Crew tactical review: Columbus only musters one point from two games

The Columbus Crew continued their recent struggles this week, falling to Charlotte FC on the weekend and drawing Nashville SC in a midweek clash. Columbus got an early goal down in Charlotte, but the hosts battled back to eventually win the game 3-2. The Black & Gold never have good luck in Charlotte, but they returned home on Wednesday for a matchup with Nashville – who had climbed in the standings in recent weeks. After conceding in the opening 90 seconds, the Crew struck back courtesy of a Diego Rossi rebound. Then, Columbus gave up the lead again when a quick throw in snuck by the defense and allowed Hany Mukhtar to score on an open net. At the point it looked like the Black & Gold would end up in the loss column again, but a low cross from the left side was turned in by a Nashville defender, ending the game in a draw.

Let’s dive into all the tactics from both these matches in which the Crew extracted one point total.

A two-striker formation against Charlotte

One of the recent lineup surprises from Wilfried Nancy came when he decided to start both Ibrahim Aliyu and Jacen Russell-Rowe against Charlotte. Nancy also included Daniel Gazdag and Rossi in the starting eleven, setting up a fluid front for rather than the traditional fluid front three.

This personnel decision set Columbus in a 5-1-2-2 that could be a 3-1-4-2 when the wingbacks push up. Very similar structure to the formation the Black & Gold always play, but they were a bit light on midfield roles.

Since he came to the Crew, Nancy liked to have two central midfielders to act as deep-lying playmakers on offense, and recovery stopgaps on defense. In this game, Darlington Nagbe stood alone as the only deeper central midfielder on the field.

At times, Gazdag did drop in deeper to assist Nagbe on offense, but was not up to the defensive role that Dylan Chambost is usually used to. In a sense, Nancy opted for more firepower up front in exchange for defensive instability.

In the attack, Aliyu and Russell-Rowe played as dueling strikers. Aliyu stretched the defense with his pace while Russell-Rowe could drop underneath and holdup the ball for Rossi and Gazdag to be secondary runners. In theory this sounds like a good idea, but this decision also played right into Charlotte’s hands.

Now Columbus turned the ball over, Charlotte already had a man advantage with the absence of a second central midfielder for the Black & Gold. The instant the hosts got the ball; they played direct passes into Patrick Agyemang and Wilfried Zaha to go at the Crew with pace. With secondary runners arriving from the midfield for Charlotte, the hosts outnumbered Columbus on the counterattack five to four.

This is where defensive problems arose. Agyemang was a terror to mark one-on-one, especially for the smaller-framed Sean Zawadzki. Then on the other side you had Zaha on an island, with secondary runners arriving in the middle. Charlotte played their cards well and waiting for the counterattack because they had the numbers to overwhelm the Black & Gold in transition.

That was the defensive fallout from the two-striker lineup, but there were some positives to be observed. Both Aliyu and Russell-Rowe attracting defensive attention gave Rossi and Gazdag more space to play in. The strikers also constricted the defense which allowed Mo Farsi and Max Arfsten to get into better spaces as well.

In the end, the Crew had to utilize those wide areas because building through the middle remained a challenge with only one true central midfielder. Charlotte man-marked Nagbe, forcing Columbus to build through wide channels rather than through their central midfield engine.

In the end, the lineup featuring two strikers was ultimately a failure. The Black & Gold lost the game and walked away still in a rut that has plagued them over the last month. A mid-week matchup with Nashville would not qualm their need for a win either, drawing 2-2 in front of a home crowd.

What is the Crew’s problem?

When this question is posed a lot of fans will point to Columbus’ offensive struggles. After two seasons of Nancy-ball, the Black & Gold are known for bagging loads of goals and playing beautiful soccer. This season the Crew have still been mesmerizing, but the goals have not come at the same rate.

Through the first 16 games of the 2024 MLS season, the Crew scored 25 goals. In the first 16 games of this season, Columbus bagged 26 goals. Looking at the stats, the Black & Gold are actually outperforming their scoring total from last season up to this point.

On the defensive side, in the first 16 games of 2024 the Crew conceded 17 goals. This season, Columbus has given up 19 goals.

While there is not a huge jump in goals scored or conceded, the simple fact remains that the Black & Gold are on track in the scoring department. The Crew fail the eye-test when it comes to chances they should finish, but the stats are in their favor from the standpoint of scoring goals.

Columbus’ real concern is on the defensive side of the ball. Stats can speak all they want but the simple fact of the matter is that the Black & Gold are going through the motions on some aspects of their defensive duties.

Most of these mistakes that directly result in the goals are on an individual level, but as a collective the Crew’s defense has been poor by their standards. For Charlotte’s first goal of the game, Columbus played a zonal marking structure. Agyemang – arguably one of the biggest aerial threats in the league – is allowed to waltz into the front post past the Black & Gold defense and get his head on a cross that would ultimately make the game 1-1.

From a collective standpoint, that is a colossal failure. No professional team accepts that an opponent’s number one target on corners should be able to score so easily. On an individual note, though, goalkeeper Nico Hagen could have prevented this goal.

Hagen had his moments over the past two games, but he also made glaring mistakes. On the corner that Charlotte scored from, the ball is whipped into the front post. First response from a goalkeeper either has to be a decision to come out and claim the ball or drop back on their line for a potential save.

Hagen hesitates, waiting too late before finally deciding to come out before getting caught in no-man’s-land and allowing the header to go right by him as he leaves his feet for some reason. It is a mistake that could be expected from a goalkeeper who was thrust off the bench to start in the place of an injured Patrick Shulte, but as a professional goalkeeper it is extremely poor.

In the game against Nashville, both of the away side’s goals were easily preventable but due to complacency, were given up. On the first goal, Gazdag stands and watches as a Nashville attacker whips the ball into the box. Malte Amundsen makes a half-hearted effort to clear, deflecting the ball to an unmarked attacker on the back post.

Three cardinal sins of defending were committed on this singular goal. Not closing a potential cross down, making minimal effort to clear a ball and not marking at the back post are all signs of complacent defending. To make matters worse, this goal came in the opening 90 seconds of the game, so fatigue is not an excuse.

Fast forward to later in the game, Nashville gets a goal when the Crew were arguing a throw in. Chambost looks to the referee to change his call while Jacob Shaffelburg slips behind him into the box. Hagen makes a save, but yet again Nashville reacts first to grab their second goal.

Arguing calls is part of soccer whether you like it or not, but the oldest rule that they teach in peewee soccer is to play to the whistle. Columbus was too busy arguing to get a throw in that they took their eye off the ball, and it likely cost them points.

Throughout this lull by the Black & Gold the defense as not been up to par. In the past five games the Crew have tied four, lost one and conceded nine goals. Giving up a near-average of two goals per game will not lead to success. Columbus needs to start putting away more chances on the offensive end, but it is safe to say that those goals will not matter if the Black & Gold continue to defend the way they are right now.