Top Rated Crew Performances

Last week I covered the only perfect "10.0" for Crew players since WhoScored started recording it in 2013, so today I'm just going to list the top 20 Columbus Crew performances since WS started tracking.

Year	Round	Rating	Name
2017	12	10.00	Justin Meram
2015	36-P	9.91	Kei Kamara
2016	6	9.86	Justin Meram
2018	34	9.74	Gyasi Zardes
2016	9	9.62	Kei Kamara
2015	33	9.62	Federico Higuain
2016	12	9.53	Ola Kamara
2016	28	9.50	Ola Kamara
2014	33	9.40	Aaron Schoenfeld
2015	24	9.39	Kei Kamara
2013	24	9.33	Federico Higuain
2015	7	9.28	Ethan Finlay
2018	35-P	9.24	Federico Higuain
2013	29	9.20	Chad Marshall
2017	35-P	9.20	Zack Steffen
2017	18	9.17	Federico Higuain
2013	27	9.15	Justin Meram
2019	16	9.15	Pedro Santos
2013	3	9.15	Gláuber
2015	2	9.13	Justin Meram

This is out of 3,553 tracked game performances. That's the top 0.5% listed above. Justin Meram and Federico Higuain are tied at 4 each in the top 20.

Meram's Perfect 10.0

WhoScored (WS) has been rating MLS players using Opta data since the beginning of the 2013 season. Nearly 40 different player activities are tracked and recorded for every game, every player. WS assigns a final player rating based on these actions.

In the 250+ games and 3,500 individual performances, there has only been one 10.0 awarded to a Columbus Crew player.

Justin Meram. Back in May of 2017, he recorded a hattrick playing the Impact up in Montreal. His final goal was a game-winner in added time.

Justin owns two of the top 5 WS ratings for Crew players.

Top Left Mids in MLS

[Season start - July 26, 2019 - I round ages]

Somewhat bizarrely, Left mids in MLS are a hot commodity. Their average salary is second only to Forwards and tops even those of top cental mids. The reason is likely simple. Left footed mids can whip the ball into right foot dominate forwards. I wish there were more to it than that, but there likely isn't. Anyhow:

29: Median Age of top LM's in MLS
$1.2m: Median salary

	Name(2)	BIRTHPLACE	Team	Age	Salary
1	Maximiliano Moralez	Granadero Baigorria, Argentina	NYC	32	$2,000,000
2	Sebastián Blanco	Buenos Aires, Argentina	PDX	31	$1,375,008
3	Lucas Rodríguez	Buenos Aires, Argentina	DC	22	$298,550
4	Nani	Praia, Cape Verde	ORL	33	$2,486,250
5	Aleksandar Katai	Srbobran, Yugoslavia	CHI	29	$1,380,333
6	Vako	Ozurgeti, Georgia	SJE	27	$1,604,042
7	Daniel Royer	Schladming, Austria	NYR	29	$768,750
8	Memo Rodriguez	Wharton, Texas	HOU	24	$82,750
9	Uriel Antuna	Gomez Palacio, Mexico	LAG	22	$420,000
10	Víctor Rodríguez	Barcelona, Spain	SEA	30	$1,087,500

There seems to be a wide range of ages and nationalities and wages on this list (outside of Argentina's top 3), which kinda confirms the ends that teams go to find a good crosser of the ball.

The disparity in salary tells us that this position needs a lot of work in MLS. In this top 10 you can go from a player making $83k to over $2 million.

Here's how WhoScored has the ratings:

WS	Name(2)	Team
7.38	Maximiliano Moralez	NYC
7.31	Nani	ORL
7.23	Sebastián Blanco	PDX
7.23	Vako	SJE
7.21	Aleksandar Katai	CHI
7.15	Memo Rodriguez	HOU
7.11	Ignacio Piatti	MTL
7.10	Lucas Rodríguez	DC
7.00	Kevin Molino	MIN
6.95	Daniel Royer	NYR
6.93	Víctor Rodríguez	SEA
6.91	David Accam	CLB
6.87	Justin Meram	ATL

Not that both Accam and Meram make an appearance on this list. Columbus had both at one point, but somehow saw that as a position that needed an upgrade. In fact, they still do because they are shipping Accam away after the season.

