There’s always something new to see at Crew Stadium. This week we sat to the right of the tunnel before the game and learned that there is such a thing as MLS groupies. I hadn’t considered that. It’s also an interesting vantage point for watching warm-ups and pre-game sideline traffic. There’s a lot more going on than I realized. As the game unfolded, we moved to the Nordecke for the first time. It also has its charms. In fact, my boy finally got to field a pass from the t-shirt cannon. After 3 years of no clear-soda love in our season seats, we get the shirt lobbed to us after 10 minutes with the Hooligans. Thanks t-shirt cannon!

There’s a lot to be happy with on the field. The Crew looked dangerous straight out of the gate with two corners, two direct kicks in the offensive end, and one goal all in the first 15 minutes.

RSL’s success this season is largely attributable to the artificial turf at Rice-Eccles Field, but they’ve made some progress building an interesting midfield. In moments and flashes they showed clever passing and strong cooperation, but those moments were rare, especially in the first half. With this loss they fall to 1-8-1 on the road. I just hope they get another road win against New England on October 4. The turf in Gillette Stadium might even things up. Go Xangos! Channel the power of the mangosteen to destroy Taylor Twellman.

RSL’s game against the Crew didn’t leave me with much to say about them even though they controlled the last 25 minutes of the game. Again, I chalk that up to a bad decision by the Crew. At least they’re consistent. I long for the day William Hesmer plays short balls out of the box – on saves and goal kicks – that are directed TO SOMEONE. The Crew’s up 3-0 this week, 2-1 last week, and yet Hesmer is sending rockets way down field that are 50-50 balls at best. Please stop having him do this. In a game where the Crew field players showed an impressive knack accurate passing, what is there to gain from long ball? In this case, RSL got 10 of their 12 shots from this failed strategy. Please fix this Mssrs. Schmid and Kirillov. The man could stop a bullet. His play is as Hesmerizing as a new stadium banner puts it, but the coaches need to consistently work for possession in the second half when the team’s ahead.

I hate to make that complaint when the first half showed excellent control of the ball, dominating possession, and more grace than an underage Chinese gymnast. Hesmer pitched short balls out to Padula, Hejduk, and O’Rourke and avoided any of the confusion and miscommunication of last week. He even had the confidence to roll a ball across the open mouth of the goal to O’Rourke at one point. I swallowed my tongue for a second, but it worked out. The defensive effort in general looked strong. Hejduk and Padula came forward when they needed to but got quick and effective coverage from the midfield when they did so. Brad Evans was stronger on defense than he’d ever been able or commissioned to be in the past. Eddie Gaven and Robbie Rogers also contributed on defense. In the first half, the midfield pressured RSL as they mounted attacks, and the back line played the angles effectively without ever overcommitting to a tackle or run they might not make.

This game’s first half was the most clearheaded defensive performance in quite some time. Danny O’Rourke was solid in central defense. Chad Marshall was a rock. The midfield showed a commitment to the clean sheet. That’s in the first half anyway. In the late second half the defense played well, although they seemed fatigued. The lack of possession really put them on their heals and led to 9 second-half RSL corner kicks. This will turn ugly if not fixed.

Schelotto set up Marshall’s great header in the 15th minute from a direct kick perfectly directed to the back post. A few weeks ago Guille told Shawn Mitchell that on direct kicks into the box he aims for Chad. It seems like a winning strategy with Marshall getting more goals this season than ever before.

In the 25th minute Schelotto scored off of a penalty kick that was certainly earned when Nat Borchers took down Eddie Gaven as he reeled in a great through ball from Guillermo. Gaven crossed the ball that found Brad Evans at the back post in the 55th minute. Gaven missed a header early in the match that probably should have found the net, but he played pretty well all told. If he could put just one of the balls Guillermo is playing to him into the back of the net, I think it would make all the difference for him through the playoffs.

On Evans’s goal you can see Moreno making for the near post while Evans reaches the ball at the back post. Columbus seems to have gotten very consistent in getting in position to make its goals. I think that’s an example of the confidence the team has in one another – especially with Schelotto’s on-field leadership – that makes the Crew a strong contender to stay at the top of the table. That is, of course, if they can hold their improvements in possession all the way to stoppage time.

