Crew Lose at Home, Red Flags

Last weekend's game against previously last-place Portland Timbers proved to be more than just a loss. What we witnessed was a clear truth: Caleb Porter is not Greg Berhalter. And this team is starting to look a little frustrated.

The rare home loss for Columbus didn't do too much damage on the overall table as they only dropped one spot to 9th. It's pretty clear that this position is due to a home-heavy early schedule (5 of 8) at this point. Sorting the table by most home games shows us simply that teams with the most home games are higher up on the table.

PPG	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
2.57	LA Galaxy	7	6	0	1	13	7	6	18
2.44	Los Angeles FC	9	7	1	1	25	7	18	22
2.29	Seattle Sounders FC	7	5	1	1	15	9	6	16
2.17	Toronto FC	6	4	1	1	18	11	7	13
2.17	Houston Dynamo	6	4	1	1	13	8	5	13
2.00	FC Dallas	8	5	1	2	14	9	5	16
1.75	DC United	8	4	2	2	12	9	3	14
1.63	Philadelphia Union	8	4	1	3	12	9	3	13
1.63	Columbus Crew	8	4	1	3	8	8	0	13
1.43	Minnesota United	7	3	1	3	17	15	2	10
1.38	Orlando City	8	3	2	3	12	13	-1	11
1.38	Montreal Impact	8	3	2	3	8	14	-6	11
1.29	Chicago Fire	7	2	3	2	12	11	1	9
1.29	Sporting Kansas City	7	2	3	2	15	11	4	9
1.25	Real Salt Lake	8	3	1	4	10	14	-4	10
1.14	New York City FC	7	1	5	1	9	11	-2	8
1.00	FC Cincinnati	8	2	2	4	8	13	-5	8
0.88	New England Rev.	8	2	1	5	6	12	-6	7
0.86	San Jose Earthquakes	7	2	0	5	10	17	-7	6
0.83	Atlanta United	6	1	2	3	5	8	-3	5
0.71	New York Red Bulls	7	1	2	4	8	9	-1	5
0.63	Vancouver Whitecaps	8	1	2	5	6	11	-5	5
0.57	Portland Timbers	7	1	1	5	9	18	-9	4
0.25	Colorado Rapids	8	0	2	6	12	23	-11	2

RED FLAGS

1. PORTER THE GRUMP. 
To start, Porter is a very stoic person that has a crappy "I'm disappointed in you" face or worse "just don't talk to me" demeanor. Leadership, coaching takes many types, but what comes off from him is, well, off-putting. It's been this way since he was in Portland. I don't think players particularly respond positively to it when the team is winning, so when it's not working things go in the toilet. Example here is when Robinho was subbed off for Justin Meram. Robinho just went straight to the bench and threw a fit. Porter just stood there, arms folded (a behavior that says stay away, which he does all the time). It's a small moment, but it's hard for guys with Porter's non-communicative style to rein in stuff like this. It'll fester.

2. CAN'T SCORE.
A growing problem by the minute. 8 goals in 8 games and over half coming from central defenders and flukes. Goals come in all shapes and sizes, but Columbus is getting zero from open play. Teams seem to know what's coming as well. Prevent crossing opportunities and you beat the Crew.

3. NO FANS
Hard to say where the support is. The excuse could be that the new ownership group just needs to find their footing, but it's likely more a hangover from the intensity of last year combined with Blue Jackets fever. On a side note - we haven't heard much, if anything, about new stadium plans. Momentum has come to a crashing halt.

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Crew are back at it again tonight. DC. Keeping an eye on player body language.