Here are my other TOP IN MLS lists, so far:

FORWARDs
CENTRAL MIDFIELD
RIGHT MIDFIELD
LEFT BACKS
CENTER BACKS
RIGHT BACKS

2019 Crew Season Opens, Concerns

The 2019 MLS season got underway yesterday. As with most years, it was a bit sloppy and incomplete. It is difficult to draw any conclusions until somewhere between week 5 and 10. However! This being my 10th season covering the Crew closely, I feel comfortable in drawing a few thoughts out of the mist and listing them out.

1. Porter's team plays more like a Robert Warzycha team: Or perhaps, because this was more of a NYRB II team practically playing a low block, they made Caleb Porter look more like Crew circa 2012. Sloppy play and very little composed possession in the opponents half.

2. Opportunity lost: Because MLS balances the rosters (best they can) teams with a decided advantage have to get 3 points out of games like this one. Crew playing at home, 1st of the year, against a B lineup... has to turn into 3 points. Even if it's a sloppy win.

3. Crew weaknesses, all over: To the right and left of Federico Higuain are weak spots for Columbus right now. I put some of that on Porter for wanting to bypass the midfield and go somewhat direct, but also because father time is catching up to Justin Meram (who was ineffective yesterday) and Pedro Santos (only 22 passes, 60% completion) has some sort of mental issue when he gets close to goal. There was even a moment late on where he scuffed a shot, went down in a heap and Higuain trotted over as if to say "come on man, let's go, get up." Artur also had a bit of a sloppy game and wasn't able to get into any sort of attacking position, which makes his role somewhat redundant with Trapp in there.

4. Porter overthinking it: With just about the entire team returning, you should have just rolled a solid XI out there from last year and won this game. But he is tinkering with how they play, which is absolutely his right. It's a concern, however, that the team looked a bit lost. Credit goes to NY a little, but that was not exactly a Supporters' Shield-winning lineup out there.

5. Fox Sports Broadcast: Looked like Fox. Production is much improved over Spectrum Sports. I wish the video quality were better, but it is what it is. Neil Sika and Dwight Burgess are back doing what they do giving us long-winded backgrounds on players that nobody asks for instead of calling the game. The GREAT GREAT news is that Chris Doran is on the 97.1 FM radio call. I caught some of it. He is excellent.

6. 17k Showed Up: Nice turnout for a cold home opener for Columbus. If the team hadn't gone through what it went through last year I would say it was a good turnout, but as circumstances are what they are - It was somewhat disappointing. It was a busy sports day in town. The Columbus Blue Jackets had a game earlier and the Buckeye basketball team played at Purdue, but that's always the excuse in town. I'm not sure I expected a sellout, but I'm sure many did.

What's funny about these broad points is that fans of the team will be discussing each of them for the rest of the season.

Most have Columbus finishing middle of the pack this year. I'm not sure anything happened last night to change that prediction up or down, but it did make me feel more confident that this team will end up fighting to make the playoffs after the summer transfer window.

Meram, Trapp Rewarded

Earlier this year both Justin Meram and Wil Trapp signed new contract deals that, under today's MLS roster rules, ensures they remain under the $480k max budget hit range. Details, of course, are not exactly known but it's understood that allocation money was used to buy down the player deals to prevent them from becoming "Designated Players." (Teams are only allowed three.)

In many ways, this is a reward for the two players for being above average performers since Gregg Berhalter's arrival. Both of them were important ingredients in his first offseason that late laid the foundation for what the team became in the successful 2015 season.

Both are contributors in different ways and both deliver in key areas for the team. Meram provides a wicked attacking ability in Berhalter's system while Trapp provides stable defending and distribution from the back. Beyond those things, both check off many soft skill boxes like being a team player, leadership, and work ethic.

Strong parallels can be drawn between this contract event and what happened in Kansas City a few years ago with Graham Zusi and Matt Besler. The two of them were important parts of a complete re-branding event and helped guide the team to a couple of the best years in franchise history while earning calls up to the US Men's National Team.

That was about two years ago. There was some concern at when the deals were struck that paying high wages to them would mean the movement of other, less sellable, players. Turns out that it did happen and the team did/has struggled since (I looked at that > here).

History should always be a guide in these situations. Especially when these types of events happen within a restrictive salary capped league. By increasing two player wages as much as they did, and moving out a key midfielder, Sporting KC chose style over substance. Marketability over results and it burned them.

