Deadballs: Crew set-pieced to their knees by Minnesota United
"Inches, small, small moments in the small moments of the game. It's just margins. It can win you a game."
The Columbus Crew gave up three second-half goals and lost 3-2 to Minnesota United at Fertilizer Field Saturday night. The Disrespected Technical Director offers his thoughts near the bottom of this post. I'll start things off with my gamer:
For some time now, Crew head coach Henrik Rydström has alluded to a certain worry: He coaches a bunch of great guys who have forged close relationships as teammates, which is a wonderful dynamic with one caveat – they can't be too nice, which can lead to softness. Put another way: Rydström has fretted about a lack of killer instinct.
Saturday night, the Crew played a sublime first half and took a 1-0 lead on a lovely finish by Taha Habroune, set up by a cheeky back-heel pass from Max Arfsten, everything executed in close quarters. In the second half, Minnesota United deployed a man-on-man press. In the 56th minute, the Crew defeated it with a well-orchestrated attack that led to a goal by Hugo Picard, who had the time and space to put in his own rebound.
The Crew had a 2-0 lead. A crowd of 18,904 was rocking at Fertilizer Field. The Nordecke was chanting, "Save the Caps."
Minutes later, Minnesota scored on a long throw-in from the right sideline. The coverage in the box was loose. The Crew lead was cut to 2-1.
"Yeah, a flick, a flick, and off a post ... it's the way the game goes sometimes," Crew captain Sean Zawadzki siad. "But it's also how can we... respond in those moments?"
Minnesota pushed their press higher up the field. The Crew had terrific problems getting out of their own end of the field, in part because of the press being applied by a bigger, more physical team, and in part because the Crew were growing careless with their possession.
"They went man-for-man, and I think that made it difficult," Zawadzki said. "More movement, to open up space. It can be hard to play when you always have a man on your back ... I think we kind of played into their hands in terms of that. We played into them. I think there are times we need to kind of play in behind, turn them around a little bit, and let them try to build out."
Minnesota striker Kelvin Yeboah struck again in the 66th minute. Off a corner kick, he banged home a clean header. Again, loose coverage in the box. Yeboah had Dylan Chambost in front of him and Yevhen Cheberko behind him. Yeboah rose between, and above, them.
"It's not always about size in those matchups," Zawadski said. "It's a mentality. Putting your head through anything. It's more than just height. You know, you can have the biggest team in the world and still you're going to lose a header. It's just the way it is. It's the amount of fight, it's the amount of effort you give in those situations. I'm not saying we don't give the effort. I'm not saying that at all. It's more so, it's just being willing to just put your head through anything."
Minnesota's third goal, the game-winner, was scored in the 74th minute. The play started with a throw-in, continued with a loosely contested cross that was sent high and long to the back post, and ended with Anthony Markanich, a 6-foot-1 center back, rising over Steven Moreira, a 5-10 center back, and hammering a header into the net.
Minnesota scored three goals in a span of 15 minutes in the second half off two throw-ins and a corner kick. A common denominator was soft coverage in the box by the Crew.
"It's a huge disappointment, especially at home in front of our supporters," Habroune said. "To be up 2-0 and controlling the game like that, and the game changes that's quick, it's a disappointment. And it's on us. I feel like we turned off on on those set pieces and cost us the game, so super disappointed to lose like that, especially at home.
"I mean, you're not expected to give up three set pieces. And I feel like that's all they had in the game and they took that opportunity and they beat us with it."
Habroune, while only 20 years old, and despite his soft-spokeness, is already beginning to sound like a leader. He's certainly playing like one. Here's some more of his post-game Q&A, beginning with the question, "How can the Crew be better on set pieces?"
"I mean, we just have to be dogs," Habroune said. "I feel like we are just soft going into all those set pieces. They just wanted it more than us, and they got three goals from it. I mean, it's just the small moments in the games that cost us.
"I feel like we had the two goals and we're creating opportunities and controlling the game. But when you turn off for a second, that's what can happen. So I would just say, focus for 90 minutes of the game and not just 87. You know, those three minutes, you can concede three goals. I'll say that, for sure.
