Message Not Sent

As Columbus moves on from last Friday's terrible five-goal goal loss to Toronto FC we have learned two things. First: The team just wants to move on. There's nothing but ads about the upcoming "pups on the pitch event" from the team and there are little to no player quotes about the game. Second: Gregg Berhalter confirmed what many thought - Meram was benched.

The second thing there is concerning, but not surprising. Here is the quote:

“He’s been quite honestly he’s been one of our best attacking players if not the best. Him, Federico (Higuain), Ola (Kamara) have been our three most consistent attacking players,” Berhalter said. “It’s not easy but I looked at the game and it’s a message to the team that I think anyone can be taken out. The way the game was going, we made the decision that he was the one.”

Justin Meram isn't just one of the best attacking players on Crew SC, he's one of the best in MLS. On top of that, his form this year has been outstanding. So much so, you would be hard-pressed to find another player that has been in better form in recent Crew history.

Why bench Meram? The answer is very simple and one that Berhalter has struggled with since joining Columbus. "Path of least resistance." A benching of Higuain or Kamara would result in a lot of clean up duty. Multiple meetings and it would likely draw the eye of the league site and therefore more attention.

Benching Meram is also easier because is generally a good and loyal trooper. He'll take the hit and be back later this week in support of the action.

Berhalter even set this scenario up in his statement.

“I hope he’s not thrilled. I mean, he wasn’t thrilled, quite honestly, and we talked about it and the key to this whole thing is what we always say around here, which is, ’remain professional,’” Berhalter said. “Don’t be happy about it but remain professional about it and I think for the most part he did and that’s all I can ask of him."

Translation: Don't talk about it. Move on. Which Meram will do. Which is why he was chosen as the example.

I have never been a fan of this approah to man-management. It's a refusal to address issues directly with people and taking the easier road. Who was he trying to send a message too? Wil Trapp? Higuian? Just bench them if it's not working and deal with the fallout.

This type of management doesn't fix the problem, it only hides it. It's unfortunate for Meram. It'll be interesting to see how the next few weeks go for him. Hoping his good season continues.

Rd 14. 5-0 Loss is... notable

The inconsistency continues for Columbus as they suffer the worst loss in team history to a red-hot Toronto FC side.

Anytime there is a loss like this, you need to ask questions. Did the team give up? Is Toronto just that much better? Was this on the coach? Was it on the players? All of that sort of stuff. Unfortunately, when you lose like this, the answer to most of the questions is "YES."

It starts with the coach (and sporting director), however. There are two clear things happening at once right now that contributed to this horrifying result.

1. Tinkering. With formation and line-up selection. After three years of basically the same approach and lineup, Berhalter has been toying with a few more ideas and trying to plug in new players.

2. Mix of players. This one is on the entire staff - but ultimately comes down to Anthony Precourt. After a couple years of reshaping players he didn't sign, we are now seeing a true "New Crew" team. 2014-15? Not his signings. A strongly bonded core group of guys whose potential was unlocked. 2016-17? Some of the parts are still there from 2014-15 (Ethan Finlay, Justin Meram, Wil Trapp, Federico Higuain) but for the most part, this is Berhalter's group. And it's turning into a lumbering Frankenstein of sorts.

Summary: Multiple changes in approach and a lumpy, disconnected group of players.

Justin Meram had some sort of player speak quote after the game about "a loss is a loss, just one of 34." And, for once, I agree. It's a bad loss, but it's MLS regular season. The result, itself, doesn't mean shit. What does matter is their current mentality. Are the coaches concerned? Are players starting to worry about the season?

Whenever there is a bad result like this, there is a reason. More often than not we, the public, don't know what the issue is. But over the years I've learned that often it comes down to the leadership. Coaching. Something they did this week just didn't work and it fell apart.

This team is going the wrong way as far as results. This loss is bad. The issues are not easily fixed. This will be an inconsistent team for the rest of the year.

Rd 11, 12, 13: Midseason Inbetween

Crew Bottom

Columbus crosses unlucky round 13 with a loss to a bad New England Revs team on the road. This team is better than that, but as we enter the middle part of the season we are starting to see this very familiar lackadaisical side of each Crew side to come out during the Gregg Berhalter reign.

Different levels of effort, varying levels of interest. It's all here.