Will that happen here in Columbus? Will the team now be strapped for money for a few years to come because of Meram and Trapp contracts? Large pay increases for individual players often lead to contentment (Ethan Finlay a possible example in Columbus). But it's going to be difficult to track. Rapid expansion of MLS and ever-changing roster rules will make it nearly impossible to tell.

What we do know is that two players got improved wages. Always a good thing, especially in a league that is tight with money in regards to player wages. Especially organically formed talent.

Meram Still Improving

click to enlarge

Dropping back in on whoscored.com ratings... Justin Meram is the only player on Columbus Crew SC that has seen his median game WhoScored.com rating increase each year since 2014. That's pretty amazing considering that Columbus has been in the basement of MLS all season.

You wouldn't think it given the number of times he is subbed off. It works out to be 37 times off on 54 starts in the last two years. Regardless...

This is also a good time to remind ourselves that Meram has the ability deep inside to take over and win MLS games. He has five of the top twenty individual performances in a Crew uniform since the beginning 2013.

Game Rating: Player, Year
9.91 : Kei Kamara, 2015
9.90 : Justin Meram, 2016
9.66 : Kei Kamara, 2015
9.62 : Justin Meram, 2013
9.62 : Federico Higuaín, 2015
9.62 : Kei Kamara, 2016
9.53 : Ola Kamara, 2016
9.40 : Aaron Schoenfeld, 2014
9.28 : Ethan Finlay, 2015
9.25 : Federico Higuaín, 2013

9.14 : Federico Higuaín, 2015

9.14 : Justin Meram, 2015

9.10 : Ethan Finlay, 2015

9.09 : Kei Kamara, 2015

9.07 : Chad Marshall, 2013

9.03 : Federico Higuaín, 2013

9.00 : Gláuber, 2013

8.97 : Justin Meram, 2016

8.94 : Kei Kamara, 2015

8.93 : Justin Meram, 2014

Also, very worth noting that Meram is the highest rated Crew player of the season. 2016 Team MVP? I'll have to match up Squawka and my own ratings here in a couple months for it to be official. 

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THE SACRED COWS

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Who needs to go (and other notes on this chart...) are below:

1. Parkhurst is going. He's still got gas in the tank, but something isn't right here in Columbus. I see him returning to New England. I wrote about this recently and comments in today's paper about not being able to agree to a new deal all but seal things.

2. Ethan Finlay needs to go. For a couple reasons. One - He's going the wrong way as far a production. Blame it on a change in Kamara's or getting distracted by his USMNT call up or whatever, but good players lift teams. He hasn't done that. Right place, right time? Doesn't mean he's bad, just not working. Two - He's risen to the board of the Player's Union. Not getting into why I feel that way now, but shuffle him along if you are Columbus. Need players committed to playing. When I last looked at player performance like this I made the recommendation that he sit. Berhalter saw the same thing. It worked, he snapped back out of his funk, but there isn't enough there.

3. Steve Clark - Just needs some added pressure behind him to work. He's still a good keeper and he's going to be for a number of years. Guys like him need a spark. From a change in location, or a life change or whatever - not able to get that in Columbus now.

4. Wil Trapp - I would like to see Trapp test himself more. He's not going to get any better where he is now. Of course, Columbus can use him. They can use him for his whole career. But I don't think many want to see him becoming a Chad Marshall. There's more for him.

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Reminder on whoscored ratings: Anything above 7.00 is a good player (in that particular league). 7.20 and above means the player is performing in the top 10%. Below 6.75 or so means a player in the bottom half.

The Clouds Lifted, the Gate Opened

2013 was a crazy year for pre-SC Columbus Crew. Calling it a transition year doesn't quite do it justice. The headline was new ownership and a terminated Crew lifers. Beneath that is the actual play of the players going through it at the time. The season didn't stop for them to re-evaluate things, or, because of MLS rules that restrict player movement more than collegiate players, explore other options with other teams. These guys were stuck.

Hope came in the only form of freedom it could. With Robert Warzycha gone, interim coach Brian Bliss brought in a fresh breath of clean air. Things had gotten so poisonous with Warzycha that, with him gone, you could almost feel the players levitating on the pitch when they took on Houston back in September of 2013.

