Frustration continues to build for the Crew as they dropped their fourth game less than a quarter of the way through the regular season.
The Crew fell 2-1 on the road against the New England Revolution on April 18, despite taking a one-goal lead into halftime. With their possession rate decreasing from 52.7% to 47.4% by the end of the game, the Crew took just one shot in the second half before stoppage time and allowed the Revolution to score their goals off set pieces.
“What happened in the second half was that we covered more than took a step forward,” Crew coach Henrik Rydstrom said. “[New England] didn’t create anything. They had a wide free kick, a soft free kick, and they scored on that. My goal was that we don’t get affected by those kind of things, but of course, you get affected.”
New England took three shots on target throughout the game, two coming from its goal-scoring set pieces.
The first goal came in the 54th minute, when forward Dor Turgeman converted forward Luca Langoni’s free kick from outside the Crew’s box into a diving header. Turgeman also set up the second goal. He was fouled by defender Rudy Camacho inside the box, which allowed for midfielder Carles Gil to take the game-winning penalty kick at the 85-minute mark.
Of the Crew’s four losses, three have been conceded in the second half after taking an early lead.
“It’s tough right now,” Crew midfielder Max Arfsten said. “I think we just, once again, got the lead and then stopped playing as aggressively, offensively and defensively, and then you saw what happened.”
Arfsten scored the Crew’s lone goal during the 25th minute, capitalizing on an open goal while goalkeeper Matt Turner was out of position.
Crew’s frustration displayed throughout second half
As the clock ticked away, the Crew’s frustration with the game became evident.
Columbus was shown three yellow cards, all after New England scored its first goal, starting with midfielder Andre Gomes getting hit with one for a foul near midfield, leading to him exchanging words with Turner.
Gomes’ frustration seemingly resulted from officials calling his foul after missing a tackle against Crew defender Steven Moreira a minute earlier. Arfsten, however, admitted that other moments, including his own yellow card violation, stemmed from frustration regarding this game and the season overall.
“It’s a little bit of both,” Arfsten said. “I know I hit that guy [Ilay Feingold] at the end. I was just pissed. It had nothing to do with him. I think we all just got aggressive and frustrated as the second half went on, and I think it’s natural.”
Crew played ‘too passive’ in second half
New England took control of the game by dominating possession in the second half.
“We were then too passive with the ball,” Rydstrom said. “It’s a mental aspect of the game that you have chased the ball a little bit without them creating, and then you want to rest when you have the ball. We can’t do that.”
Outside a missed opportunity from midfielder Dylan Chambost just seven minutes into the second half, the Crew attempted all their second-half shots in stoppage time, with four being taken in the span of six minutes.
“We need to understand that we need to be even better in the second half with the ball so we force them to defend longer,” Rydstrom said. “We were not good with the ball.”
Crew need to start turning results around as regular season continues moving forward
With just one win and 10 goals scored through eight games this season, compared to 12 goals conceded, the Crew have already fallen far in the standings, sitting in 12th in the Eastern Conference.
The loss of striker Wessam Abou Ali to a season-ending ACL injury will likely make rising in the conference even more of an uphill battle, but time is on the Crew’s side, as they have seven months still in the season to correct the course.
“It doesn’t sound super amazing to say, but we just have to take it one day at a time,” Arfsten said. “Train hard, just get on the same page as players on the field and really just take more accountability, myself, of course, included. … We know what we’re doing right now is not working, so we have to do something to change, and it’s on the players.”
bmackay@dispatch.com
@brimackay15
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Frustrations rise for Columbus Crew following loss vs New England: Takeaways
Reporting by Brianna Mac Kay, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
