The Columbus Crew resumed their winning ways on Wednesday evening, besting the Philadelphia Union on Columbus’ return to MLS play. The Black & Gold featured a heavily rotated squad, with nine changes from the starting XI from the Leagues Cup Final. The Crew backup brigade kept it scoreless deep into the second half, when Wilfried Nancy decided to dip into his star power off the bench. Nancy brought on Yaw Yeboah, Max Arfsten, Diego Rossi, Cucho Hernandez, and Darlington Nagbe to try and steal three points for Columbus. The plan worked, with Yeboah bagging a goal off an assist from Arfsten to secure the only goal of the game for either team. The Black & Gold now sit 10 points behind Inter Miami in the Eastern Conference with two games still in hand.
By fielding a mostly rotated squad, Nancy and his staff had to tweak their formation and tactics for this matchup. Let’s dive into those decisions.
Rotated squad – new formations
After the Leagues Cup triumph on Sunday, going into Philadelphia on Wednesday would always be a short turnaround for the Crew. Facing a Union side that has struggled this season, Nancy decided to go with a mostly rotated lineup for a large portion of that match.
The brilliant manager that Nancy is, he knew that if he rotated his squad, he needed to also tweak their formation and tactics to fit the team on the field. That is exactly what he did, and it netted Columbus three points after the 90 minutes were up.
In the back, the Black & Gold had Yevhen Cheberko at the central center back spot, with Malte Amundsen to his left and Sean Zawadzki on the right. DeJuan Jones and Marcelo Herrera split out wide as wingbacks, with Derrick Jones and Alexandru Matan inside as center midfielders. The team was rounded out by Dylan Chambost, AZ Jackson and Jacen Russell-Rowe in attack.
From the beginning, the Crew lined up in their typical three/five back defense with two central midfielders and a fluid attack. After surviving an early Philadelphia offensive surge, Columbus finally showed their hand in
possession.
The first formation the Black & Gold shifted to on offense was a 2-4-4. Amundsen and Cheberko stayed back while Zawadzki moved into central midfield alongside Jones. Matan and Chambost acted as half-pivots between the outside center backs and the wingbacks, who were now up high as wingers.
The key in the 2-4-4 is Zawadzki. Naturally brought up as a midfielder, he can easily transition from the backline into the midfield without a problem. He is the player that made the 2-4-4 work as well as it did due to his versatility.
Because Zawadzki could move into the midfield, this freed up Matan to have fewer defensive duties and go up into the attack. With natural ball-winners like Jones and Zawadzki in the center of the pitch, this gave the rest of the team a pass to extend themselves further in pursuit of a goal.
The 2-4-4 was used by the Crew in buildup and transition situations. When Columbus reached Philadelphia’s attacking third, they morphed into the second formation of the night, a 2-2-6.
The change from the 2-4-4 to the 2-2-6 was easy, both Matan and Chambost moved up into the attack. Both midfielders would play underneath or alongside Jackson and Russell-Rowe, who acted as the fluid attackers in this formation.
This formation gave the Black & Gold the opportunity to put pressure on the Union backline and create those overloads that Nancy loved. The front six had the freedom to interchange and play off each other but mostly stuck to their positions more than the usual starters did. This could be due to their limited playtime and still trying to learn the system, but they still generated some half-chances directed at Philadelphia goalkeeper Andre Blake.
In the second half, Crew fans got to see the third formation change of the night with Columbus changed into a 1-3-6 in attack. Much like the Leagues Cup final against LAFC, the Black & Gold changed into this formation that looked like a diamond in the back, with six attackers up top.
Cheberko stayed deep with Amundsen and Zawadzki moving slightly higher, having Jones complete the diamond at the top. This gave the defensive line different depths and widths that they could move around and find passing lanes from, especially when the Union started pressing with four players.
The fourth and final formation that the Crew changed to a 3-3-4 just before the substitutes came on. Again, the backline consisted of the three center backs, but they cupped the line a little bit to give extra support to the midfield with the outside center backs. The midfield line was flat with Matan on the left, Jones in the middle, and Chambost out on the right. The attack remained mostly unchanged, with the wingbacks outside along with Jackson and Russell-Rowe as dueling strikers.
These formation tweaks not only changed as the situations in the match changed, but they also played to the strengths of the players that were on the field. Nancy has set up teams differently depending on who he has available, which is one of the many reasons why he is such a great manager. Some coaches play a rigid system no matter what personnel they have, but Nancy is completely different. He knows his players are multidimensional and can adapt, which is why he can toss in these tactical wrinkles.
While the formation changes for the rotated squad did not yield a goal, they did their job. They kept Philadelphia from scoring while also generating some half-chances of their own until the closers could come off the bench to finish the job. Nancy and the Crew coaching staff essentially made this a 30-minute game when they brought on the usual starters, and it paid off big time with three points.
Comments