It was round 27 and early in post-Warzycha days. You could sense the unknowns in the voices and faces of everyone in the organization - part nervousness, part excitement, part gulag gates opening. An absolute storm within the oldest MLS franchise that had settled into MLS comfort after a successful run just a few years earlier.



It was an Higuain-less game. Most everyone expected the Crew to just roll over for the rest of the season. Brian Bliss decided to let the players play. Looking back, maybe there wasn't any other option. At the time it looked like he made it, though. Regardless. Players played like they were 10 feet tall. Maybe there was a hint of a burden being lifted off the fans as well.

The 18 vs. Houston...
Matt Lampson
Chad Barson
Eric Gehrig
Chad Marshall
Tyson Wahl
Ethan Finlay
Wil Trapp
Bernardo Anor
Justin Meram
Ryan Finley
Dominic Oduro
Tony Tchani
Konrad Warzycha
Jairo Arrieta
Shawn Sloan
Daniel Withrow
Ben Speas
Agustin Viana




This was the first time we got to really see what all these Reserve players had. Up to this point we'd only seen glimpses of why they were brought in. It's too easy to say they arrived during this match. They didn't. But fans were able to understand why these guys were on the roster.

Justin Meram, Ethan Finlay, Tony Tchani, Wil Trapp and even Chad Barson and Tyson Wahl all proved themselves. In a weird way, it also might explain why the franchise toppled over. The team was young, inexperienced and not part of the 2008-2010 group where most of the coaches and admin staff made their Crew careers.

Bliss somehow tapped into all of this. We get so many nothing games in MLS, but this game oozed spirit.







We are nearly three years on now, but this game stands out as one of the most important in recent team history. Opta has it rated in the top five Columbus performances since 2013. Remarkable, considering the situation.

I, myself, thought that this team would get run over the remainder of the season. A hole too deep. Too much change. Too young. Too much dark funk to fumigate out of the offices and in the hearts of the players. That's what we've seen over in over, isn't it?

Didn't happen. Credit likely goes to many across the board. Maybe it's one of those "iron sharpens iron" moments we rarely get to see in MLS. Whatever it was, this match stands tall. It's certainly shaped the current roster that fans will see play the Houston Dynamo tonight.

If you happen to attend the game tonight. Skip the damn "craft brew festival," and watch the game. MLS might be missing many (many) things that make this sport so special, but THIS is a wonderful sliver the game. This is why we watch.

Meram - Another One

Justin Meram has the unique gift of making a game his. Many midfielders drift in and out of entire MLS careers and never put together single game like Meram did last night. And he has done in multiple times before.

Columbus has built a team with players that play consistently good, and better than Justin Meram. Kei Kamara and Gaston Sauro to name a couple, but there is something different about Justin Meram having a standout game.

Is it the that his is more creative than, say... an Emil Larsen? How about a Cedrick Mabwati? Kristinn Steindorsson? Corey Ashe? The list of guys brought in to possibly move him out of the starting eleven is getting long. Is it he has the guts to take on a player when he has the ball? The different ways he is able to score goals? Meram is one of those players that will flat out win you a game. Kamara has that ability, we saw it over and over last year (most notably in the playoff game against Montreal). Federico Higuain might be another, but he's one of those consistently great players. You expect it from him.

Maybe it's Meram's propensity to have a dark game. One where nothing goes right for him. One where we see his shoulders slump after he makes a mistake or one where he tries too hard to get that penalty.

Over the last four years, Justin Meram has been subbed out 48 times in 95 appearances. That 17 more times than the next closest player on the team, This spans two coaching staffs and investment groups. It's odd. In MLS you usually don't get very long, especially if you are a college player, to have this kind of long opportunity.

It's clear that people know that something is there and last night it paid off for Gregg Berhalter and company in a big way. It was a team effort, but Meram won that game.

A month or two from now, Crew SC will have some average-ish record and be working their way around the middle of the table and people will forget this game. Just another "W" in the endless list of facts and figures you hear on the local team broadcast. But fans that have followed this team over the last handful of years, through all the changes, needless PR and hype, will remember this as a Meram Game. One that got the 2016 season back in order.

Maybe one of *those* games for Justin Meram is like the satisfying payoff longtime watchers of a great TV series get. Or that perfect song from one of your imperfect favorite artists. I guess seeing him out there playing like he did on a beautiful Ohio evening in the correct team colors is sort of like that.

