Crew tactical review: Columbus topples conference-leaders Philadelphia at home

The Columbus Crew grabbed another three points on Sunday, this time against Eastern Conference leaders Philadelphia Union. It was a tale of two halves for the Black & Gold, spending much of the first half in Philadelphia’s territory but absorbing more pressure in the second half. Mo Farsi found the breakthrough near the end of the first half, when a cross from fellow wingback Lassi Lappalainan skipped into his path at the back post. From there, the Crew had a few more chances but were unable to convert any to double the lead. In the end, Columbus secured another big three points at home against one of MLS’ toughest teams.

Wilfried Nancy and his coaching staff had some adjustments to make when Philadelphia attempted to flip the game on its head in the second half. Let’s dive into all the tactical decisions that went into the Black & Gold’s victory.

First half

This match was like playing two different games in one. In the first half, the Crew were the aggressors for much of the period. Much of that was due to how Philadelphia decided to defend.

In the first half the Union opted to sit in a low block and defend with 10 players until there was an opportunity to counter Columbus. Philadelphia knew that the Black & Gold enjoyed having the ball and preying on opponents’ mistakes, so they allowed the Crew to keep the ball and try to get them to overextend themselves. When that overextension came, the Union tried to attack with pace at a recovering Columbus backline.

Although Philadelphia at this point preferred to sit in a low block, they also had some pressure cooked up to keep the Black & Gold on their toes. The Union employed a compartmental press, going after the Crew when the ball was played backwards or to the sides.

First off, when Columbus passed the ball backwards it gave Philadelphia to jump up the field on marks and try to force a high turnover. If this initial flurry did not yield a giveaway, the Union would retreat back into a low block until there was another opportunity to press.

When the ball was with Sean Zawadzki, Philadelphia looked content to sit in their gaps and play prevent defense. However, as soon as a pass was played out wide to an outside centerback, midfielder or wingback, the Union would begin pressuring the Black & Gold. Philadelphia’s defense attempted to cut off passes to the inside and pushed the Crew towards the sideline, so they had limited passing options.

Again, when the initial press did not yield a turnover, Philadelphia dropped back into the low defensive shape to wait for another opportunity to bring pressure.

On the other side, Columbus had a few tactics of their own. Nancy knew that the Union likely wanted to sit back and then counter, so the French manager used that against them. While the Black & Gold enjoy building out of the back, when Philadelphia pressed the backline the Crew wingbacks would run in behind the defense. If timed right, the advancing Union backline could cause a streaking wingback to be played into space with a ball over the top. In the same vein, the wingbacks often checked back to the ball for a second before turning and streaking behind the defense. These dummy checks and runs gave Columbus verticality and a dangerous option in behind.

In the buildup, the Black & Gold went with a 2-3-5 or 1-3-1-5 look. Steven Moreira often moved into the midfield alongside Darlington Nagbe and Amar Sejdic in the 2-3-5. As the Crew got higher up the field they transitioned into a 1-3-1-5, with both outside centerbacks in the midfield and Sejdic as a roaming no. 8 between the midfield and attacking line.

These formational changes and decision to build out of a two- or one-man backline showed Columbus’ intent to get forward and score in the first half, which eventually they did.

Second half

The second half was a different story than the prior period. After a nearly hour-long weather delay, both teams returned to the pitch with differing strategies yet again. This time, Philadelphia became more aggressive while the Black & Gold struggled to deal with the Union’s newfound boldness.

The biggest change was Philadelphia ditching the compartmental pressure and deciding to go with mostly constant pressure. Instead of only pressing in spurts, the Union engaged a press and kept applying it until the Crew broke it or turned the ball over.

This gave Columbus some serious problems. The change of pace of the press caught them off guard and they struggled to break it. Philadelphia closed down passing lanes, players and the ball quicker than they did in the first half. This more direct approach from the Union certainly gave the Black & Gold issues.

The other big change for the Union was that they did not employ a low block as much as they did in the first half, if at all. Philadelphia’s press warranted them to push their backline higher as well. If they had not moved up their defensive line, there would have been a massive gap for substitute Jacen Russell-Rowe to utilize and break the press.

This change left spaces in behind to be exploited by substitute Ibrahim Aliyu and Farsi, but the Crew struggled to have time enough to play those balls over the top. Columbus’ best chances came when they broke the press through the inside channels that Diego Rossi and Daniel Gazdag dropped into.

The Black & Gold made some changes of their own at halftime as well. Nancy brought on Russell-Rowe, Aliyu and Andres Herrera and changed the possession shape to build out of the back.

Instead of possessing in a 2-3-5 or 1-3-1-5, the Crew reverted to a three-back buildup shape. Morphing into a 3-2-5 gave Columbus increased stability at the back and more passing options on that defense to break Philadelphia’s ramped-up press.

Again, there were problems concerning the Union’s direct pressure and how to break it. The Black & Gold did well a few times to find the dropper in the inside channel to turn and break the pressure, but it did not happen often enough to put Philadelphia’s defense under constant pressure.

In the end, the Crew’s defense held a shutout and limited the Union attack to claim a clean sheet and the win. Nancy may not be happy with the performance in total, but the three points is all that will matter in the long run.