The Columbus Crew had yet another up and down week, getting a draw against Pumas to advance to the Leagues Cup quarterfinals before falling away at Charlotte on Saturday. The Black & Gold secured a draw in regular time against Pumas, grabbing an extra point by winning the penalty shootout to secure their advancement into the second phase of the tournament. After four days of rest, the Crew suited up again, this time against Charlotte in MLS play. A disastrous first 10 minutes where Columbus went down 2-0 seemed to spell doom, but the Black & Gold fought back courtesy of Chase Adams to make it 2-1 at halftime. The Crew had some momentum in the second half but was unable to convert and left the backline open for Charlotte to grab the third. The 3-1 loss is only the second in Laurent Courtois’ time as interim head coach since Henrik Rydström was let go.

Every team enjoys advancing in a tournament, but Columbus’ momentum took a huge hit with a loss to Charlotte in league play, where they cannot afford many slip ups to make the playoffs. Let’s dive into all the tactics that went into the Black & Gold’s matches this week.

The pros and cons of not having a pure striker vs. Pumas

Ever since Wessam Abou Ali went down with a knee injury at the beginning of the season, the Crew often opted not to play with a true striker in the lineup.

Employing the system Rydström and Courtois do, Columbus instead opted for a fluid attack with versatile players, but none a true out-and-out no. 9. Fans saw this approach again when the Black & Gold took on Pumas, which have some positive and negative byproducts.

As always, let’s start with the positives. One of the best things having a fluid front three with more technical attacking midfield style players in it is the improvement of buildup and interchanges.

Against Pumas, the attack consisted of Daniel Gazdag, Brais Mendez and Dylan Chambost. In those three, there is no clear attacking poacher or no. 9, which allowed for a lot of fluidity in positioning.

In this game against Pumas, the attack did something out of the ordinary though. Traditionally within the Crew’s fluid front three, the players up top switch up who drops in and stays high. In this game, Mendez and Chambost played to their strengths by dropping deeper, while Gazdag pushed high against the backline.

This is why Gazdag did not get on the ball much outside of the attacking third. He wanted to press up against that Pumas backline to keep the defenders where they were, hopefully creating space for Mendez and Chambost underneath. Fans in Columbus have not seen that much in the past few months, but expect to see Mendez occupying a more traditional no. 10 position now that he is included in the team.

The build up with that front three in the game was exceptional. Having Mendez as the central cog with Chambost next to him and Gazdag up top made building out of the back and keeping possession in attack much easier. When the attack could get the wingbacks involved, the Crew looked dangerous.

The downside of not having a striker in the attack is simpler, Columbus does not have a pure scorer in the XI.

This is why the Black & Gold were so good in 2023. The attack was extremely well balanced with players who could do everything. Diego Rossi played deeper, but could go up top. Cucho Hernandez was a jack of all trades, but at his core could score at will. Typically those two were paired with Alexandru Matan during that season, who provided assist after assist while playing deeper.

That is what the Crew is missing right now. With Abou Ali out of the lineup, they do not have a clear-cut no. 9 who can come into a starting lineup and score a scrappy goal. The signing of Josef Martinez is promising, but there are questions on if he is a starting caliber player. Adams played well against Charlotte by getting a goal, but outside of that contribution he was relatively pedestrian.

Losing Abou Ali was backbreaking early in the season for Columbus, but the Black & Gold have done little to replace him in the lineup with another no. 9. The signing of Gonzalo Tapia will help as well, but there is no clear indication when he will be ready for action.

What the Crew are missing is a attacker to keep the defense honest over the top and poach in the box. If Columbus can get that and have Gazdag and Mendez work underneath, the Black & Gold could get on a roll.

Trouble in the boxes vs. Charlotte

On Saturday night, the Crew came out with a different lineup than fans saw earlier in the week against Pumas. Mendez, Mo Farsi, Rudy Camacho, Steven Moreira and Andre Gomes were all relegated to the bench in favor of others. With Courtois fielding this inexperienced lineup, the only explanation would be to save legs for a matchup with Montreal on Wednesday.

The lack of experience on the pitch was showcased on both ends in the 18-yard boxes. In the first ten minutes, the Columbus defense absolutely fell apart to gift Charlotte two goals.

First, the Black & Gold proved they still cannot defend reliably in a back four when Brandt Bronico snuck in behind the defense in a gap to nutmeg Patrick Shulte and open the scoring. Defense does not check their shoulder and pay the price by going down 1-0.

A few minutes later, Tarun Karumanchi tries to play out of aggressive pressure by sending a poor pass back to Schulte which the goalkeeper mishandles into a giveaway. Chambost goes into fight or flight and fouls the attacker to give Charlotte another goal from the spot.

The reality is simple. Since the Black & Gold have gone to a back four at the start of Rydström’s tenure and now into Courtois’, the Crew have struggled mightily. That could possibly be due to the fact that Columbus played with a back five for so many years, or the inexperience in this particular game.

Structure is not the only problem on defense though; it is also effort. In the second half the Black & Gold pushed hard for an equalizer, sometimes leaving themselves vulnerable at the back. On one counterattack, Taha Habroune simply stops tracking the run of a Charlotte attacker, leaving him unmarked in the box for an easy finish to ice the game at 3-1.

In fairness, defending is not Habroune’s main responsibility in the game as a part of the attacking trio for the Crew. Although in moments when the opposition is counterattacking, it should be all hands-on deck. Habroune did not track, instead giving up on the play to allow Charlotte to grab all three points.

Moving attention to the attacking box, there is not much to talk about due to a lack of ideas in and around it. That is the result of playing without a proper no. 9 who can make something happen.

The reality is that the Black & Gold were decently good between the boxes. The Crew kept possession and had good buildups but struggled when getting close to either goal. Fans will be hoping Courtois – who also had questionable lineup decisions on Saturday – will turn the team around as Columbus currently sits four points outside of a playoff spot.