Onward Justin Meram.

Finlay, Meram Exploring Options

In the wake of MLS Cup Final at Mapfre Stadium Sunday, news drops that points towards Justin Meram and Ethan Finlay looking at offseason options outside of the comfortable confines of Columbus.

#CrewSC midfielder Justin Meram said he played the last few weeks with an injury. Also responded "We'll see" when asked if he'll return.

— Patrick Murphy (@_Pat_Murphy_) December 8, 2015

Source: AIK in Sweden want to trial Ethan Finlay, may be declined if he gets USMNT call up in January.

— MLS Transfers (@MLSTransfers) December 8, 2015

Both players were critical parts to Gregg Berhalter's success thus far in MLS. Not just with their play on the pitch but what they (knowingly or not) offered off the field as well.

Let me explain that second "off the field" part for a second.

When Anthony Precourt and Gregg Berhalter took full control of the team they had thousands of decisions to make about staff and players. There isn't time to make them all in a short period of time so you work off a couple major philosophies to drive the rest going forward. That way you keep things consistent and fair. Not saying that everyone does this. In fact, it's entirely possible that these guys didn't... but I think they did.

Here's a quick summary of the two philosophical approaches to leadership / management change:

1. BUILDING ON EXISTING FOUNDATION: By not flipping over the apple cart and retaining many of the players they inherited Precourt and Berhalter allowed the team to be successful. There is a risk to this approach in that you just might not have the people around to get you where you want to be.

2. TEAR IT ALL DOWN, REBUILD: The other side of taking control of an organization or business is to clear out all the voices and habits of the old guard. Slam the door open, set the bar impossibly high, hire your own staff, ride existing staff within an inch of their life and then tone it down, bring back smiles and go into build mode.

Justin Meram and Ethan Finlay are from the 'old guard.' Upon his arrival we saw Berhalter jettison a couple voices from the locker room (like Chad Marshall) and insert his own (Michael Parkhurst), but he kept most of the rest of the group. This decision turned out to be completely successful.

You don't realize how much easier things are when you have people around that know how to turn on the lights and let the cat out (so to speak).

It's completely understandable for players to get a little emotional after a big loss. It's also completely understandable for both these players to make a little noise at this time as well. You gotta make hay while the sun shines in sports. Your career is only so long. Guys entering their mid to late 20s start to realize this.

I would like to see Columbus have complete freedom, but MLS is so restrictive in what they can offer them. Not just with the cap but also on an individual player to player basis.

Per MLS rules; MLS raises have a max increase based on current salary...

+25%: make less than $100k
+20%: $100k-200k
+15%: if salary greater than $200k

So, if you are making in the $100k - 200k range (like both Finlay and Meram) your max increase is is only 20% greater than what they made last year. Because of single entity and lack of any form of real free agency, they are pretty much stuck unless they have outside of MLS options (or are a USMNT star like Graham Zusi or Matt Besler).

Whenever I hear about players wanting to move on, I think of all the MLS rules they are tangled up in and wish them to get out if they have the option. Same goes for Finlay and Meram. GET OUT. It'd be great to have them here in town for another year or two but they climbed the MLS moutain. Explore something new. A new city. Fall down, fail, get up, succeed. Grow as people. Meet new people. Have some fun!

Crew SC Defending Around the Box (video) + 4 Thoughts

I'm a little late watching the Crew SC away match vs NY Red Bulls this week. Four comments:

1. Shades of the NE Revs playoff series last year. NY looked like it could get a goal if it needed a goal. In the meantime the just toyed with the Crew SC defense. It was said when Pogatetz left the lineup... no one fears this Crew team and you get the sense when watching them that anyone can put up +1 goals over whatever they are able to produce from (an increasingly predictable) Kei Kamara or Ethan Finlay.

2. Wil Trapp's absence was felt, but I'm not sure the result changes much. Perhaps the team wouldn't have looked bad in some spots on defense and would have gotten a couple more quality chances in the 2nd half.

3. Justin Meram had a "Good Meram" game aided by the early goal (that looked like an own goal on NY?). Either way, once Meram gets going... he plays very confident. Still gives the ball up a little too much but he isn't alone in that. It's something at least two of the three forward mids have to do well. Right now it's only Federico Higuain.

