The Columbus Crew kept their unbeaten streak alive on Saturday with a scoreless draw against the New England Revolution. Despite not being able to score, Columbus played positively but was just lacking that finishing touch in the final third. The result keeps the Black & Gold at 6th in the Eastern Conference standings after a strong push in the past few games. The Crew’s approach was different tactically from recent games, so let’s dive in.
Allowing New England’s Center Backs to Play the Ball
When scouting and preparing for this game against New England, Caleb Porter identified the Revolution’s center backs as possible weak links in the opposing team’s lineup due to their lackluster ability to play the ball out of the back. Columbus adjusted their defensive structure and strategy accordingly so that they could hopefully exploit New England and get a leg up in the game. The major change was to lay off the press until the Revolution would get near the half field line, or when another player other than the center backs received the ball. The Black & Gold often sat off and just marked up other plays in hopes that the opposing center backs would play a bad pass or make a bad decision that the Crew could capitalize on and counter. This is why fans didn’t see Columbus pressing as high as they usually do, and why sometimes the ball would turn over to the Black & Gold as New England tried to build out of the back. The formation that Columbus set up in defensively was a 4-4-2 with Cucho Hernandez and Lucas Zelarayan pressing the opposing wide backs as soon as they received the ball from the center backs. The Crew wingers and defensive midfielders would then just man mark the opposing midfield players in hopes that they could pounce on a bad pass or touch from the Revolution. This change was based on the team that Columbus was playing against on the night, so it will be interesting to see if they pull this out later in the year against other opposition.
Playing a Counter Attacking Style
On Saturday the Crew played at a high energy level that was highlighted by their style of play. Typically, we would see Columbus value keeping possession and making tons of passes before going at the opposition, but the downside to that style of play is that the other team will be well set up defensively and ready for the impending attack. Instead of playing that style against the Revolution, the Black & Gold came out looking to attack on the counter to catch the opposition off guard. Often this would look like winning the ball and then immediately going wide with it, finding Cucho Hernandez or one of the wingers to run at the New England defense. Columbus would also flood numbers forward trying to overload the opposing defense so that they could have an unmarked attacker to find. Because they were playing this counter attacking style, Cucho Hernandez often abdicated his striker position and drifted wide to receive the ball and have an angle to run at defenders with. This is why the Crew were so thrilled to sign Hernandez, because his versatility can mean that he can be a true number 9 striker, but when need be, he can also drift out wide and be an attacking option down the wing. We saw how he folded Andrew Farrell with a simple cut of the ball, due to his speed and ability to use either foot. All fans are anxious over the next few games to see how Columbus can tryout different tactics and formations to fully unlock this team’s potential now the Cucho Hernandez is here.
Diagonal and Overlapping Runs
This is something that the Crew have been doing on an off for a while, and it has to do with the attacking prowess of the Black & Gold outside backs. When you have very talented attacking wide backs in Pedro Santos and Marlon Hairston lining up for your team, the key is to figure out how to get them high up the pitch to provide an attacking option. Caleb Porter’s take on this matter is to have Derrick Etienne and Luis Diaz pinch more towards the inside of the field to be closer to Lucas Zelarayan. Then, they leave space on the outside for Santos and Hairston to fly by and put a good cross into the box. The wingers also had free reign to make long diagonal runs all the way across the field to keep the defense on their toes. If one defender from the Revolution doesn’t communicate or mark up these diagonal runners, you could have speedsters Diaz or Etienne running full tilt at your goal unmarked. Unfortunately for Columbus, none of these overlapping or diagonal runs resulted in goals, but it is something to watch out for in the next few games. If teams can’t communicate and cope with these runners, they will have more problems than just going up against Cucho Hernandez and Lucas Zelarayan.
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