Last week’s game against the Rapids was the first without Rogers and Ekpo. Sigi debuted a 3-5-2 starting line up with Lenhart up top with Moreno in his first start. Hejduk was moved from defense to the midfield as the fifth man. With Schelotto playing a bit back compared to most games.  I thought it made sense to formalize Hejduk’s position in the midfield since he’s been playing up there for a month. But with Hejduk out does the 3-5-2 still make sense?

Possibly. If they keep the 3-5-2 Jason Garey is going to be as effective as Lenhart up top. In Colorado, Schelotto was teamed in the midfield with Miglioranzi, Gaven, Carroll, and Hejduk. Rookie Corey Elenio looked sharp in the two international friendlies if Sigi wants to make Hejduk’s spot offensive minded. Ezra Hendrickson could get the nod for his experience and a more defensive mindset. 

Brad Evans took a knock to the ankle in Denver and may not be available. Miglioranzi played 45 minutes against the Rapids with Evans playing the other 45. I think bringing a fresh midfielder in at the half is great idea if they both understand that they’re expected to give 90 minutes of effort in 45. Elenio could be kept back for the second half.

If they go back to a 4-4-2 I think we still see Garey up top and Schelotto in center midfield, but Ezra’s a shoe-in on defense, although Jed Zayner seems to have Sigi’s eye.

Enticingly, Sigi barred Shawn Mitchell (everyone really, but Mitchell’s pretty sure he just means him) so that line-up and tactical decision don’t make it into the press before game time. Evidently Sigi felt like the 3-5-2 change should have been hard for the Rapids to adjust to, but since it was in theDispatch before game time, they came out ready to defend against it, effectively shutting down the Crew’s plan of attack. Could Sigi have some nefarious plan of attack up his teutonic sleeve?

Houston made a decent showing when they came to Columbus, showing good attacking play in the second half, although Columbus handled everything they brought. The Dynamo seems to improve measurably as their seasons go on, and they’ve made a good showing in SuperLiga this month. They’re still only a middle of the pack Western Conference team at this point, but they should not be taken lightly. Two factors that may contribute to a Columbus result are that Houston might show some fatigue from their SuperLiga match being just 4 days ago and, All-Star Dwayne DeRosario is out. 

Against Chicago Sigi had Brian Carroll mark up Blanco. Carroll had his best performance of the season. Brian Ching has 7 of Houston’s 19 goals. DeRosario is the only other player with more than one goal. If Carroll can mark up Ching as effectively as he did Blanco, the Dynamo could be done. 

Finally, Columbus has struggled in their attempts to control possession. If they can concentrate on holding the ball and working quality chances forward – play they’ve shown capable of – Columbus could turn a match they probably should tie into a win. 

I really wanted the 3 points, but I’ll take it. For the most part, the Crew kept the game in the midfield and were able to contain the Fire there. But Chicago’s goals both came on well-executed couterattacks out of the midfield. Their goals were sick.
Part of the issue for Columbus was the persistent trouble of getting into a rhythm. But I think it was only a small part of these two goals. There were some errors early on coordinating defensive play, for example, Ekpo and Carroll let a weak ball slide right between them, into the penalty box and out the back simply because each thought the other was taking the ball. There were a few similar miscues between Hesmer and the defenders, but it wasn’t an error of that type that led to a 2-goal deficit. I had expected to see some adjustment after last week’s second-half difficulties against Colorado, but I didn’t see anything change. The Crew came out as a 4-4-2, which I think makes sense when they’re having trouble getting their footing, but Hejduk pushed forward well into the midfield, basically even with Brad Evans but out on the right side. Hejduk was an important part of the Crew’s success in controlling the midfield, but on the occassions Chicago broke away, he was essentially out of position. Chicago was more effective advancing on the Crew’s right side throughout the first half. I’m guessing that this as a coaching problem, however, not a Frankie problem. If Hejduk’s going to play up like this expectations for coverage need to be explicitly set by the coaching staff. The effectiveness of Hejduk’s coordination with Ekpo, Evans, and Carroll suggest that his role was planned, not improvised. It is possible that he was goal hungry, but nobody seemed upset with his positioning. Yet, the midfielders and the other 3 defenders all responded to the Chicago counter attacks as if there were 4 men to cover in the back. There weren’t.
In the second half when Warzycha expressly moved to a 3 man backline you could see that the coverage patterns were totally different. That’s because the midfielders and defenders all knew that the needs and expectations were different. Should the Crew start with a 3-5-2 so that everybody’s on the same page? Possibly. Does Ekpo need to change his positioning when Hejduk moves forward? Probably not. Whatever they change, it seems like they’ll need to balance their improved control of the middle third with the need be less vulnerable on counter attacks.
After the Galaxy game I was complaining about the Crew conceding the midfield from the center circle to the top of the box. They’re not doing that anymore. Chicago showed incredibly lethal passing on the attacks they were able to open up, but a less methodical attack would have been squealched in the midfield.
That said, it seems like the best way to score on the Crew is to lay the ball to the top of the penalty box, dead center, and rocket the thing in. Don’t worry about angles, or crosses crowding the box. Just kick it. These are the balls that are going in. Again, I think it’s a coaching issue, and possibly an unintended consequence of other adjustments. On the last 3 goals against the Crew defenders have been caught up flat at the top of the box. In an idealized 4-man zone defending scenario the defenders sort of corral the attacking players in the bottom of a U shape, but as the Crew defenders back up to the penalty box the U flattens out into a horizontal line parallel with the penalty box. I’m guessing that this might be intended to create an offside trap, but it so doesn’t work: just one offside call each against Colorado and Chicago. Anyway, the defenders are being caught flat and giving the attacking players the whole goal to shoot on. Hesmer can’t be expected to defend the entire width time after time. This needs fixed.

