Columbus Crew Vs New York Red Bulls: Crew full backs must be careful
The Columbus Crew like to push their full backs, Harrison Afful and Milton Valenzuela, extremely high up the pitch. But when they face the New York Red Bulls in the Eastern Conference semi-finals on Sunday, both will have to take great care.
Gregg Berhalter has had time to instill his style into the Columbus Crew players. It is why the sum of the parts is often greater than the individual quality of the players. The players understand what is asked of them innately and can thereby execute efficiently and cohesively.
One of the primary characteristics of Berhalter’s style is the use of the full backs, this season the dynamic pair, Harrison Afful and Milton Valenzuela.
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Berhalter asks his full backs to push extremely high up the pitch. He wants them to overlap the winger in front of them, get to the byline as frequently as possible and the whip crosses into the box.
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The pair has been impactful for the Crew this season in such roles. Both have six assists each with Afful adding two goals and Valenzuela, one. The width that they provide in the final third is invaluable to the Crew attack, stretching the opposing defence horizontally and opening up those pockets of space in central areas for Federico Higuain to work his magic in, as well as to create areas to Gyasi Zardes to drive into.
As Berhalter stated this week, the way that he demands his Crew side, and particularly the full backs, play is not especially secretive or tricky:
"“There’s no secret that the fullbacks are a big part of our attack. Getting them forward, getting them making accurate passes, accurate crosses, getting them into the penalty box is really important for us. They’ve done a good job of that lately.”"
But when the Crew travel to Red Bull Arena on Sunday afternoon in the second leg of their Eastern Conference semi-final with a slender, one-goal lead from the first leg, both Valenzuela and Afful will have to take care when it comes to their positioning.
The Red Bulls will press high up the pitch. They always do. And Afful and Valenzuela will have to provide Columbus with an outlet to help evade the press. But if they push too far up the pitch, especially when possession is not safely secured, there is the chance that Kaku and Bradley Wright-Phillips, as they like to do so brilliantly, will feed one another into the spaces that have been vacated down the sides of the centre-backs.
That said, it will still be important that the Crew offer some attacking threat. They cannot go completely into their shell and expect to hang on for the full 90 minutes. For that, Afful and Valenzuela cannot completely curtail their natural game. And so, we have a direct conflict: the natural desire to push forward versus the pragmatic need to remain compact and disciplined.
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Ultimately, it means one thing: the Crew must play with the right balance. Berhalter, I am sure, is aware of this. And his full backs will be too. But when it comes to executing their positioning on the pitch, both will have to take great care.