Crew Defensive Middle Fielding

Now that the Crew are 13 games into the 2013 MLS season I figure it is as good as time as any to take a look at the defensive midfielder engine in Robert Warzycha's 4-2-3-1 formation.

It's a defensive focused formation, no doubt. This is Warzycha we are talking about.

To date, the formation has succeeded in only allowing an even 1.00 goals per game. If you dig a little bit deeper you'll also see that this team has not allowed more that two goals on the year. Going back to last year, it has only happened three times. To this degree, the Crew have been successful.

Also, it should be mentioned... very Polish.

So, how about the DM's the Crew trot out every week? There have been a few of them and they have a decent amount of minutes played of which to compare 2013 players. Let's start there.

Mins Played : Player
764 : Danny O'Rourke
585 : Tony Tchani
555 : Agustin Viana
374 : Matias Sanchez
106 : Kevan George
20 : Konrad Warzycha

Right off the bat I'm going to take Kevan and Konrad out. Not enough time. That leaves us with four dudes. First up, let's take a look at player ratings by various outlets around the internets.

Castrol League Rank Percentile : Player
36% : Agustin Viana
42% : Danny O'Rourke
47% : Tony Tchani
64% : Matias Sanchez

Interesting here that Viana jumps both Tchani and O'Rourke. Now let's take a look at WhoScored.com's ranking. Who is "Who Scored"? Well, look them up. They have access to all the Opta data and a lot of time on their hands.

WhoScored.com Percentile : Player
32% : Agustin Viana
70% : Matias Sanchez
75% : Danny O'Rourke
76% : Tony Tchani

Well, well. Viana stays at the top, followed up by Matias Sanchez. Next up are my player ratings. HELLTOWN PLAYER RATINGS.

Helltown Rating Percentile : Player
36% : Danny O'Rourke
44% : Tony Tchani
47% : Agustin Viana
57% : Matias Sanchez

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AVERAGE THEM UP

If you average the league rank of each of these Crew DMs, here is what you get:

38% : Agustin Viana
51% : Danny O'Rourke
56% : Tony Tchani
64% : Matias Sanchez

Pretty clear cut right? We've done the homework here. Three different player ratings gives us an accurate picture of who should start. Ok.

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Wait. What about opponent difficulty when playing? Gosh, I almost forgot.

Avg Opponent Rank : Name
10.0 : Matias Sanchez
10.8 : Tony Tchani
13.1 : Danny O'Rourke
14.0 : Agustin Viana

Thing here is that O'Rourke and Viana have played against the weakest competition. What this suggests is that the reason they are rated highest is because they have played crappy teams.

...and here is where Opta and most other player rating systems fail. They don't take into consideration the quality level of the opposing player.

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I'm working on it though. Draw your own conclusions on which DM should play this weekend. For me?

Well, I'm going to keep crunching the numbers.

A Look at O'Rourke and Grossman

The Columbus Crew are getting busy. A bunch of games in a short period of time means we get to see who is made of what and lots of different lineups.

Here is a quick look at why I think Danny O'Rourke and Cole Grossman should get a shot at starting a game together soon. I'm going to call it:

FIVE KEY THINGS ABOUT THE LAST FIVE GAMES THESE FIVE DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDERS HAVE STARTED

1. O'Rourke and Grossman have started together only once. Against Seattle (away) and it was one of, if not THE, biggest wins in the past two seasons.

2. O'Rourke and Grossman have both earned 10 points in their last Five games started. Below is how they stack up against the other Defensive Midfielders on the team, as far as points in last 5 starts

Pts in last 5 games
10 : Cole Grossman
10 : Danny O'Rourke
8 : Chris Birchall
4 : Tony Tchani
3 : Milovan Mirosevic

4 : Kevan George**(only 4 starts)

3. Team Goals For while starting in their last Five games. Keep in mind that there aren't any out of control goal scoring points on this years Crew team. You might think this is where Milovan would thrive... but not the case (whether due to injury, form or otherwise).

Goals For in last 5 games
8 : Cole Grossman
7 : Danny O'Rourke
6 : Chris Birchall
4 : Tony Tchani
3 : Milovan Mirosevic

4 : Kevan George**(only 4 starts)

4. Danny and Cole are best in Goals Against, as well. This is the area of supreme strength for Columbus, so all do well here.

Goals Against in last 5 games
2 : Danny O'Rourke
3 : Cole Grossman
5 : Chris Birchall
5 : Milovan Mirosevic
6 : Tony Tchani

5 : Kevan George**(only 4 starts)

5. One important thing to note here, and it benefits everyone: Ever since Robert Warzycha changed the lineup and include two Defensive Mids, injuries have gotten less frequent.

The Crew have had to change their primary lineup from a 4-1-3-2 (diamond midfield) to a 4-2-3-1 because they are without productivity out of any target men this year. Aaron Schoenfeld and Olman Vargas haven't quite adapted (through no real fault of their own) and Tommy Heinemann is injured (through no fault of his own, either).

This change in formation has reduced the amount of running a Central Defensive Midfielder had to do in Warzycha's system. Frankly, it was too much running with near impossible responsibilities. In the old lineup the CDM position was a front row ticket to the infirmary. Think: Rich Balchan, Danny O'Rourke, the late Kirk Urso and Milovan Mirosevic.

It's a good formation and should work well enough in this league. It even seams as if the diamond midfield formation has moved to third choice as well. I've seen the team run varient on a 4-3-3 (4-2-1-3) in reserve games and late in a couple Senior level games. It looked positive from what I saw and Ben Speas seemed to do well playing behind a top line of Schoenfeld, Vargas and Renteria. It may be something the Crew pull out if they get desparate during the playoff push.

Anyhow. Give O'Rourke and Grossman another run out together. I'd bet a shinny silver dollar on a 2-0 victory against Toronto.

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ADDITIONAL NOTES:

• As a club, they haven't scored more than two goals in any games and only allowed more than 2 once. So, no outliers in last 5 games for each player.

• A crowded schedule should be healthy for the club. They have been last in games played because of the wacky MLS schedule this year. For the rest of the world two games a week is part of the modern game but in Major League Soccer it is a bit of anomaly for most clubs. Games every 2 or three days will be just what the doctor ordered.

• Not entirely fair to pull Mirosevic into this Defensive Mid group as he has spent a lot of time more as a Central Mid (neither up or back). However, I do feel that his tendency to drift back was a driver for Warzycha's formation change.