After a strong (fueled by a heavy home schedule) start, Columbus has all the sudden hit some hard times that are punctuated by a 3 point, three game home stand and uneven results in the last two away matches. Pulling back a bit, it's 6 points out of the last six. Not good. But par for the course that Berhalter plays on this time of year. Thus the lack of summaries from Helltown.

It sucks. As a matter of fact, it sucks the life out of things. After an amazing attendance year last year, Columbus is now last in MLS while sporting the worse year of year drop.

Is it possible that fans in Columbus are tired of the same old run of results they expect from this team? After all, this is a town that responds to winning. Case in point is the year after a Crew MLS Cup run, but now we have a year after a historically bad Crew year and fans are deciding to not show up.

It's difficult to determine what Columbus needs to do to get people back interested. With the way this particular market is, there may be nothing that can be done until the calendar turns to 2018.

What would help is having an exciting team but in order to have such a thing in Columbus you need to get on a huge run of results and be able to score 3+ goals a game. Nobody sees that happening with this team.

All this raises the question. Should Anthony Precourt look for a change? Generate some excitement, even if misguided, in town? Berhalter has a long career ahead of him and can call his shots on the US Soccer scene until the end of days, but is he the right person for this market. After all, isn't that what MLS is all about?

Columbus faces more MLS teams here over the next few weeks. The only thing to look forward to is the possibility of USL Cincinnati coming to town for the US Open cup later this summer.

Until then? 2017 Crew is an average team with Justin Meram and Ola Kamara, looking down the barrel of an uninspiring rest of the season.

Rd 10: Win against incomplete team

Columbus took care of a team taking the year off in New England. That's a good thing. Crew SC should be beating New England. Everyone should be beating New England. That's not to say the game didn't have to be played. It did. Crew took care of business.

Gregg Berhalter was ejected and suspended for one game for kicking a ball at an opposing team player.

Above is the current MLS true table.

Rd 9: Season Settles In

Reg season intensity level

We have reached the part of the season where players are in game shape and hitting, for better or worse, some kind of form. Goals are better. Interplay is better. Overall, just better. So when two teams that attempt to prepare and play a specific style (instead of just running around out there) it opens up.

This was the case when NYCFC traveled to Columbus last Saturday to take on Crew SC. 

It isn't to say that the game was a thing of beauty or one to remember. The defending by both teams was poor. It was more fun than many of the other games, but in the end, it was just a game that marked 1/4 of the season complete.

Columbus lost. They are working through injuries and lack of chemistry that comes with that (Mensah and Artur the two key guys there), are not settled in the right midfield and have a player kicking up dust about playing time. All these things are ingredients needed to give up leads in games.

These same ingredients are used in making a team mediocre, which seems to be the case with Crew SC at the moment. There is just too much noise right now for the team to be anything but average. 

With a quarter of the season complete we are now entering the patchy summer portion of the calendar where teams without depth (ie. most MLS teams) have wild quality swings game to game. Gregg Berhalter and crew will do their best to keep it together and above the playoff line. Which, now that that is typed, seems all that this season will be about.

Of note: Abu, Trapp, Mensah and Naess did not click in this game. The quality of play between these four is critically important to the success of Crew SC. It's not to say these players are not good, but there are concerns about turnover game to game. Stability is needed in order for it to work well.

All Paid Crew Players since 2010

Here is a look at total wages paid to each player wearing a Crew uniform, 2010 (when the 2008 MLS Cup winning team was blown up) till now. It's not perfect, of course (being MLS - players leaving half year or use of allocation or just... MLS), but it gives us a good enough idea who has pulled in the most money.

