Crew tactical review: Miami throttles Columbus to close out a rough May

The Columbus Crew’s winless streak continued as they fell to Inter Miami 5-1 on May 31st. The hosts struck early and often, thanks to defensive mistakes by the Columbus backline and goalkeeper Nico Hagen. Miami netted three goals in the first 25 minutes of the match, heading into the intermission with a 3-0 lead. A header from substitute Cesar Ruvalcaba brought the deficit back to two, but more poor defending and goalkeeping allowed Miami to continue the onslaught. Ultimately, Miami walked away with a comfortable 5-1 victory and the season sweep over the Black & Gold. The Crew has not won a game since May 3, nearly a month ago.

In victory as well as defeats, there are tactics at play by both sides that dictated the outcome of this game. Let’s dive into all the tactics that handed Columbus one of the biggest losses of the Wilfried Nancy era.

Playing into Miami’s hands

As many fans saw in the last matchup against Miami, Javier Mascherano’s side often plays better on the counterattack. Although Miami is among the league leaders in possession, sucking an opponent in and countering with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez would be a potent gameplan for any team in the world.

With the Crew leading the league in overall possession, their play style gave Miami a perfect chance to play on the counterattack. The hosts sat in an extremely narrow 4-4-2 on defense and forced Columbus to attack down the flanks. Many of the Black & Gold’s turnovers came in the center of the pitch due to the congestion of the Miami players in that same area.

Due to Miami’s narrow approach, the emphasis was now on Max Arfsten and Mo Farsi to cultivate the attacks. Early in the game, Miami rotated its entire formation to the ball-dominant side to leave the backside of the defense wide open. With all the other attacking options stopped by Miami’s narrow approach, the Black & Gold’s best attack opportunities came on aerial balls to the backside wingback.

To get those wide chances, the Crew had to commit sizable numbers into the attack. Columbus is not shy about getting defenders forward into an attacking phase, but this time it was exactly what Miami wanted them to do. The second the wingbacks and outside centerbacks flew forward for the Black & Gold, Messi started to roam to find space and be an outlet.

From there, when the Crew turned the ball over it was a track meet. Miami threw numbers forward at a disorganized and recovering Columbus defense, reaping the benefits on multiple occasions.

The Black & Gold’s recklessness with the ball and on defense landed them in a three-goal hole only a half hour into the match, which meant they had to send more players forward to chip away at the deficit. This cycle of throwing numbers forward, getting countered and conceding a goal was seemingly never-ending, but there was one are of the pitch that influenced the game more than another.

The key for Miami in this game was winning the midfield battle. The Crew typically plays with two true midfielders, with outside centerbacks and attackers occasionally dropping in to fill voids. Miami knew the Columbus was light on defensive roles, so they overloaded the midfield.

On offense, the hosts essentially transformed into a 4-4-1-1 with Messi as the attacking midfielder. Runners would push back the defensive line for the Black & Gold, allowing Messi and Sergio Busquets the time and space to create against an undermanned Crew midfield.

From there, it was goal after goal until the final whistle mercifully blew for Columbus. This loss caps off the Black & Gold’s dismal month.

The bad and the ugly

Contrary to prior belief, the Crew’s biggest problem is their defense. Originally missing a true goalscoring threat to cap off the dynamic attack, Columbus’ biggest issue has morphed from an inability to score to a lack of defensive stability.

Part of the problem is the inherent system. Nancy prides himself on allowing his players to go out and play beautiful soccer, but it does leave the defense exposed at times. With experienced defenders like Steven Moreira, Rudy Camacho and Malte Amundsen anchoring the backline, the Black & Gold used to be able to sort out those transition moments. As time has gone on, that cool-headed but stout defensive approach has vanished into thin air.

Goals are going to be scored on a defensive line that plays high and allows it’s outside centerbacks to make runs into the attack. It is up to the offense to outscore opponents, but the defense also has to limit the damage. In recent weeks the Crew have not been limiting damage, they have rolled out the red carpet and invited it.

One huge issue has been the number of turnovers. Columbus got into a rut of giving the ball away in the worst possible places and times. That brings on reactionary defending, which creates mistakes and allows the other team to capitalize. The Black & Gold are gifting opportunities to other teams at a rapid pace, which is not sustainable with the current offense.

Another problem has been the communication and chemistry. For the Crew to play high-intensity transition defense, there needs to be a lot of communication about marks, where to set the defensive line and who can cover for players who run into the attack. Columbus has missed the mark on all three of these points. Farsi dropped too deep on Miami’s first and third goal to keep the runner onside. There were numerous back post marks that went undefended. Outside centerbacks will make runs and be too slow to get back or not communicate with someone to cover.

All three of those defensive tenets have been poor for the Black & Gold in the month of May. The strength of a team starts from the back, and right now, the defensive line for the Crew is one of the weakest links.

The weakest link, however, has been the play of Hagen. Taking over for the injured Patrick Schulte, Hagen has routinely not been able to give Columbus stability in between the posts.

The Guatemalan’s positioning is not at a pro-level – consistently giving up his front post (Miami’s fourth goal) and getting caught off his line in no-man’s land when he needs to decide whether to drop back or rush the attacker (Miami’s first and third goals, and Charlotte’s corner goal a few weeks ago).

On top of that, he withers when he makes mistakes. One of the purest qualities a goalkeeper can have is a short memory. Make a mistake? Put it out of your mind and execute.

After Hagen essentially handed Messi the ball, got chipped, made a mess of tipping it over the bar, and ultimately gave up a goal, he could not play out of the back with his feet for the rest of the match. Every time the Crew gave the goalkeeper a back pass, Hagen would hit it long and direct or play a half-hearted nervous pass.

At the end of the day, if you need a goalkeeper to step up and be a pure shot stopper, Hagen can do it. He has the ability to make great saves when he has to, but the rest of his game is unpolished and sloppy. If he continues to start in Schulte’s absence, the Black & Gold will have a liability between the posts.

As for the rest of the team, this two-week break gives the Crew time to take a breath, get healthy and figure some things out. For Nancy and his coaching staff, the international window could not have come at a better time. It is back to the drawing board for Columbus, because this team is better than their record in the month of May.