The Columbus Crew rounded out their regular season with a road win over New York Red Bulls. This win not only cemented their spot as the second seed in the Eastern Conference, but it also set Columbus up with a best-of-three matchup against this same Red Bulls side. Wilfried Nancy threw out a half-rotated lineup for this game, but there were still major home field advantage implications at stake. AZ Jackson opened the scoring just minutes into the game before Yevhen Cheberko doubled the Black & Gold’s lead midway through the first half. New York fought back though, grabbing two second half goals to tie the game. In typical Crew fashion, they found a way to get the job done late. Malte Amundsen hit a low long-range effort to beat the goalkeeper, securing all three points for Columbus in stoppage time.
This game was a glimpse of the depth, adaptability and spirit the Black & Gold have. But it also gave fans a glimpse into what could potentially trip the Crew up in the postseason. Let’s dive into all the tactics that went into the final regular season game of the season.
Starting strong
Straight from the kickoff Columbus imposed their will on New York. Jackson scored the first goal inside two minutes, and the attacking clinic did not stop there.
Lots of what the Black & Gold did on offense had to do with the personnel on the field. The attacking front three of Jackson, Alexandru Matan and Cucho Hernandez lined up differently from how Hernandez would play with Diego Rossi and Christian Ramirez.
Both Matan and Jackson sat as dueling no. 10s underneath Hernandez. This new role meant that both players were free to drop deep to help build up or play high like they normally did in that fluid front three.
New York made it their goal early on to plug up the midfield. They set up in a 4-4-2 with a diamond in the midfield, but they pinched their outside midfielders to clamp down on Derrick Jones and Dylan Chambost.
This obviously did not deter the Crew, because they prefer to attack down the flanks anyways. Since the Red Bulls were so compact, Matan, Jackson and the wingbacks were afforded a lot of space out wide to create.
New York tried to combat the wide possession by shifting their formation towards the ball-side sideline. They did this hoping to trap Columbus against the sideline and create turnovers, but it did not work out the way they wanted it to.
When this overshift happened, the Black & Gold either overloaded that side and combined to break the press or switched it to the other side of the field. The backside centerback for the Crew often moved into the midfield to help these switches go across quicker.
After being under duress for the first ten minutes of the match, conceding several goalscoring chances and going down 1-0, the Red Bulls adapted. In the beginning of the match, they played a very resistant press, but still had five to six players high up the pitch. After the ten-minute mark, they began dropping eight to nine players back into a defensive shape.
For Columbus this meant they had more time on the ball in their opponent’s half, but they were facing a low block. Like always, Nancy had a plan and pushed one or both of the outside centerbacks forward.
Now the Black & Gold were attacking with eight to nine, making it hard on the New York defense to keep track of all the runners. On Cheberko’s goal, it is essentially a perfect storm of the Crew imposing their will and RBNY forgetting how to defend. Andres Reyes does not need to slide over on the right to help his outside back, but he does anyways. This opened up space for Cheberko, and when the midfielder does not track him there is a free path to goal.
That is just one example of why Columbus is so lethal in so many different ways. They can pull out defenses and force them to make mistakes, but they also have this ability to counter quickly. The pace of play is not where the offense stops either, because the Black & Gold can combine through the middle or whip crosses into the box to create chances.
Teams in the playoffs will need to figure out what parts of the offensive gameplan they want to take away to try and combat the Crew. This team is so versatile though, not just anyone can stop them.
How can the Crew be beaten?
This is the golden question that many teams in the Eastern Conference playoffs right now are trying to figure out. Of course, there is still Miami to worry about as the number one seed, but Columbus is not far behind, if behind at all, in terms of talent and danger. RBNY had success in the second half halting the Black & Gold offense and finding goals of their own for a few reasons.
The first was the substitution of Jones out for Jacen Russell-Rowe. Jones was the deterrent in the midfield for any New York counterattack coming the other way. A more defensive-minded midfielder, Jones did not often venture up the pitch into the attack. This gave Chambost, Amundsen and Cheberko more freedom to move up the field. So, when Nancy took him out of the game, he essentially lost that defensive safety valve in midfield.
The second was RBNY’s ramped up pressure. In the first half there was not much of any press at all from New York, but they decided to go for it in the second 45 to try and make the Crew uncomfortable.
The risk teams run when they press Columbus is the simple fact that they are pressuring the best on-the-ball team in MLS. That can be scary to overextend your team when your opponent is not scared of losing the ball. That same point is a double-edged sword for the Black & Gold.
Yes, there is a high chance the Crew will be able to put together dangerous counter opportunities where their opponent will have to play recovery defense. On the flip side though, Columbus tends to squander possession and get complacent, forcing passes and giving the ball up in really stupid ways.
If a team is able to effectively apply pressure to the Black & Gold and kill the counter, the Crew could be in trouble in an elimination game. Now, that is not to spell doom and gloom for a team that is arguably among the greatest in MLS history. Columbus has championship pedigree, mindset, talent and tactics for days, but they can be their own worst enemy at times. If the Black & Gold can avoid the self-inflicted wounds, play smart soccer and convert their chances, they will be in prime position to repeat this season
Commentaires