I thought the Crew looked really good in controlling the middle third and holding possession as they looked for attacking opportunities. The defenders were integral to this success, so it’s not like their is a problem with their game awareness, or the quality of their play over all. When the Crew controlled the ball the defenders did a great job finding targets and playing accurate balls forward when the ball was dropped to them. The Crew used negative space more effectively to control the flow of play in this game than in any other this season. They found solid opportunities to switch fields, set up probing attacks, and create lanes down the sidelines to build an effective attack against the Fire.
My wife felt that the Crew played the best attacking football she’s seen out of them, and I’m inclined to agree. Schelotto had an exceptional game. Some of that he conjured out of thin air – like Ekpo’s goal – but he had opportunities largely because the Crew fought for every ball, controlled possession better, and kept to their game even when they were down by two.
Brian Carroll was matched against Cuauhtemoc Blanco and definitely rose to the occassion. I was impressed. He seemed to be just about everywhere, all night. Blanco was stimied more often than not when he encountered Carroll. I think the focus on improving possession in the midfield showcased Carroll’s intelligence for the game. He played a strong role in developing offense play out of the back field. Where early in the season the Carroll’s focus was on just clearing forward to attacking players, this week he acted as part of both offensive and defensive units. He took a couple of shots late in the game that went well above the goal. I don’t begrudge him those. He was right to shoot. I’m sure he’ll spend some practice time getting over top of those so he’s on frame even when he’s exhausted.
Brad Evans also looked pretty good to me early in the game. He played to negative space effectively, and had a couple sharp give and go runs with Schelotto. He faded a little into the second half, but I think it was his best effort since his first start against San Jose.
I loved the attacking play. Ekpo’s goal pleased me. Schelotto stole the ball from Soumare on the left edge of the box. Moreno (who’d just lost the ball to Soumare himself), Evans, and Rogers were slow to react to the change of possession, but Ekpo reflexively ran to the near post, as he should. That reflexive goal-hound mentality that made Moffat dangerous in the margins is nice to see again.
Rogers is making effective runs without getting beaten up by the defense. They’ve been better giving him a man for a give and go, with Carroll, Evans, O’Rourke, or Schelotto laying the ball into the corner for him to outrace the defender. He’s crossing well and knows when to shoot rather than play across. Ekpo is largely Roger’s match, but he seems to be a little less willing to drop a ball back to Hejduk or Carroll. His ball handling is exceptional but sometimes a less clever, more effective choice could be to pull back a little rather than try to finesse his way to an open lane.
Schelotto’s set pieces have returned to form for the most part, but I’d like to see some more variety of execution. Offensive play seems well concieved and executed right now. I think there’s some room for experimentation, especially if we see a new addition to the roster in the transfer window.
Also, I’m wondering about the goals being scored against the Crew and whether the Crew is leaving similar opportunities out of their attack. If Columbus is vulnerable on direct shots from center, possibly other teams are as well. The Crew attack tends to be built around crossing balls from deep inside the final third where a head, foot, or hand of god might deflect the thing in. They might want to experiment with sending the ball to the top of the penalty box, dead center, at least on some counter attacks. Let’s say one time every ten attacks.

