The Columbus Crew returned to MLS play on Saturday evening, taking on Real Salt Lake away from home. The Black & Gold’s lineup was heavily rotated, featuring only three regular starters such as Aidan Morris, Rudy Camacho, and Malte Amundsen. Columbus still played its brand of soccer but had to rely more on their defense against an RSL squad that sent out their first team. It was a back-and-forth contest, but it ended up goalless. Coming away with a point on the road with a heavily rotated squad will be seen as a win in Wilfried Nancy’s eyes.

Nancy still set his team up the same way but made some tweaks based on the personnel on the pitch. Let’s dive into those tactical changes that allowed the Crew to grab a point on the road.

Altered formation to accommodate the squad’s playstyles

When the lineups were released, the biggest question was the formation the Black & Gold would line up in. Players like Sean Zawadzki, Max Arfsten, Alex Matan, and Taha Habroune can all play multiple positions, so Nancy could have gone several different ways regarding the formation.

He opted to keep the defensive and pressing formation the same as usual with a 5-2-3. On offense though, the Black & Gold set themselves in a 3-2-2-3 with a boxed midfield.

The three center backs remained in their positions, although Phillip Quinton and Amundsen were free to go forward into the midfield if they wanted. Morris and Zawadzki were the two defensive midfielders, mostly staying in the center of the pitch as opposed to shifting outside like the midfielders did against Tigres.

Matan and Habroune were in front of Morris and Zawadzki as dueling no. 10s. They remained in the advance attacking positions but were free to drop deeper if the space was there. Will Sands and Arfsten pushed up from their wingback positions to be wingers while Jacen Russell-Rowe took a central striker role.

That was the base formation the Black & Gold were in, but like any Nancy team, it is subject to change as the game progresses.

One thing that changed was the number of players committed to the defensive midfield area. Both Morris and Zawadzki stayed in that area, but an outside centerback would step up as well based on where the ball was.

If the ball was possessed on one of the wings, the backside centerback would step into the midfield to help aid in switching the ball. The other outside center back would be support for the player in possession on that side

Another thing the Crew liked to do at times was push Matan and Habroune up to form a front five. The two midfielders would slide in alongside Russell-Rowe and give an extra punch to the attack. This move did not yield many fruitful results, but it was interesting to see them try to go after the win.

These changes did not net Columbus three points, but it allowed them to keep pressure on the RSL backline and come out with a draw.

Columbus’ press

The Crew kept their normal press going against Real Salt Lake, despite featuring a heavily rotated squad. Working out of a 5-2-3, the Black & Gold tried their best to create chaos and create turnovers that they could translate into attacking chances.

The front three consisting of Russell-Rowe, Matan, and Habroune would press the opposing defenders and try to contain them. Their job was not to allow the center backs to advance the ball through the center by getting beat off the dribble.

Behind them, Morris and Zawadzki stepped up to try and cut off the splits. Dropping midfielders tried to come back towards the defense to gain a numbers advantage, but Columbus’ dueling defensive midfielders followed them to ramp up the pressure.

On the outsides, the wingbacks’ job was to press high on RSL’s outside backs. If they could contain the outside while Morris and Zawadzki covered the splits, they could bottleneck the hosts.

With all the other players pushing up, the center backs for the Black & Gold would as well. This shortened the field for RSL, but it also left the Crew vulnerable in behind.

With both wingbacks committed to the press, the wide areas were only covered by the outside center backs. This allowed long balls over the top to expose the backline and give the hosts lots of quality looks on goal. With quick players like Diego Luna and Chicho Arango up top, it posed a mismatch for Columbus’ defense.

Luckily for the Black & Gold, none of RSL’s attacks resulted in a goal. Nobody ever roots for a game to end in a draw, but the Crew and Nancy will take the point and move on to the next game.