Post-match: Henrick Saves Crewsmas - Crew v Chicago - Match 3 - 3/7/26 7:30P

There was a recent piece on Massive Report that made the case that the Crew's main problems rest in central midfield. I think it was pointing to defensive breakdowns in games 1 and 2, primarily, and not so much the offense. But you can make the argument that the complete loss over the past two years of what was the best CM duo in MLS is a change that affects how this team plays in all aspects of the game. And so Taha ends up needing to try and do stuff he's not good at doing. Zawadzki, too, I'd argue. The entire team looks shapeless and reactionary, always on the back foot. I know that Nagbe actually lost the ball a handful of times last year as he slowed down. But, still, this team went from a system where players could "get the ball to Darlington" who would almost never be dispossed and competed close to 100% of his passes to.. well, whatever it is that we're seeing in CM now.

Unless Gomes arives and is able to change that dynamic, it's hard to see this club getting a lot better in the near term. The backline doesn't inspire confidence. This team has never won a championship without a top shelf central midfielder or two. Brian Carroll was a key piece of that '08 team. It was Nagbe with a pretty damned good Artur back in '20, and of course the coming out party for Morris in the MLS Cup final. Then Morris and Nagbe as a league-wide dominant pairing once Morris returned from his knee injury and, especially after Nancy arrived. To say that our current CM situation is a shadow of what it once was is an insult to shadows.

 

Watching Berhalter and AZ cook in vancouver last night, oof. I was done with AZ tbf; he is working better as a true winger.

 

Vancouver is very good, obviously. But Portland just got trucked. It was 4-1 and it wasn't nearly that close. Berhalter has some work to do.

On the plus side, they still looked more alive than the Crew did last night. Forget the new coach/new system/new shoes or whatever bullshit; the boys in yellow looked like a weak NCAA team. No pace, no continuity, no connections, no clue.

And Taha has regressed into the kid he was 2 years ago. He barges ahead with great gusto, which is splendid, but gives the ball away, makes terrible passes and cannot seem to figure out defending.

And without Nagbe holding the team together, they all look out of sync.

 

And Seb was a Crew Homegrown. Porter had no use for him. One wonders if Nancy would have had a different perspective on the player.

 

Yeah, I was watching that match also. AZ looks like a completely different player teamed up with Berhalter, Mueller, White, etc.....

 

We don't have any WB depth with Farsi hurt and Lappalainen gone. Arfsten & Herrera ran out of gas and we could not make a sub. Soeaking of...

Gazdag could not get into this game. 0-0 draw. Picard the only offensive sub.

We suck. We are not 1 player away, more like 4 or 5. CB, CM, wingback depth, a real creative force at DP, and real attacking depth.

Not a playoff team.

 

I agree that to get back to the kind of roster quality we had in the first half of 2024, we’d need to add several players. But adding a commanding CB, and a CM that was remotely in the ballpark of what we had with either Morris or Nagbe would get us a long way.

In 2023, we had this amazing crop of Homegrown, Gen Adidas and supplemental players who cost nothing against the salary budget and became starters (or got quality minutes as subs). That pipeline’s run dry. And that’s exposed bad decision making in our DP and U-22 signings. The current FO doesn’t seem capable of addressing that situation, though I guess I should give the benefit of the doubt to our latest Azerbaijani U-22.

 

When I saw the team looks the same, I mean it looks slow, both mentality and physically.

I mean that outside a few chances, our possession is sterile.

That our defense looks ineffective.

Wr still lack thrust from midfield. Last year it was just because that's how Nagbe plays in the attacking third (his one major flaw) but at least he was good in the middle third. I'll say it until I'm blue in the face, Zawadzki isn't a CM. We have JAG Sejduc and offensive blackhole Bangoura on the bench. Gomes can't get here fast enough.

 

Yeah. Dude has some tools, but it's not working.

 

Bangoura has shown me he can tackle a dude. He might not have a ball progressing skill at all, but if you get him out there and put sean back at CB, you can let the rest of the team be a little more comfortable with a safety net.

 

Yeah, love that Issa made a bunch of moves, but he still frustratingly neglected glaring holes.

