The Columbus Crew traveled back home after getting a point on the road against Toronto FC. The Black & Gold had to fight back in the game after going down 1-0 in the first half, but a Jimmy Medranda goal in the 75th minute would secure at least a point for Columbus.
It was a back and forth game for the Crew, controlling the game in the first 15 minutes but having stretches of the game where they looked on the back foot. Tactically, there were some high and low points that contributed to the game’s outcome. Let’s dive in.
The Good
It’s always better to start off with the good news first. The Crew got a road point early in the season against an Eastern Conference rival after going down a goal. While the team didn’t play extraordinarily well throughout, there are some stretches in which they looked dangerous and threatening.
In the opening 15 minutes of the match, Columbus had a bulk of the possession and generated some decent chances that just lacked a killer finishing touch. One of the things that worked in that opening phase of the game was the Black & Gold’s “secondary runners” in attack.
Cucho Hernandez hasn’t gotten on the scoresheet yet this season, but he’s been creating opportunities for others to get in scoring positions based on his positioning. In the 14th minute he had a sequence where he dropped into midfield near the right wing and received a pass from Darlington Nagbe. Since a defender was on his back, he played a quick little slip pass to a streaking Mo Farsi who then played a pass a little bit out of the reach of Alexandru Matan.
Since Hernandez dropped in, he pulled a Toronto defender with him and opened up space in behind for Matan and Farsi. Since that defender was drawn out, TFC had to shift over to cover that space, leaving the middle of the field wide open. If Farsi had connected with Matan, the young right-wing back would have had a clear path to goal with only an aging Michael Bradley on his heels.
The other good thing Wilfried Nancy did was push Nagbe higher up the pitch. Often in the first half he gained ground simply by dropping his shoulder and waltzing through the defense. This is something Crew fans have wanted to see for a while, and hopefully it continues because between Nagbe and Lucas Zelarayan, defenses won’t be able to touch them.
The Bad
The Black & Gold did not adapt quick enough to the changes Toronto made in the game. In the first 15 minutes the Crew dominated, keeping the ball and putting the home side under pressure. That was until TFC changed their press, and then Columbus didn’t adjust.
Toronto didn’t start out pressing very high, but with the Crew’s high rate of possession they switched to almost a man-to-man press that made life very difficult for the away side.
TFC took away Columbus’ ability to break lines by man marking Aidan Morris and Nagbe, and then they sent their front line to press up on the Crew’s defense which led to bad passes, turnovers, and chances for the Canadian side. The Black & Gold had two options, go long and get your players up top to hold up the ball, or have your attackers drop in and help you play out.
Going long didn’t work out very well because Hernandez isn’t a true hold up forward, and Columbus didn’t drop their attackers in, so the Crew had a massive gap between the midfield and their attackers that was being exploited by Toronto.
The lack of adjustment by Nancy is something that is to be expected in the early season. The team has a new coach and new players, but this is an adjustment that Nancy just missed on.
The other downside of this game was the wingback play of the Crew. In this young season, Farsi has shined and showed that he can play with the first team and be a regular. Other than him, that other side has been up for grabs in terms of who locks down that starting spot.
The absence of Will Sands has been a big loss so far for the Black & Gold and Jimmy Medranda’s health will be a big upgrade depth wise, but other than those two it’s hard to see where Yaw Yeboah and Luis Diaz fit. Yeboah hasn’t played terrible, but it’s the versatility to be able to defend and attack that is lacking. The attacking aspect is there, but defensively he has been suspect.
The jury is out so far on Diaz. I think all Crew fans would love to see the Costa Rican play more in the future, but it will be interesting to see where he fits into Nancy’s system. Fans in Columbus all know what he can do offensively, but it’s the defensive side that will be captivating to see.
The Goal
It’s always fun to watch such a simple pattern of play that has been taught to all ages make a cameo on the professional level. Medranda’s 75th minute equalizer was the result of one of the oldest soccer patterns in the book: the Up-Back-Through.
The ball started with Medranda who played a split ball to Matan. Matan then dropped it back to Degenek because he had a defender on his back and the Austrailian played it over the top perfectly for Medranda to strike.
The beauty of this pattern is it can work at all levels of soccer, you don’t have to be a pro to pull this off. Medranda continuing his run was the key, because Matan dragged his defender out to open up space for the wingback to get in behind.
It’s something small and miniscule that led to the goal, but it’s just living proof that the patterns that are practiced on the training ground from a young age are engrained in the brains of these professionals. The Crew were fortunate to be on the good end of that on Saturday night.
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