Crew tactical review: Columbus draws up north in Montreal

The Columbus Crew continued their unbeaten streak on the road, salvaging a 1-1 draw with lowly CF Montreal. It was a rough first half lacking scoring chances for Columbus, with Montreal fighting back against the Black & Gold’s possession style with long spells of possession themselves. The home side eventually found the opener courtesy of a dummy and a backheeled assist that found the feet of Luca Petrasso.

Petrasso controlled his touch and dispatched the ball low to Patrick Schulte’s left to put Montreal on the board. After a dismal first half, the Crew got back on the horse. In the second half, Columbus had much more possession and scoring chances, finally equalizing off a Montreal disaster in the back that left Jacen Russell-Rowe with an open net. From there, it was a lot of Black & Gold possession that did not yield another goal. A draw is a draw, but the Crew were likely hoping for more against an inferior side.

In another road point for Columbus, let’s dive into all the tactics that went into this match.

Two different possession-dominant styles

Both the Black & Gold and Montreal have a similar philosophy on the offensive side of the ball: possession. While either team may have the same ideas about how to best control the game on offense, they have different offensive philosophies based on possession.

For the Crew, Wilfried Nancy’s men love to build from the back by whatever means necessary. Columbus relies solely on their individual skill and collective versatility to control the ball in tight spaces, play out of position, and find the weak points in the opponent’s defense. This free-flowing brand of soccer is proven to be difficult to stop, but if the Black & Gold have an off night with poor touches and passes, they can become ordinary.

The Crew’s offensive philosophy is predicated on a possession-first mentality. That being said, if the counter chance is there Columbus will not hesitate to pull the trigger and strike quickly. More often than not though, the Black & Gold find their goals through long spells of possession that break down an opponent and overwhelm them.

Many of these possession movements begin at the back, with the Crew’s backline and midfielders doing the majority of the work. A combination of small passes and playing out of position breaks through the opposing lines to overload the defense is Columbus’ mantra. If they are forced to go long into the striker’s feet they will, but the Black & Gold do not have a player that can hold up the ball well enough to do this consistently. Focusing more on short passing and building from the back is what works the best for the Crew.

On the other side, Montreal also loves to possess the ball. While the home side does enjoy having the ball at their feet, the Canadian side has a different offensive approach.

Columbus may love short passing and a slower buildup to break down opponents, but Montreal does the exact opposite. Le CFM is content to possess the ball but wants to counter quickly if they have the chance. Playing against a team like the Black & Gold gives Montreal an opportunity to do just that, with some Crew players overextended and out of position. If Columbus is set defensively, Montreal will keep the ball moving from side to side until an avenue opens up, much like former Black & Gold head coach Gregg Berhalter would do in Columbus.

Unlike the Crew, Montreal wants to build using holdup play and secondary runners. Using striker Prince Owusu as the focal point of the attack, Montreal plays the ball into his feet and then has attacker Caden Clark run underneath Owusu to advance the ball. This combination of a tall, strong holdup striker and a speedy attacker makes for a potent strategy on offense.

These differing philosophies both yielded a goal on Wednesday, but in the broader scheme of things one team sits at the top of the conference while the other is at the bottom. Both squads enjoy having the ball at their feet but have gone about putting the ball in the back of the net in different ways.

Positioning of the outside centerbacks and Darlington Nagbe

One of the little tweaks that Nancy implemented in this game involved the outside centerbacks and Darlington Nagbe. When Columbus was on offense, Malte Amundsen and Steven Moreira had free reign to go up into the attack.

During the first half, the Black & Gold opted to keep two centerbacks deeper at all times. This was likely to account for Owusu and Clark, who could quickly hold up play and overwhelm one defender. Moreira typically moved forward during the first half since the Crew prioritized attacking the right side more often.

The second half was where Columbus changed things for the better. Nancy then gave both centerbacks permission to move forward at the same time, but he kept Nagbe deeper in front of Yevhen Cheberko as a safety valve. Nagbe acted as a cutoff man for balls into Owusu and could operate as a deep-lying playmaker to assist the attack.

This moved the Black & Gold offense into a 1-1-3-5/2-3-5 shape. Both outside centerbacks offered attacking midfield support to Dylan Chambost, with the attacking trio and wingbacks up high. This formation trapped in Montreal and made it easy to employ a repress, with Owusu up top as the only long-ball release valve.

This formational change is part of the reason why the Crew had more success in the second half. More pressure on Montreal’s backline forced them into mistakes, which eventually resulted in a goal for Russell-Rowe.

After the goal for the Canadian striker went in, Columbus sometimes moved into a 1-3-6 with Nagbe moving alongside the outside center backs. This pushed Chambost up higher into the attack and put more pressure and overloads on the Montreal defense.

While this game did not result in three points, the Black & Gold keep stacking points away from home ahead of a Hell is Real matchup this weekend. Holding out Diego Rossi and Sean Zawadzki for the weekend was a risk, but one Nancy was willing to take if it rewarded the Crew with at least a point.