 

They play Miami midweek , while we will be fully rested

…. so your saying there’s a chance ???

yeah a chance we have another boring home draw

 

Yeah i brought this up last week

AZ > Gazdag
AZ > Picard x2

we all wanted more from Tiny Vampire but he is also better than Gazdag & Picard

We have a bad roster it’s the GM fault not the head coach

 

The east to me is significantly weaker this year. I was optimistic thinking maybe we could get 5th place because of this but I think we are still a boderline playoff team who will make playoffs and lose in first round. It’s early in the season so the players need time to adjust and we definitely need more quality players. So I agree with everything you say and know think we are definitely looking like a 8/9 seed.


teams I think we are better than :
DC United
Philly
Toronto
New England
Orlando
Atlanta
Montréal

 

Taha, gazdag and Picard aren’t good enough to start right now. Chambost is somehow our best CM and also just average, which is concerning. Herrera went from helping to create a ton under Nancy to being mostly invisible offensively while remaining questionable defensively. I’d much prefer Farsi if this is how we are using that position. Max is still creating the most looks, Rossi is trying to as well but isn’t as successful taking folks on with the ball.

I’m mostly just surprised as to how boring we look. We used to pass out of dangerous presses in our box with quick, slicing passes, we now just hoof it out. Not sure what we are doing in build up. And we are still so slow. Just play over the top or make long switches and teams can have breakaways on goal.

Our second most expensive player can’t get off the bench in a 0-0 match at home.

Not loving it at the moment.

 

Based on the gameplan, lack of subs, and that the entire bench played a scrimmage after last night's game, im betting Henrik came up with a defensive gameplan and stuck with it, even with the numerous absences and game injuries for chicago.

We parked 5 players in a pyramid/trapezoid shape in front of our goal, and taha and herrara didnt venture much beyond that structure either, leaving Rossi, Abou Ali, and Max to try to connect, in a system where you need 5 players compact together. When we did have consistent possession, we brought moreira and herrara forward, but didnt send more than 2 into the box. Probably to protect against counters.

Gregg was happy to get a draw and had 4 decent chances to get a win. Both teams illustrated the larger trend in the global game of parking a bunch of defensively minded players in the center of the goal. A trend that henrik's system is supposed to counter.

First non winner home opener at the new crew stadium.

 

How far in advance was Cuypers’ absence announced? The substantially more defensive approach may have been based on the assumption he’d be playing. Henrik was asked about only one sub in the pst game presser. He didn’t have much of an answer.

 

It was late, and he was only listed as questionable. But heard he was doubtful friday night. I follow mls on too many sources now to remember where I heard that

Just listened to the presser. Its a little broken English but sounded like he played more conservative "to take the medicine" and he might have said he over corrected. He considered going to a back 4 putting Thiare on, but thought that would create too much risk. He also said other teams in MLS were not good in how they dealt with teams in a back 5 a few years ago, and now they know how to make up the numbers.

 

Worse, we had cosplay GGG calling the shots.

 

This team, and most for that matter, will never be successful running the offense along the touch lines. It was pretty darn evident we were playing not to lose -- and putting all of our hopes into an errant cross or corner where we get lucky.

 

Henrik too was upset by the number of crosses.

 

And that is ALWAYS shit soccer.

If you cant attack down the middle, and control the middle defensively, you will suck. Every time.

 

I am not a brilliant soccer strategist. I would be delighted with even being called average one. But even I can see if they shut down Ali and keep Rossi guessing that most of middle is not good at best or ineffective at worst. And when you are vulnerable to counter attacks like we have been for the past 2 or 3 years you get situations like the end of yesterday's match where a good save is all that stands between laying a massive turd and sharing a point.

I don't have a problem giving the the coach the benefit of the doubt for a few more games or more to see players in real world situations. Chambost isn't the answer but does provide experience and a calmness ??? Gazdag should be the answer but clearly isn't. I'm willing to give Picard more chances but would also like to see Habroune grow but that may take a while...

Then again, what do I know...

 

Chicago made three consecutive goal line saves in the second half. If we had scored in the sequence and won 1-0, how would the mood in here have changed?

 

Considerably, I guess. Just like if Abou Ali had knocked in that PK in Kansas City. We could easily have 6 points instead of two.

A bit like 2025, perhaps. When we banked a lot of points early despite having a roster with Cucho and Morris sized holes, lots of open roster spots, and no obvious plan to address either need. We won games despite those flaws. But they caught up with us in the end.

This year, not so much. Even if we had won two games, however, I still think there would be a lot of criticism over the way we'd played. On the other hand, there'd also be the "points are points" side. Winning ugly is what good teams do. Right now, though, we're just losing and drawing ugly.