Waylon Francis Deserves to Start for Columbus Crew SC
There are plenty of problems currently plaguing the Columbus Crew but starting Waylon Francis could solve a few things for the team.
Right now the Columbus Crew are bad. Last year’s Eastern conference champions are sitting in the basement of the East averaging about a point a game. Many things have contributed to this fall from grace, injuries and even plain old bad luck have played their part. One thing I have not been able to understand though is Gregg Berhalter’s reluctance to put Waylon Francis back in his starting XI.
Francis, a regular in the Crew side that made a run to the MLS cup final in 2015 retained his spot for the first few matches of the 2016 campaign despite the off-season acquisition of veteran left back Corey Ashe. The start to the season did not begin well for the Crew, but a couple wins under the belt eventually and things are starting to look better.
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That is, until the now in famous 4-4 draw between the Crew and the Montreal Impact. The match that saw a feud between Federico Higuain and Kei Kamara reach a boiling point, and eventually Kamara traded to New England, also saw something else new. It was the first start of the season for Corey Ashe.
Since that match on May 7th, Francis has started only one match, since that match on May 7th the Crew have only won one match. Now clearly the results can not be based on one player, but let’s look at the logic here. Ashe, a veteran in the league is looked at as a more solid defender than Francis.
Not as fluid or dangerous going forward, but someone who can be counted on to take care of his defensive duties and do it well. With this information alone one can see the potential logic in making the switch of Francis for Ashe. The problem though, is at the time, the Crew’s problem was not that they were conceding a lot of goals, but that they could not seem to buy a goal.
In the first eight matches of the season the crew allowed 10 goals. Not great but just over a goal a game certainly leaves the team with an opportunity for points. In the eight games since Ashes’ first start the Crew have shipped in a whopping 15. It’s hard to get a win when your opponents are scoring almost two goals a game. Once again soccer is a team game, but the logic for making a defensive switch does not seem to make much sense here/ has completely backfired. The numbers for the two left backs, both going forward and in defense, don’t bode well for Berhalter’s decision though.
First we’ll look at the offensive stats for the two. This year both players have posted a 79% pass completion, but Francis boasts six key passes, two assists, and eight chances created to Ashe’s four, zero, and four in the same respective categories. Nothing too surprising here though as Ashe is supposed to be the defensive stalwart, but…… So far this season, per 90 minutes played Francis is averaging 2.4 tackles won, 2.81 interceptions, 1.25 aerial duels won, and .31 blocks. Good, but not amazing numbers. Ashe must be much better, right? For the same categories Ashe has averaged 1.13, 2.09, zero, and .16 respectively. The question must be asked then, what does Ashe add to the team? Unfortunately I don’t have the answer.
Recently, in Columbus’ 1-1 draw at home to the New York Red Bulls, Francis made an appearance off the bench and was a standout performer for his side having only played just 19 regulation minutes. He provided the assist that earned the Crew a point and possibly proved a point of his own. Even Berhalter himself heaped the praise on the Costa Rican national player after the match.
"[On Francis contributing from the bench] “I said that in the locker room to the guys… we know Waylon’s quality, and it’s just about getting him into a rhythm and getting him confidence. He’s a very good left back in this League.”- Gregg Berhalter"
The confusing thing for me, is when Berhalter knew his side needed a goal, lo and behold, he brought on Francis. Above, he freely admits to Francis’ quality, but refuses to start him. Columbus has struggled in front of goal all year yet Francis has only started in about half of those games. I can only think of a few possibilities.
First, is that Ashe’s first start just coincidentally came when the Crew started to lack quality in defense and in somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophecy, he has ‘had to stay’ in the lineup as a defensive precaution (in the mind if Berhalter at least). Second, as simply as Gregg put it, he just doesn’t think Francis is “in a rhythm” for the past couple months.
It should be said that the Crew have had a number of defensive injuries thus far and they may have contributed to Berhalter’s decision making too. First Choice center back Gaston Sauro has been injured most of the year, while right back Harrison Afful (best in the league, there I said it) missed a significant chunk of time with his national team in the African Cup of Nations, as well. Maybe Berhalter thought Ashe fit better with the ‘non-regular’ players he was forced to start for a few weeks.
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As I said earlier the Crew have a lot of issues at the moment and one player will not fix a team. That being said I think the inclusion of Francis would be a major step in the right direction. At this point Berhalter should be willing to experiment (again) as his job security has begun to manifest itself in whispers among the Columbus faithful. Not in mine, but it is not uncommon to hear this sentiment at a match or bar afterwards. Either way, here’s to hoping Kei Kamara wins a penalty and misses this weekend.