Crew tactical review: Columbus draws round one of the Trillium Cup

The Columbus Crew returned to MLS action on Saturday, travelling north of the border for a Trillium Cup match against Toronto FC. Early on, it looked like the Black & Gold would end up having their way after Diego Rossi opened the scoring inside of ten minutes. The Crew held onto control throughout the lion share of the rest of the game but were unable to double their advantage before Toronto caught the Columbus defense napping to even the game. Daniel Gazdag seemingly got onto the scoresheet to give the Black & Gold the lead again, but a suspect offside review overturned what would have been the Hungarian’s first goal from the run of play for the Crew. In the end, Columbus walked away with the points shared and another collapse against inferior opposition.

In a game that offered an opportunity to gain some momentum heading into the home stretch of the season, let’s dive into all the tactics that netted the Black & Gold a point.

It’s all about the outside center backs

The key to this game for the Crew was the outside center backs. Every offensive movement depended on where the outside centerbacks ended up, and what runs the other players could make off of them.

In possession, Columbus morphed into a 1-4-2-3. Sean Zawadzki stayed deep as the lone centerback, with Steven Moreira and Malte Amundsen up as wide midfielders alongside Dylan Chambost and Taha Habroune. Rossi and Gazdag roamed as floating attacking midfielders, with Ibrahim Aliyu up top and flanked by Max Arfsten and Andres Herrera.

Having four players in the midfield gave the Black & Gold flexibility on offense and transition defense. When attacking, the midfield could choose a route of attack based on how Toronto responded to the numbers.

If the home side filtered wide to cover the wingbacks and outside centerbacks, Habroune and Chambost could combine with Gazdag and Rossi through the middle. If Toronto went compact, the outside center backs played into the wingbacks and overlapped to create those wide overloads.

Again, the versatility of Moreira and Amundsen allowed the Crew to move just beyond those two options. Chambost and Habroune had the opportunity to move into the attacking midfield if both outside center backs pinched into central midfield. This sequence of movements gave Rossi and Gazdag more freedom to roam in different spaces, while also having more attacking options in close proximity to combine with.

On the flip side, when Moreira and Amundsen decided to move into a wing-back role, the actual wingbacks who were higher up the pitch pinched inside as a second and third striker. More bodies in the box equals more chaos for Toronto to deal with. The other plus is that now, Columbus has two of their best crossers (Moreira and Amundsen) on the wing to pick out those targets.

That tweak of allowing Moreira and Amundsen to hunt down the wings or inside gave the wingbacks more freedom as well. Arfsten and Herrera knew that they had coverage with the outside centerbacks behind them, so both wingbacks made diagonal runs in the blind spots of Toronto’s defense. While none of these runs directly yielded a goal, those dangerous runs generated good goal-scoring chances for the Crew.

Looking back on this game, the two players who impacted the game the most positionally were both outside center backs. If Moreira and whoever he is paired with are on their game, Columbus is as good as it gets.

Another collapse to a lesser opponent

Simply put, the Black & Gold should have won this game fairly easily. Toronto is not the worst team in the league, but they have had struggles. Winning away from home is never a walk in the park, but after the opening ten minutes and how the Crew were controlling the game, surely Columbus fans thought this would be a 2-0 or 3-0 game.

Instead, the Black & Gold folded yet again late in the match, conceded a stupid equalizer, and could not find the decisive goal to get all three points. A draw is a draw, and the Crew will take the point, but great teams do not go far in this league by tying games they are supposed to win.

There is no tactical reason as to why Columbus got the result they did. Wilfried Nancy drew up a good game plan and had the Black & Gold in goalscoring positions, but the Crew coasted through the final phase of the game.

Look at Toronto’s goal. A corner that is initially headed out by Columbus falls to Habroune, who whiffs on a clearance that would have given the Black & Gold’s defense an opportunity to get up and apply the repress. As the ball is recycled out wide, Habroune does not close down the Toronto attacker quickly enough to cut off the cross. The cross is played in, Jacen Russell-Rowe does not check his shoulder, and Toronto has a tap-in equalizer.

What happened on that particular play is lazy defending by two bright, young stars for the Crew. Habroune has been sensational as of late, and Russell-Rowe has his moments as well. This goal, though, is inexcusable from a work ethic standpoint. Even 77 minutes into the match, you have to close down attackers and make sure marks are covered like you did in the first minute.

Those mental mistakes late in games are what have plagued Columbus this season. Fans will talk about the lack of a true goal scorer outside of Rossi, Gazdag’s ineffectiveness in front of goal, and Patrick Schulte’s blunders, but the real problem is the work ethic late in games. In terms of alarming trends to have around your team, conceding lazy late goals is perhaps the most worrisome.

Nancy and the Black & Gold coaching staff have a week to figure it out, but as we head into the playoffs, there is not much more margin for error.