"Inches, small, small moments in the small moments of the game.
"It's just margins. It can win you a game. That's what happened to us tonight. We weren't focused throughout the game. We didn't get the result we wanted."
Report from The Disrespected Technical Director
A personnel discussion
Patrick Arace as you may recall, speaks soccer. Fair warning. His report:
A pattern has taken hold in the Crew's matches this season – fluid play in the first half, defensive leakage in the second. This pattern bore itself out again on a chilly evening in the capital against a ... pragmatic Minnesota United side. Giovanni "Il Trap" Trapattoni and certainly Mikel Arteta would approve of what Cameron Knowles is doing behind the bench in St. Paul, but your faithful correspondent definitely said a few choice words aloud before switching off Apple TV at the end of that one. Proper football lost alongside the Massive.
The two biggest problem areas for the Crew this season have been defending inside the box and a lack of clinical finishing. You could say that a lack of midfield control in the second half was a problem this match, specifically, but that is largely because André Gomes was missing due to a calf injury. Arguably, luck got in the way more than a lack of clinical finishing when Diego Rossi rang the post with a chance to put Columbus up 3-2 (Rossi held his head in his hands for about 10 seconds after the play), but defending inside the 16m area remains a key weakness. You can't complain too much about Kelvin Yeboah's goals, as those are nearly impossible to prevent once the ball gets to him, but Steven Moreira basically gave Anthony Markanich a ride on his back instead of staying upright and marking properly at the far post on the winner. It stings when those kinds of details break down repeatedly at the end of matches, especially as Moreira himself is usually so sound one-on-one.
Setting all that aside, there were some clear bright spots for Columbus. Taha Habroune, playing at #8 alongside Dylan Chambost at #6 sans Gomes, looked imperious on the ball. He is quite an efficient dribbler. He doesn't need to shoulder feint or do tricks or knock the ball past players to beat them. Just goes by players with pure ball accuracy and economy of touches and uses his teammates well. His goal combination with Max Arfsten showed off his minimalistic technique. This is exactly the type of player you want as a manager if, like Rydström, you don't want to play with a structured attack because he will order it for you.
I couldn't help but wonder if the team would be better served by playing Hugo Picard in a deeper role. He has been instructed to push high up the pitch and join the front line to create a 2-5-3 shape when the Crew have the ball. This is absolutely the right decision tactically by Rydström (perhaps he has been reading these?) – one of the wide midfielders needs to push up to stretch the defense, help create chances, and balance the formation. The issue is that Picard's strongest attributes are his speed without the ball and his endurance/work rate. This makes him most useful as a presser in the final third. He can score a few scrappy goals like the one he netted in this game, but he isn't going to move the needle much as a creator or finisher. His strong points, on the other hand, are useful anywhere on the field, and the player has a history of versatility and adaptability playing in France.
The other wide midfielder, Arfsten, has been playing deeper, perhaps with the thinking to give him more space and opportunities to beat back-footed defenders one-on-one on the counter and either switch play or head for goal. However, his quality as an attacker has been increasingly manifest lately. His solo work in tight spaces and connections with Habroune have been impressing me more than anything else. We know Arfsten does well in the role Wilfried Nancy had for him – maybe he could shine even more playing closer to the goal instead of the friar Picard.
Rydström's stuff is good. There are still some personnel questions to resolve (in addition to the ones raised here, I remain an advocate for shifting Sean Zawadzki around the lineup as needed instead of playing Chambost out of position at #6 while Gomes recovers). Clearly, a few hard days need to be put in on the training ground, defending inside the 16m and defending set pieces. Unfortunately, that's the man-marking aerial bombardment era we live in. May Columbus and other MLS clubs continue to try to beat it back.
Rydström's postgame
Subscribe, like, share, rate and review. Especially subscribe. It helps.
Thanks for reading. If you're enjoying what you see and you are of a mind, click on the link below and leave a tip. If you've yet to subscribe, consider making a small hop over a paywall. It'll help keep local, independent media disrespected. You can follow me @MichaelArace1.bsky.social. Have a nice day.
Click below to leave a tip. Thanks.
Michael Arace