Total Wages : Player : Years Paid
$4,748,000 : Federico Higuain : 5
$1,802,138 : Gaston Sauro : 3
$1,342,500 : Chad Marshall : 4
$1,211,333 : Tony Tchani : 6
$998,222 : Justin Meram : 7
$971,750 : Wil Trapp : 5
$940,000 : Ola Kamara : 2
$916,508 : Dilaver Duka : 5
$900,000 : Michael Parkhurst : 3
$869,648 : Ethan Finlay : 6
$844,000 : Jonathan Mensah : 1
$835,833 : Andres Mendoza : 2
$790,208 : Eddie Gaven : 4
$775,917 : Waylon Francis : 4
$738,333 : Harrison Afful : 3
$635,000 : Emanuel Pogatetz : 2
$576,600 : Danny O'Rourke : 4
$565,000 : Steve Clark : 3
$536,667 : Kei Kamara : 1
$483,529 : Cedrick Mabwati : 2
$480,500 : William Hesmer : 3
$450,004 : Nicolai Naess : 2
$420,000 : Hector Jimenez : 4
$399,500 : Emmanuel Ekpo : 2
$385,000 : Tyson Wahl : 4
$373,417 : Josh Williams : 5
$365,625 : Emilio Renteria : 3
$360,375 : Jairo Arrieta : 2
$334,167 : Jack McInerney : 1
$279,220 : Andy Gruenebaum : 4
$276,250 : Ben Swanson : 3
$273,333 : Agustin Viana : 2
$263,333 : Glauber Berti : 1
$255,000 : Sebastian Miranda : 2
$255,000 : Robbie Rogers : 2
$253,455 : Ben Speas : 4
$241,250 : Guillermo Barros Schelotto : 1
$230,000 : Mohammed Saeid : 2
$230,000 : Matias Sanchez : 1
$223,333 : Milovan Mirosevic : 1
$218,325 : Chad Barson : 4
$211,500 : Aaron Horton : 3
$205,008 : Zack Steffen : 2
$199,325 : Matt Lampson : 4
$190,000 : Gino Padula : 1
$189,075 : Aaron Schoenfeld : 4
$189,075 : Kevan George : 4
$181,425 : Bernardo Anor : 4
$175,000 : Emil Larsen : 1
$175,000 : Olman Vargas : 1
$172,169 : Julius James : 2
$171,925 : Eric Gehrig : 4
$171,500 : Brad Stuver : 3
$171,250 : Mohammed Abu : 1
$170,496 : Dejan Rusmir : 1
$168,375 : Kekuta Manneh : 1
$161,671 : Jukka Raitala : 1
$160,000 : Adam Jahn : 2
$152,500 : Jeffrey Cunningham : 1
$144,319 : Brian Carroll : 1
$137,141 : Cristian Martinez : 2
$128,125 : Rodrigo Saravia : 2
$127,500 : Frankie Hejduk : 1
$127,450 : Rich Balchan : 2
$126,100 : Shaun Francis : 3
$125,500 : Nemanja Vukovich : 1
$122,015 : Dominic Oduro : 1
$119,438 : Kristinn Steindorsson : 1
$115,306 : Romain Gall : 2
$109,000 : Chris Birchall : 1
$106,209 : Carlos Mendes : 1
$105,575 : Marshall Hollingsworth : 2
$105,500 : Corey Ashe : 1
$105,000 : Conor Casey : 1
$99,879 : Artur De Lima Junior : 1
$89,250 : Tommy Heinemann : 2
$87,802 : Chris Klute : 1
$86,100 : Cole Grossman : 2
$82,000 : Kevin Burns : 2
$80,350 : Korey Veeder : 2
$76,667 : Daniel Paladini : 1
$76,250 : Jason Garey : 1
$74,000 : Ryan Finley : 1
$72,500 : Alhassan "Lalas" Abubakar : 1
$72,500 : Nikolaj Hansen : 1
$71,110 : Andy Iro : 1
$65,004 : Abuchi Obinwa : 1
$60,000 : Sagi Lev-Ari : 1
$53,004 : Connor Maloney : 1
$53,004 : Logan Ketterer : 1
$52,500 : Sergio Campbell : 1
$51,500 : Matt Pacifici : 1
$50,400 : Adam Moffat : 1
$49,200 : Joshua Gardner : 1
$48,500 : Matt Wiet : 1
$48,500 : Ben Sweat : 1
$46,500 : Konrad Warzycha : 1
$42,333 : Steven Lenhart : 1
$40,008 : Leandre Griffit : 1
$40,000 : Duncan Oughton : 1
$40,000 : Eric Brunner : 1
$36,504 : Adam Bedell : 1
$36,504 : Kingsley Baiden : 1
$36,500 : Ross Friedman : 1
$36,500 : Matt Walker : 1
$35,125 : Kyle Hyland : 1
$35,125 : Daniel Withrow : 1
$35,125 : Shawn Sloan : 1
$35,125 : Drew Beckie : 1
$33,750 : Aubrey Perry : 1
$33,750 : Kirk Urso : 1
$32,600 : Ben Sippola : 1
$32,600 : Alex Riggs : 1
$32,600 : Santiago Prim : 1

Growing Attendance Problem in MLS

Early season MLS action can best be described as an exhibition. On the "Joe Sports sport's calendar," it falls right in the middle of March Madness, the start of MLB and the NBA and NHL playoffs. You could say that there just isn't time for regular season soccer games, but that's nothing but excuses. Soccer fans in the US are watching EPL games, Liga MX and La Liga and droves. "Joe Sport" is a casual fan, not a soccer fan.

