Crew tactical review: Columbus thwarts D.C away from home

The Columbus Crew returned to its winning ways on Saturday, taking down D.C United 2-1 away from home. After a scoreless draw with NYCFC the week before at Lower.com Field, Columbus bagged two goals courtesy of Diego Rossi to take all three points from D.C. It was yet another semi-rotated lineup with Steven Moreira and Malte Amundsen on the bench, but Andres Herrera and Cesar Ruvalcaba slotted in nicely on the backline. After D.C. grabbed the opening goal within the first 20 minutes, Rossi equalized almost instantly to get the game back on level terms. The Crew’s no. 10 struck again in the 65th minute when a deflected shot from outside the box looped over the opposing keeper. From there, the Black & Gold locked down their defense and left D.C. with another win to remain unbeaten in MLS play.

The way D.C United set up defensively strongly dictated how the Crew’s offense operated, but it did not stop the goals from going in. Let’s dive into all the tactics that helped Columbus grab a win on the road.

D.C’s offensive strategy and defensive setup

D.C United came into this game with an offense predicated around one central player: Christian Benteke. The Belgian striker has proven his worth in MLS, scoring goal after goal during his time in the nation’s capital.

That being said, his particular skillset can match up well against a team like the Black & Gold. Everyone knows that Wilfried Nancy’s side wants to get as many numbers as possible into the attack and re-press when the ball is lost. This leaves gaps in the backline where good teams that can play through pressure can counter the Crew.

Granted, Benteke is not a speed merchant. He is not going to outrun Sean Zawadzki or any of the other defenders Columbus put out on the field, but he can assist the counter in other ways. Benteke’s holdup play is a force to be reckoned with, especially against smaller, ball-possessing centerbacks.

So instead of countering the Black & Gold with pace using a quicker forward over the top, D.C. tried to play the ball into Benteke’s feet and get secondary runners up into the attack.

Nancy knew that with a player of Benteke’s caliber in terms of holdup play, the Crew needed to have a contingency plan for the Belgian. That is why for much of the first half Columbus had two center backs staying back to shadow the striker.

That is huge praise coming from Nancy and the Black & Gold, but it limited Benteke’s touches and forced United to build out of the back through the Crew’s press. Due to the two center backs hanging around Benteke, Columbus employed more of a resisted pressure rather than the usual high-octane press.

Credit to D.C., they played well through pressure and had some decent spells of possession to push the Black & Gold back into their own half. The hosts found a goal but only held onto the advantage for a fleeting moment before Rossi equalized. That moment of joy being replaced by frustration was partly due to D.C.’s defensive setup.

United came into this game with a clear goal in mind: clog up the middle and make the Crew beat them from the wide areas. So, when the hosts defended in a 4-4-2, the four midfielders were incredibly narrow.

This narrowness could be for a few reasons. D.C. may have wanted to have more coverage on dropping attackers coming back to get the ball or desired to blanket Darlington Nagbe to take him off his game. Whatever the reason was, United decided to put the pressure on Dejuan Jones, Yevhen Cheberko, Herrera, and Ruvalcaba to make plays on offense and unlock D.C.

That theory has some merit. In the grand scheme of things, those players are less scary than Rossi, Jacen Russell-Rowe, and Dylan Chambost having space in the midfield to create a spread midfield.

Despite D.C’s attempts though, their defensive system did have flaws. The narrow midfield naturally left acres of space out wide for the wingbacks and outside centerbacks to occupy. Another added wrinkle was that Max Arfsten and Jones became interchangeable on that left wing, easily overloading the undermanned wide defense.

Jones or Arfsten would drag the outside back wide, and then a channel would open up inside. Either the United center back could side over – leaving space in behind them – or they could stay and allow the channel to open in front of them.

The Crew did a good job of attacking where the space was and ultimately netting two goals. It was yet another close affair, but Columbus came out with the win and momentum heading into the next week.

Piecing together the puzzle

You can make the argument that a season is like a puzzle, especially for Nancy and the Black & Gold. Early on there is a general idea of what the team is supposed to look like, but at times players will be plugged into situations and roles that are different. It is at these times that Nancy and the coaching staff will be looking at how they perform so they can find the best position and role for each player.

For example, in the opening game against Chicago this season Zawadzki played as a true defensive midfielder. He made some good challenges but often looked lost and overlooked. In recent weeks, the coaching staff moved him into the central center back position where he has absolutely thrived.

Another great player to look at is Chambost, who started off this season in a fluid attacking midfielder role. Since Zawadzki moved back to defense, Chambost took over his spot next to Nagbe and has been gaining confidence since then.

Chambost moving freed up a spot in the fluid front three – which will eventually go to a presumed DP No. 9 this summer – that was filled by a few different players. One of the more successful moves was Arfsten coming up into the attack, who has given the Black & Gold some serious firepower up top with his ability to create and play out wide.

Not only did this move benefit Arfsten, but it also allowed Jones and Herrera to get more playing time at wingback, both of whom have had moments of brilliance.

The moral of the story is that we are no longer in an age where players are stuck in one position, especially in Nancy’s system. There will be experimenting throughout this season to find out in what role and at what position a player can be their best. This is the benefit to having multi-faceted players on your team, but also why finding these jacks-of-all-trades can be difficult.

Nancy will continue tinkering and the Black & Gold will keep moving forward. A matchup with CF Montreal awaits this weekend back at home in front of a Columbus crowd.