The Columbus Crew ended the losing streak on Saturday night by tying Sporting Kansas City 0-0. While a win would have been more preferable to end to streak, the Black & Gold leave Kansas with a point to show for their road trip. This leaves Columbus in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, only one point behind a playoff spot. While the Crew have struggled in recent games to find goals and produce results, Saturday night in Kansas City was far different tactically than past games for the Black & Gold.
Pressing in a 4-3-3 formation
The biggest difference from the past few games was the Crew’s pressing structure. We’ve seen Columbus press in a 4-4-2 and a 4-1-4-1, but this game they decided to press in a 4-3-3 formation. This was not really groundbreaking because the Black & Gold came out set up in a 4-3-3 with their lineup with Nagbe and Morris staying up higher than Artur. The nuance of the press would come from the wingers and midfielders. Instead of pressing for short spurts at those “opportune times”, Columbus came out and man marked the middle. This consisted of either Miguel Berry or one of the wingers pressing the defender on the ball, and then Aiden Morris, Darlington Nagbe, and Artur would step up to find the nearest Sporting KC player and just stay on their back. This allowed the attackers to press the player who had the ball harder, without fear of being passed around. This also allowed the Crew to win the ball in the midfield and break on the counter. Typically the would only press when the ball got passed toward the end line to an outside back, so this allowed Columbus’ speedy wingers to close down quicker. The beauty of pressing in the 4-3-3 was that the Black & Gold didn’t have to revert to their default offensive formation, because they were already in it. While it didn’t yield a goal, the press did make Kansas City turn the ball over several times and give the Crew a few dangerous chances on the counter.
Sitting back in a 4-5-1 and playing more direct
Huge change here. For the longest time, the Columbus Crew have been the team that possesses the ball, side to side passes, and breaks down the opposition by methodical passing and patience. Many find it boring while I find it somewhat beautiful, but for the first time in a long time the Black & Gold did not play that brand of soccer. For much of the game the Crew were content to sit back in a 4-5-1 and allow Sporting KC to have the ball in their own half. If they saw a chance to press Columbus would send the wingers flying up at the opposing defense hoping to snatch an opportunity, but other than that they were fine just for the home side to hold the ball. Then, when the ball was turned over the Crew would play very direct. This means instead of playing the “boring” brand of soccer that’s associated with the club, they would play quick long balls, through balls, and throw numbers forward in attack. This also included getting Nagbe and Morris forward, and both wing backs forward to try and create a numerical mismatch in the opponent’s half. This left only Artur and both center backs to prevent a counter by Kansas City. This was a risky move by leaving only three defenders back, but the Crew needed a goal, one which they never found. The different play style yielded a positive result for Columbus, giving a team that doesn’t perform well on the road a point to return home with, and maybe some hope for the fans that they can still right the ship.
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