations of pressing from Columbus this season, but the type of press employed on Friday night was unique.
Caleb Porter knew going into this game that Montreal was an incredibly dangerous team, especially when they get high up the field and can make a defense pay by utilizing their wingbacks. The home side likes to lineup in a 5-3-2 with two wingbacks that will run the length of the pitch to attack and defend.
The Black & Gold countered this danger by trying to put Montreal under as much pressure as possible, so they did not get the opportunity to build into Columbus territory. This meant the Crew sent as many as eight men in the press to force Montreal into bad passes and turnovers.
The good part about this strategy was that when Columbus did get turnovers, they were in a dangerous part of the pitch to strike quickly. The press had many layers that had to go right if the press was going to work.
The Black & Gold would send Cucho Hernandez and Lucas Zelarayan high to pressure the middle center back and goalkeeper for Montreal. Wingers Luis Diaz and Derrick Etienne were assigned to mark the other two outside center backs while Will Sands and Steven Moreira would take away the Montreal wingbacks.
Finally, Aidan Morris and Darlington Nagbe were tasked with man marking the opposing midfielders, so the press could not be split and broken by one pass. Depending on what side of the pitch the ball was, Nagbe and Morris would mark the near-side midfielders so the only midfielder unmarked would be far across the field. It was typically Morris who tracked the checking players and racked up the interceptions on the night, turning defense into offense for Columbus.
The downside of playing this type of pressing is that if Montreal does break out, it is a favorable counter chance and incredibly dangerous for the Crew. Columbus performed well in these situations defensively, backed by a big night from Eloy Room. The goals for Montreal would eventually come when the Black & Gold were backed up and down a man late in the second half.
Short set pieces finally pay off
A coach’s dream is when their team scores off a set piece that was designed on the training ground, which is exactly what the Crew did on Friday night.
The ball started with Lucas Zelarayan who played a pass short to his right to Aiden Morris. Morris then repeated the action finding Luis Diaz near the right corner of the box. Steven Moreira then came streaking on the overlap and played a perfect looping cross to Jonathan Mensah who headed the ball home to give the Crew the lead on the night.
Columbus started taking most of their set pieces short a few games ago. Until now it had not yielded a goal, but short set pieces do have their advantages.
Firstly, it can confuse the opposing defense if they do not communicate. When the ball gets played short this requires defenders to leave their marks and push up towards the ball, then the goalkeeper and defense has to sort out marks again while also being worried about an impending shot or attack. Playing the ball short draws the defense out to combat the shot, but then the attacking options open up depending on what the defense does.
Secondly, it opens up options for the attacking team. Whether Lucas Zelarayan decides to cross the ball or take a shot from a dead ball situation, the defense is already set up to defend against both. When the Crew decide to play the ball short, now the ball is live and suddenly passing and shooting options open up from multiple players, not just Lucas Zelarayan. Nobody thought Steven Moreira would get an assist when Columbus lined up to take the free kick because he was out of the play, but with a few quick passes he was in a prime position to play the ball to Jonathan Mensah’s head.
Defending the lead with ten men
Here is where the Crew failed on Friday night. In a game that they were comfortably up in a Luis Diaz red card suddenly forced Columbus to be on the back foot.
Caleb Porter made a few personnel changes to ensure the Black & Gold would see out the draw, but it might have been the Crew’s downfall. Porter elected to go ultra-defensive in the 80th minute when he brought on Josh Williams and Artur. This moved the Crew into a 5-3-1 with three defensive midfielders and Cucho Hernandez up top to stretch the defense.
Porter’s share of the blame came when he took Cucho Hernandez out in the 83rd minute for Erik Hurtado. Hernandez offers a plethora of things in this situation for Columbus. First off, he puts in the work defensively. The Colombian will track back deep into his own half numerous times to win the ball back and is relentless in his pressing, while during Montreal’s first goal Erik Hurtado was caught ball watching as the home side switched the ball to the winger who would provide the assist for Canadian side. Cucho Hernandez also would keep Montreal’s defense honest, threatening with a speed and skillset that, with all due respect to him, Erik Hurtado does not have. It cost the Crew, mightily.
The second problem on the night was Columbus’ focus in stepping out and marking up players. The first goal for Montreal is created because a late runner towards the box is not picked up and then Darlington Nagbe is too late to step out. This leads to a shot at the top of the box and a favorable deflection off of Victor Wanyama. 2-1. On the second goal, Erik Hurtado does not chase down the play, Artur is late to step out, shot goes through bodies and gets deflected into the back of the net. 2-2.
The moral of the story is Columbus is lazily defending in situations that matter the most, and that’s the reason this team can’t secure three points consistently.
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