The Columbus Crew returned to Lower.com Field on Saturday, this time facing off against former Black & Gold coach Caleb Porter and the New England Revolution. The Crew got off to a good start in the match, generating three goalscoring looks in the opening 15 minutes. The only downside for Columbus was the fact that none of the Black & Gold attackers finished off those looks. In 2025 Crew fashion, they conceded due to lazy defending just 10 minutes later. It would only get worse from there – as New England doubled the advantage in the 38^th minute thanks to shambolic goalkeeping and lackluster defensive work. After the introduction of Wessam Abou Ali, Columbus looked better. The Black & Gold had more dynamism in the attack and ended up getting a goal back in the 70^th minute courtesy of Daniel Gazdag. That goal would be the only bright spot in an otherwise frustrating match for the home side. The Crew pushed for an equalizer but never mustered one, falling 2-1 to New England.

The worrying trend of conceding preventable goals and not having the firepower to overcome it continues to plague Wilfried Nancy’s men. In an extremely embarrassing night in Columbus, let’s dive into the tactics.

The bad and the ugly

This is a section that has been written too much this season. Although Nancy has trademarked a stylish brand of soccer that is a proven winning commodity, the Black & Gold have been lackluster this season.

First, let’s start on the offensive side. In the opening 15 minutes of the match the Crew had three golden chances to go up a goal. Five minutes in, Taha Habroune nutmegs a defender and just gets the ball poked away from him as he shoots. While this chance could have been an early opener for Columbus, it was better last-ditch defending by the Revs that prevented disaster.

The next two chances are more egregious in terms of offensive malpractice. 13 minutes in, Dylan Chambost pokes a beautiful pass around the defender for an oncoming Ibrahim Aliyu to go one-on-one against the goalkeeper. With the whole goal to aim at – minus the physique of Matt Turner coming out to challenge – Aliyu clips a ball towards the back post and narrowly misses. A little while later, Daniel Gazdag gets played in on a perfect through-ball and forces Turner to make a save down to his right.

Within 15 minutes, the Black & Gold could have potentially gone up 3-0, but instead they had nothing to show for it. Aliyu’s miss was par for the course for a player who has been thrust into multiple positions and had little production to show for it. Gazdag is still continuing to figure out his footing in the team, but a player of his caliber needs to finish chances like the one he had in the first half.

There is no real tactical rhyme or reason behind the Crew’s offensive struggles other than the facts that they tend to pass the ball too much in the final moments, and they do not have that killer instinct.

These two habits have been the offensive mishaps Columbus had all season. Sometimes you need a player to be greedy and take shots. Other times an extra pass will guarantee a goal. Right now, the Black & Gold are looking for the extra pass too often and simply need someone to be a little greedy. In terms of the finishing woes, this goes back to not having a starting caliber no. 9 up top. Jacen Russell-Rowe and Aliyu are serviceable, but the simple fact of the matter is that they are better coming off the bench.

With that being said, the offense on Saturday was not nearly as bad as the defensive performance. Both goals New England scored came down to two things, complacency and sloppiness.

On the first goal, the Crew allow a quick throw to be taken without marking, Habroune and Malte Amundsen stagnantly watch as the Revs combine around them, and Andres Herrera does not get back to mark at the far post for an easy tap-in. Columbus had enough players to defend that attack – there was no overload. It all comes down to effort and intensity, which the Black & Gold did not have at that moment.

For the second goal, the same things ring true. As the Revolution pass around the back, Diego Rossi stops pressing. The Uruguayan stands there and watches as the New England defender launches a long ball into the streaking attacker. Sean Zawadzki and Amundsen fail to deal with the danger, while Patrick Schulte gets caught in no man’s land for an easy goal for New England.

Again, the trends of bad defense continue. Lack of urgency, switching off and poor judgement all played a part in the goal. Not to mention the shameful goalkeeping from Schulte, who has struggled as of late. Confidence seems to be a bigger issue than the team might realize, especially when they are bleeding goals at this rate.

All that being said, there is room for hope. The Crew still have seven games remaining before the playoffs begin, and they are still in the playoff picture. Even if Columbus makes the playoffs though, changes need to be made if any serious run is going to be taken.

The silver lining

If there is something good to be pulled from this game, it should be the attacking play after Abou Ali checked into the match. When the Crew’s new DP no. 9 came into the game, Columbus’ attack looked more potent and dangerous.

A lot of this had to do with his positioning and physique. The Black & Gold like to get wide overloads using their wingbacks and outside centerbacks to whip crosses into the box. Without a large target like Russell-Rowe in the game, the Crew struggled throughout the first half to find attackers in that area.

When Abou Ali checked in, you could see how the Revs defense had to react. New England paid more attention to Abou Ali, which then forced them to drop back into the 18-yard box more. Not only did this stagger the defense, but it gave Columbus more space up top to combine and slice through the defense.

One of the best examples of this happening was actually on Gazdag’s goal. Abou Ali drops more into the center of the box which allows Gazdag to play a one-two with Amundsen. The new Palestinian striker created the pocket of space for Gazdag to run into and finally get his first Black & Gold goal from the run of play.

This is why the signing of Abou Ali will be important beyond the standpoint of just scoring goals. Abou Ali will open up more spaces for Rossi and Gazdag to exploit throughout the game, which could even allow the finishing woes to be exercised. It will be interesting to see if Abou Ali will play more of a Christian Ramirez poaching role, or a Cucho Hernandez do-it-all role, but time will tell.

The good news for the Crew is that the reinforcements have arrived just in time. Unfortunately Columbus could not grab a win or a tie, but there is still time to make a late-season push before the playoffs begin.