The Columbus Crew bounced back from their loss against Inter Miami to face the Philadelphia Union at home on Saturday. It did not take long for the scoring to start, with Cucho Hernandez heading in a Dylan Chambost-delivered corner to put Columbus up 1-0. The Union would find the equalizer off a rebound, but Mo Farsi put the Black & Gold back ahead just before halftime. Hernandez seemingly iced the game in the 76th minute with another header off a corner, but Philadelphia pulled one back to make the ending interesting. When the final whistle blew, the Crew secured all three points. With this win, Columbus set a single-season points record with 60, passing the previous record total of 57.
This game was yet another chess match between these two squads. The Black & Gold figured out how to attack Philadelphia’s weaknesses and that gave them a foothold in this match. On the other hand, sloppy mistakes gifted the Union two goals and made the Crew work all the way to the finish. Let’s dive into all the tactics that went into Columbus’ record-setting victory.
Attacking Philadelphia’s narrow midfield
Much like the game against Miami, the way Philadelphia set up their midfield gave the Black & Gold an avenue to attack. The Union would adapt throughout the game, but no matter what they did the Crew had a plan.
The Philadelphia defense set up in a 4-3-3, a very balanced formation that allowed adequate pressure along with defensive stability. The visitors chose not to press Columbus high up the field, but rather went with a more resisted press. This meant that they were triggered by certain passes the Black & Gold would make.
For example, if the Crew were being forced to play back to Patrick Schulte or a centerback, the Philadelphia defense saw that as an opportunity to press high. If Columbus had the ball with Yevhen Cheberko in the middle of the defense, there was little to no pressure at all. The Union would also press at times when a pass was played to an outside centerback, but those pressures did not usually cause any turnovers.
This meant the Black & Gold had more time on the ball than they did for a large portion of the Miami match. This time allowed them to methodically break down the Philadelphia defense and find space to exploit.
That space to exploit was in the outside channels where the Union midfielders could not get out to. Because Philadelphia defended in a 4-3-3, they had to choose whether to make their midfield compact or spaced. If they spaced their midfield out, there would be pockets inside that central players like Diego Rossi and Chambost could exploit. If they defended compact, the same space would be out wide in front of the outside backs.
For a large portion of the match, Philadelphia opted to defend compact. With the Crew’s width in the attacking third, this posed problems for the defense. The Union slid their whole midfield to one side, to defend the ball on that same side. A simple switch from Columbus made Philadelphia’s mids cross the entire field to defend the other side.
This action of switching the ball was where the Black & Gold could get creative. When that switch came, they had a few options.
The first was to simply get the ball on the switch and attack down the line. Often times it would be the outside centerback or dropping attacker receiving the ball. Then they had the option to combine with the high wingback or nearside attacker and go from there.
The second was to play quickly into the center of the pitch. Because the midfielders were still shifting, there were tiny pockets where a threaded pass could unlock the defense. The Union defenders were all over the dropping attackers by man marking them for the entire match, so this action did not happen much.
The final option was to do another long switch to catch the defense in an overshifts. If the three looks were covered, Columbus simply could recycle the ball through their defense and start over from the back.
These movements gave Philadelphia fits all night, causing the Union to adjust. At one point, the visitors widened their midfield to try and close down those channels. When this happened, Rossi, Hernandez and other attackers were able to receive the ball centrally and combine, pulling out the man marking defenders. If the Philadelphia midfield spread out, Farsi would often cut inside as well, because that is where the space was now.
These adjustments by the Black & Gold generated the attacking chances they needed to net three goals. The tactical genius of the players on the pitch and Wilfried Nancy to adapt to Philadelphia’s defense was what won this game for the Crew.
Columbus’ sloppy defensive mistakes
As I’ve said before, the Black & Gold’s worst enemy is themselves. It has become a trend for the Crew team to give up goals that were self-inflicted. Whether it is off a bad turnover or just a poor decision, Columbus needs to learn how to recognize the situation.
The first goal was not as bad of an egregious mistake as others we have seen in the past. Cheberko makes a poor challenge on the edge of the box, just days after Schulte struggled to set up his wall on a Lionel Messi freekick goal from a similar area. Schulte makes the save, but the rebound is put away to tie the game.
Giving away fouls is not a problem when you are playing transition defense, but Cheberko needed to do better there. He had support from another defender around the attacker, so all he had to do was make the attacker uncomfortable. Instead, he dives in and gives away a dangerous freekick that earned the Union a goal.
Let’s go further back though. This whole action starts in the midfield off a rare Darlington Nagbe turnover. The way that the Black & Gold like to play does not permit them to turn the ball over in the middle of the pitch. With how many players the Crew commit forward, it was easy to be caught out if you give the ball away.
The pervasive issue in this case is when Columbus players get too comfortable on the ball. Against Miami, the visitors were able to get back into the game when they changed the tempo of their press. The Black & Gold did not adapt, and it allowed Miami to build a two-goal lead.
The biggest thing for the Crew right now is to keep their foot on the gas when they are dominating teams. The moment they get comfortable, it just takes one turnover to spark an attack and even the game.
On the Union’s second goal, the sloppiness was even worse. Malte Amundsen did a great job to win the ball and play it out of pressure. A pass from Derrick Jones to AZ Jackson seemingly got Columbus out of pressure, until Jackson tried to cheekily flick it around the Philadelphia defender and lost the ball. At this point the Black & Gold defense was out of position trying to move up and support Jackson, which allowed the Union to strike back quickly.
The big talking point this week was how Nancy decided to pull Jackson from the game after only a few minutes on the pitch, but that choice from Nancy was correct. The French manager wants his players to play with freedom, which allows the team to play a brand of free-flowing, beautiful soccer. That does not permit players to pull off stupid flicks and tricks that land their team in a tough situation.
Jackson should have played it back to a defender that was moving up or taken a simple touch around the defender and draw the foul. There was no need for a flick there, especially in the middle of the pitch with your defense in a precarious position.
Going into the playoffs, this will be the talking point: Will the Crew clean up their mistakes? This is one of the best teams MLS has seen, looking to repeat as champions. They have the firepower, the defensive stability and the coaching, but they need to play disciplined when the pressure is on. If Columbus can play disciplined, beautiful soccer, they will be a force to be reckoned with. If they cannot get out of their own way, they may pay for it down the line.
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