Just over halfway through the 2023 Major League Soccer season, the Columbus Crew sits in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, comfortably inside the playoff line and only seven points out of second place with a game in hand.

What has led the Black & Gold to an improved first half of the year compared to last season is an offense that has scored 36 goals in 18 games, the best average in the league. However, what has prevented Columbus from climbing higher in the standings is a leaky defense.

The Crew has conceded 26 goals so far this year, which ranks just outside the bottom third of all MLS teams. Only one other team with more than 25 points this season has allowed more goals, as the Black & Gold have only managed four shutouts in 2023 and have allowed more than one goal on seven occasions.

Yet despite what the numbers say, the Columbus players and staff aren’t overly concerned with the defensive issues.

“Very confident,” left wing back Malte Amundsen said of the defense playing better. “I feel like that now. But I know there are things that we’ve got to do right and trust me, we’re working on doing that. Because I actually feel confident now.”

One of the reasons for that confidence is that it has been some time since head coach Wilfried Nancy had his top defenders available to him. The established trio of Gustavo Vallecilla, Milos Degenek and Steven Moreira has not played together since late April.

In the five games prior to Degenek getting injured against Inter Miami on April 29, and with Vallecilla also suffering an injury nearly a month later, the Crew had only allowed four goals in the prior five games. However, since Vallecilla joined the list of absent starting center backs, the Black & Gold have conceded six goals in the last four matches.

Nancy has used a makeshift backline, moving Moreira, who was a fullback prior to this season, to the center of the back three, while playing Amundsen, who was acquired earlier this year to play left wing back, and central midfielder Sean Zawadzki on either side of him.

This would be challenging in any backline, but especially under Nancy. The head coach demands a lot from his center backs, asking them not only to defend but also to be part of the team’s possession style and build-up play.

“I would say, first of all, for the moment we play without a center back,” Nancy said when asked if he’s confident in the defense improving. “They are coming back step by step. So it’s going to be good also for the team to play also with a proper center back. What I mean also by that is that I’m happy also with the performances of my center backs actually because we are able to defend well with the ball because we take care of the ball in a good way and we’re able to find a good way to attack.”

Playing without true center backs has led to mistakes, both in possession and in defending. The two fullbacks and a central midfielder are used to having more cover behind them than just a goalkeeper, but that is not the case at center back.

Over the last two games, Columbus has improved as the back three has had more time to adjust, allowing just one goal in each match. However, the Crew has not kept a clean sheet since May 17 against a struggling LA Galaxy team.

According to Nancy, though, the defending over the last two games has been good, and the goals conceded are more about the team than the back three.

“The goal that we conceded against New York City, it could have been a midfielder, it could have been a forward,” Nancy said of the mistake in the last game. “This is more about decision-making. And before that, yes, we didn’t have the right decision-making, but also this is a specificity on that. But before that, we could have done better to keep the ball longer up the pitch. So for me, this is more about to find the balance between when we attack and when we defend.”

One thing that will certainly concern Black & Gold fans is the fact that Columbus has conceded late goals in the last two matches. Both the Chicago Fire and New York City FC scored in the 88th minute or later, reminiscent of last year when Columbus missed the MLS Cup playoffs largely because of late goals conceded.

However, the Crew isn’t worried that this will become a trend again.

“It hurts a lot. It hurts a lot because that makes it easier to forget that maybe it was 80 good minutes and then you have 10 minutes, or even just a moment sometimes, where it leads to a goal,” Amundsen said. “But that’s the game and it’s what matters because it doesn’t matter to have 85, 88 good minutes and then conceding a goal. So that hurts and that’s what we talk about, of course, because it cannot be a thing and I think it has happened too much and we’re working to find a way out of this. I cannot say it’s just bad luck because it’s happened more times but I feel comfortable that we are working on the right things to avoid this. And something has gone wrong but I’m sure we all learn from this and we’ll do better.”

The Black & Gold are getting healthier on the backline. Vallecilla and Josh Williams, who hasn’t played all year after a preseason ankle injury, are both off the injury report, although Nancy said Williams will play at least one game with Crew 2 to regain his match fitness. Degenek is listed as questionable for Saturday’s game against Nashville SC, but Nancy believes he is still a week away from being back in the lineup.

Columbus will also add Ukrainian center back Yevhen Cheberko to the roster when the transfer window opens in July. Having true center backs will help, but Nancy will continue to demand a lot from that position.

“We know that for the next challenge, we have to be strong defensively on the 1 v. 1,” the head coach said. “Because at the end of the day, yes we want to attack but to attack well, we have to accept the 1 v. 1. And to accept the 1 v. 1, we have to get players who love and who like to play on the 1 v. 1. So this is the balance that we have to find.”

Regardless of who is in the lineup or who has to play on the backline, the Crew players believe they can do better than they have in the first half of the season and start being more productive defensively.

“I think it’s very clear on our roles and what we have to do, each indivudal,” Amundsen said. “And obviously what we do in training makes me, I can only speak for myself, feel good about it. But then I know we lack it in the games but I feel like we’re so close and some things just have to fall into the right place by keep working on it and keep beliving in the way that we do it and then it will come I’m sure.”