The Columbus Crew started off their 2024 playoff campaign in disappointing fashion, losing their first game at home to New York Red Bulls. After beating RBNY a few weeks ago, the visitors came out with a new game plan to combat the defending champions. This new plan worked well, allowing New York to grab a goal off a corner midway through the first half. RBNY held onto that lead due to strong defensive play and the inability of Columbus to put the ball in the back of the net. This was the first time the Black & Gold had been shut out since mid-September against FC Cincinnati. Despite the early playoff loss, the Crew will be able to rectify their title hopes starting Sunday in Red Bull Arena. Columbus is in must-win mode now, with any further slip-ups resulting in elimination from the title hunt.
This game’s result was partly due to RBNY’s game plan, but it also rests firmly upon the shoulders of the players and coach Wilfried Nancy. Let’s dive into all the tactics that went into this nightmare playoff start for the Black & Gold.
RBNY’s gameplan
This was one of the most impressive tactical setups we have seen against the Crew in Nancy’s time in Central Ohio. New York proved that they don’t need to “out-Crew” Columbus to win, but they did manage to dominate the game without the ball.
The first change RBNY made was to match Black & Gold’s formation. In the last regular season match of the season, New York rolled out a 4-4-2 diamond formation that they preferred to use throughout the year. However, in this game, the visitors came in with a 5-2-1-2/3-4-1-2 to mirror the Crew’s formation.
The shape change seemed to catch Columbus off guard. In the early stages, there were lots of conversations happening on the pitch regarding defensive duties against RBNY’s new formation. The Black & Gold were not being exploited, but they did not seem comfortable by any means.
The second thing New York did was implement a press that gave them the maximum output of pressure on the Crew’s backline, while maintaining defensive stability. Columbus has seen a plethora of different presses thrown at them during the season, but this one was unique.
RBNY pressed with a block of five, with three players going after the Black & Gold defenders and two marking Sean Zawadzki and Darlington Nagbe. The Crew had seen this before, but New York kept their press narrow to force the hosts to hurt them out wide.
For a large portion of the game, Columbus did not recognize or take advantage of what RBNY was giving them. They repeatedly tried to play through the middle and were not getting into the attack as much as they usually did.
Part of this is due to the design of the press in terms of what formation New York was in. Typically, the Black & Gold can recognize the wide space is open when they are playing against a back four. In four-back defensive systems, the fullbacks usually don’t follow the Crew’s dropping wingbacks to protect their center backs from Columbus’ fluid front three.
In this game though, RBNY was in a back five, which allowed their wingbacks to follow Mo Farsi and Max Arfsten when they would drop deep. If a midfielder like Zawadzki or Alexandru Matan dropped into that wide space, the New York wingback could step up knowing the defensive line would slide over to cover the Black & Gold wingback that was still high.
So, while the wide space was there for one-on-one opportunities, it was disguised well by RBNY. The only space the Crew consistently exploited in the first half was the midfield gap between the New York press and backline. Although there were able to get the ball into this area, RBNY’s setup stumped them yet again when they tried to advance the ball further.
Once the initial press was defeated, New York’s attack would sink back into a low block. Columbus struggled to keep going at the defense once they beat the press because they did not have any overloads available, due to the visitor’s five-back defensive setup. This allowed the midfielders to retreat and get in a defensive shape to stop the Black & Gold from going at goal.
With New York now posted up in a 5-4-1, the Crew struggled to pull players out of position because the defensive area was so saturated with defenders. This game plan from RBNY did its job, and they got a set piece goal on the other end to complete the masterclass. New York head coach Sandro Schwarz proved his worth in this game, the only question now is whether RBNY can pull it off once more in the next two matches to advance.
Columbus’ failures
Although New York had a strong, out-of-the-box game plan to get after the Black & Gold, the home side did not live up to the billing in this game. In the first half the Crew looked lethargic, disinterested, and simply unmotivated on both ends of the pitch.
On the offensive side, there were miscommunications, poor touches, wayward passes, and a lack of attacking creativity to break down RBNY’s defense. Fans have seen this Columbus team pick apart low blocks, and while New York’s structure was slightly different, the Black & Gold needed to do better than what they ended up with.
On the defensive end, the lack of effort was clear on the corner RBNY scored on. The Crew are in a zonal marking scheme that leaves two men open at the back post. Not a big deal, but Yevhen Cheberko is slow getting out on the cross and gets jumped over on the initial header. Zawadzki then fails to clear the second ball and Christian Ramirez is beaten to the clearance for New York to jump ahead.
Breakdowns on set pieces happen, but getting beat to the ball three times in your defensive box is inexcusable. Credit to RBNY for jumping on the opportunity, but the defense needs to do better there.
In the second half, Columbus seemed to get more life. They finally began creating overloads around the pressing wingbacks for New York and generated some strong attacking chances, but they failed to convert when it mattered most.
On bright spot was the way the Black & Gold were able to free up Farsi on the left side with those overloads. They started to unlock that RBNY defense later in the match, but it was too little, too late.
The Crew needed a bit of luck late on, but just could not break down the wall around New York’s goal. Jacen Russell-Rowe had a few chances, AZ Jackson had his shot kick saved away by Carlos Coronel and DeJuan Jones was denied on a volley on an absolute world-class save. Sometimes the ball does not bounce your way, but when Columbus left it to the last half-hour of the match to find the tying goal, they can only blame themselves.
This will be a game for the Black & Gold to look in the mirror and refocus. They missed Diego Rossi in that attacking half and will be glad to have him back on Sunday. All indications point to Nancy and his staff having a game plan to get back to winning ways. No more mistakes or poor games allowed now, or else the Crew will end their season prematurely.
All to play for in New Jersey this weekend.
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