I liked the second half adjustments. The Crew controlled the entire second half, except for the first few minutes after Lenhart and Miglioranzi came in for Iro and Evans. It took a few minutes for Columbus to adjust to the new formation and I was ready to call the adjustment a failure about the time that Lenhart scored. Those last 10 minutes were insane. If there had been another 5 minutes in the game I think we’d be looking at a Crew win, for what it’s worth.
So yeah, the Crew gutted out an awesome fight to get the tie. Kudos. But who wants a tie when they’re in second place?

There are a lot of parallels between the Crew and the Fire. For one, the Crew is only 2-3-2 since May 17. The Crew had 4 games without a goal from 5/17 to 6/7, but have scored 8 goals in the 3 games since. The Fire hasn’t scored a goal since June 10, but even with those 3 goal-less games they maintain the best goal differential in MLS at 9, compared to Columbus at 5. Icredibly, Columbus and Chicago failed to score against the some of the same teams: both failed to produce against San Jose and Chivas USA during their goal droughts.

The Crew seemed to keep faith during their goalless streak, proclaiming in every interview that the goals would come. It’s hard to read the mind set of the Chicago side, even if Chad Barrett seems a little shaken by his failure to score. Still, it’s probably better for the Crew to assume the worst: Chicago wants to do the Crew at home like Columbus did Kansas City: a homestand shaming. With Sigi Schmid out this week for his daughter’s wedding, I’m curious to see how Robert “The Polish Rifle”
Warzycha directs the Crew, especially how he manages substitutions and halftime adjustments.
Mexican legend Cuauhtemoc Blanco plays a similar role for Chicago that Schelotto plays for Columbus: a veteran playmaker who can control play and create chances. Managing Blanco is a critical detail for Columbus this week. Defender Wilman Conde has recently stepped up to join Gonzalo Segares as stand outs in the back and should provide strong pressure against the Columbus attack.

Tomasz Frankowski, Chad Barrett, and Chris Rolfe provide attacking options up front, but offensive play has had trouble gelling and seems to get broken up in the midfield. Andy Herron left Columbus to start 2008 with Chicago and is competing for the starting spot in the attack. However, Herron went out after 16 minutes last week and won’t play this week due to a concussion.

A real standout for Chicago, even during this tough stretch, is South African midfielder John Thorrington. He has a strong presence on the field and transitions well from offensive to defensive play. Still, Chicago’s weakness seems to be in the midfield. They give up a lot of possession here, and haven’t been able to control the tempo of their recent games.

To win, Columbus will need to focus a little more on possession than in previous weeks and still be ready find opportunities for the quick, dangerous attacks and counterattacks that have led to many of this year’s goals. Controlling the midfield, especially winning 50-50 balls and aggressively pressuring Chicago in the middle third could really unlock the game for Columbus.

The game is not without risks. Denis Hamlett is likely to have noticed that Colorado was able to out-shoot Columbus last week, and were especially effective when they moved quickly out of the middle third, essentially chipping balls into the attacking third and hoping for the best. Columbus will need to sort out whatever defensive issues left men unmarked and the defense out run. Fatigue seemed an issue last week for the defense, which can be somewhat rectified if the Crew concentrates more on possession.
Similarly, defensive clearances and midfield play focused on moving the ball into the attacking third as quickly as possible as last week’s game moved to a close, even when Columbus was up a goal. The Crew lost possession too easily and allowed the Rapids offense to press the Crew defenders as they struggled with fatigue. Again, focusing more on possession and building to chances out of the midfield should help bottle up the Chicago attack, as well as soften their admirable defense.