4. Ethan Finlay is playing like a player worn out - mentally. Before the last two months, he had not gone more than two games without a goal or an assist. He's now at 2 goals and 1 assist in his last 10. A rate of 0.34 G+A per 90 minutes played. Still pretty good but much more ordinary now. Berhalter has also subbed him out last four games. Last two in the 64th minute.

So, Like, Seriously, Berhalter, Totally Bitch'n!!

Mr. Precourt, you totally need to sign your coach to a ten year deal. Like, totally ten years. Gregg's, like, so extremely the best coach in the, ehmagawd, the whole United States.

Oh, Mm, Gee! Did you see, like, the bitch'n players he signed last year and the off season? Like, totally, Pogatetz! Seriously, Kamara!? Bitch'n, Saeid!! You must be totally kidding, Francis?!

And, like, style. Seriously, attack. Bitch'n possession and unleashing the hawtest Major League Franchise Players in Meram and Finlay.

So, like, Mr. Precourt, make Mr. Berhalter an offer he can't refuse. Wink, wink. And, totally, seriously, don't let Sunil Gulati anywhere near our bitch'n coach.   

 

"It’s not your day-to-day club game," Justin Meram, Iraqi International

Justin Meram was recently selected to play for the Iraq National team. He'll likely join the team again when Iraq plays in the 2015 AFC Asian Cup that runs through January. Here is his experience getting called up, in his words, as told to Cody Sharrett of thecrew.com. It's a fairly rare thing, this. Rarer still is a Michigan player with MLS that has been called up for a national team in the Middle East. Particularly Iraq.
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"I was kind of nervous at first, getting there and getting used to the language and everything."

"The guys were great. Maybe five or six guys speak English as well as Arabic. The guys helped me out, teaching me more and more of the language. The first session was good. Soccer, football is football wherever you’re at. Playing with them was probably the easiest part for me. Off the field, Yaser Kasim and Ahmed Yasin from Örebro in Sweden — he was teammates with Mohammed Saeid — those two guys are probably who I’m closest with because they’ve spoken English their whole life as well… We have a good understanding of each other."

"It was tough. At first I didn’t think I was going to start, but I had a really good session. It’s a tournament, and you have to put your best team out there. I was very fortunate to be there for 36 hours in Riyadh and start the game after those guys had been training for about 10 days together. It was unbelievable."

"It almost went by too quick, but I still remember the first five to 10 minutes," he explained. "It was very, very tough for me to get used to the style. It’s very hard-nosed, and you’re playing for your country so every game matters. Everyone’s always watching. Everyone [in Iraq] is watching, so it really took me a few minutes. Then I decided, ‘I have to get used to this quickly, or it’s going to be a long night.’ I adjusted great and that was probably the best game I played."

"I took a lot [from the Gulf Cup]. You want to win, but at the same time, those tournaments are to prepare you for the Asian Cup and that’s the prize. That’s the goal for this upcoming January. I’m glad I was able to get my feet wet. I got to know the guys. Everyone is happy I’m around. It’s a good group. I think it was important to get out there, and get used to [international play]."

"It took a lot to understand how international soccer is played. Everyone talks about it, but until you’re actually physically playing it in these countries and these environments, it’s extremely different. It’s not your day-to-day club game, I can tell you that much... Iraq won it in 2007, right? So that’s the goal. 2011, they came up short, so hopefully we can bring joy to our great country by winning the Asian Cup. That would be a dream. That’s first and foremost. We want to get out of our group. It’s a tough group: leading it is Japan, and then you have Palestine and Jordan. We have to get results against Palestine and Jordan for sure, and hopefully get a result against Japan."

"[The fan response] is honestly very overwhelming," he said. "They’re just so happy I chose to play for Iraq and I try to help out as much as I can. If soccer can bring so much joy to them, then half of our job is done. The other half is on the field and getting results. The people are amazing and football is massive in Iraq."

"We know how much it means to the country every time we play."

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International experience in Columbus has been light the last few years but we've seen it return a bit with Gregg Berhalter. Meram's experience has already been pretty remarkable, I'm thinking 2015 holds more. The above is gold dust. A player experiencing international play for the first time. One of the many reasons I love this sport.