Look for Hesmer to calm his play this week and to work on more effectively directing the defense. Danny O’Rourke should look strong on the left, but will need to mark his man carefully, and challenge aggressively as play approaches the defensive third, trusting Iro and Marshall to back him up. Hejduk will deliver. Iro and Marshall are building a rapport in central defense, but there seems to be some difficulty coordinating activities with Brian Carroll.
I am a huge Brian Carroll fan. He hasn’t gotten a lot of attention, but he has an impact that casual fans might not appreciate. Carroll has done so much to strengthen the Crew’s defensive profile, knowing where to be when to break up attacks as they develop. He fights for every ball. On the offensive side, Carroll has been effective in distributing balls down the line, as well as find ways to capitalize on balls dropped to negative space.
As the defense has retooled and Brad Evans has taken a persistent spot upfield of him, Carroll hasn’t quite sorted out his role whereas in the season’s original lineup he was always in the right place at the right time. I’m hoping that, again, shifting the focus slightly toward possession, Carroll can play a pivotal role in a victory.

Schelotto, Moreno, Rogers, and Ekpo should be able to provide some potent attacks, but will need to stay in step with one another. I’d like to see them mix up their pace of attack: taking the time necessary to craft solid tries developing out of a probing midfield in some cases, yet punching through to breakneck crosses in other cases. Brad Evans, and to a lesser degree Emmanuel Ekpo, need to hit their stride in the first half rather than into the second half as they often do. Evans should focus a bit more on pressuring Chicago when they possess the ball in their own half. He clicks well with Schelotto in the second half but needs to be ready from the first whistle.

Possession and tempo can win this one for the Crew, but I’m nervous about it. The Crew needs to be ready from the opening whistle and on every restart. Chicago will be hungry, so the Crew need to set the tone early and to get exceptional support from the 12th man that is Nordecke. I want 3-1 Crew, and will get it if Columbus executes. Chicago, though, will be playing for the win. If they’re up, it will be a serious challenge.

The upshot of all that is that the Crew still has one senior international spot open on their roster; anyone think they’ll use it any time soon? Personally, I doubt it; then again, I’m not looking all that closely either.

But Schelotto’s arrival still has me thinking about where he’ll play on the field when he comes – and, between the high-profile pursuit and the Crew’s need for goals, it’s fair to confident he’ll play on the field often as he’s able. My previous stab at this turned on a sort of “stuck-on-stupid” premise that Schelotto was a midfielder and that was the one and only place he could play; hence the talk of jettisoning the most recent soccer player to start his path to citizenship, Miglioranzi.

This blind-spot at least explains (pardons? c’mon, be a pal…) missing the obvious: Schelotto should play at forward, where the Crew definitely have more question marks than able players. That the Argentine ain’t young as he used to be recommends the move, especially given the low likelihood he’s got the legs to be a two-way player in MLS. For all that, however, it also seems wise to give Schelotto some space in which to operate – which drew me to the idea of using him as a withdrawn forward setting up behind two front-runners. And this takes a body on one of those strange, yet familiar, journeys through formation changes and the like. Perhaps the windiest path taken involved switching the Crew to a 3-4-3 (more like a 3-4-1-2, actually) that lined up like so:

GK:Gruenebaum
D (L to R): Rusty Pierce, Marcos Gonzalez, Frankie Hejduk
M (L to R): Ricardo Virtuoso, Ned Grabavoy, Danny O’Rourke, Eddie Gaven
F (L to R): Kei Kamara, Schelotto, Joseph Ngwenya

Coming off the top of my head, that’s kind of negotiable, but, fortunately, that journey lasted only as long as it took to get halfway through the latest edition of Sirk’s Notebook, a must-read feature, by the way, that runs in the Hunt Park Insider. The arresting passage:

“Our defense has been great all year, and I don’t just mean Andy and the back four,” said Hejduk. “I mean our entire team defense, from the top on back. The key with DC is to plug up the middle on Moreno and Gomez, and I think Danny, Ned, and Eddie Gaven did a great job of keeping them contained.”

Knock out the specific line about DC and focus on the “Andy and the back four.” It’s often tempting, especially in the arm-chair manager’s game, to tinker with formations and speculate about moving around players like easily interchangeable pieces. In truth, though, it’s hard (y’all) to get the players used to gaps being where they weren’t before, changes in position, where one expects the passes to go, etc.; moreover, changing a system that’s working well makes even less sense.

So here’s what I’m thinking: try Schelotto as a second forward and see what happens (alongside Kamara to name my preference).