MLS has a problem, in that regard. They just want to nestle into the regular sport's fan here in the United States yet try and play the world game. It's a fence that the league has always had a hard time straddling. And now that the league is launching into rapid expansion mode, there is a hyper focus on the actual health of existing teams.

Read more HERE

Fan engagement, attendance and TV ratings are key components of a successful league. MLS is failing on the latter two.

Highlighted in yellow below are the games of which there were barely 10k people show up. MLS, like other leagues in the US, uses tickets distributed number. The problem the league is having is that the distance between that number in butts in seats is ridiculously off.

Result...Home..v..Away : Venue
3-3...Philadelphia..v..Montreal : Talen Energy Stadium
2-0...Houston..v..San Jose : BBVA Compass Stadium
2-1...Portland..v..Vancouver : Providence Park
2-2...New England..v..D.C. : Gillette Stadium
2-0...New York..v..Columbus : Red Bull Arena
1-0...FC Dallas..v..Sporting KC : Toyota Stadium
1-3...Real Salt Lake..v..Atlanta : Rio Tinto Stadium
1-2...New York City FC..v..Orlando City SC : Yankee Stadium
0-3...Los Angeles..v..Seattle : StubHub Center
1-0...Minnesota..v..Colorado : TCF Bank Stadium

Here are a few more shots from the weekend. This is a problem for a league looking to expand into more markets. It's possible that these images could even be used by communities to argue against bringing a team in. Not to mention blowing holes into the $150 million expansion fee MLS is asking.

Things aren't adding up. At some point, just like announced attendance figures need to be closer to how many folks show up, MLS hype has to match their reality.

-----------------------------

I recently looked at how much MLS inflates attendance by market HERE.

Rd 8: Injuries = Loss

Columbus traveled to Red Bull Arena for their eighth game of the season. Not only was it a loss, it was one that may impact team results for the next few games because of injuries. A double-whammy, if you will.

Artur, who had been performing pretty well in the midfield, appears to have broken wrist/arm not long after kickoff. The injury completely threw Crew SC off their game. His sub, Mohammed Abu, came in in support but it took him a good chunk of the game to get comfortable. Note here on Abu: Fans immediately took to disliking him. It's like fans have to have at least one player they do not like.

NY came in with the high press type of approach that gives Gregg Berhalter's team fits, so it's difficult to tell if it was the Artur injury or the pressure and intensity of NY that got Columbus on the ropes.

After getting a goal early, NY doubled their lead off a miserable challenge in the box by Alex Crognale. Adding insult to injury (literally), Crognale injured himself trying to make the play. I have a feeling that his ego was also damaged on the play. This is what you get with inexperienced college players. They tend to have strengths that they focus on, but eventually, the truth of their ability comes out. This was one such play.

The other college player to mention alongside Crognale is Niko Hansen, who had a horrid game. Both players have worked for their time in the line up off of good play but they were going up against a good opponent who have some sort of pre-game planning (you'd be surprised at how many do not). Players who are not well rounded (ie. college players) get completely exposed.

It's important to note that this is where having a place to put players like Hansen and Crognale come into play. An affiliate isn't the right place. Having a "B" team or "II" is better. In a perfect world, there would be free movement between divisions and leagues in the US without all the roster restrictions and we could get a lot more out of players like these guys. Sadly, we might have just seen the best we will ever see out of these guys after such a high the previous weekend.

Regardless. Columbus is still in okay shape, as far as their record goes. It's just a loss. That said. The damage done here might be in losing Artur for a bit. Abu, even if he were a great player, will need an adjustment period.

Crew have the next three at home, however. It'll give them time so sort the loss of Artur and figure out if Ethan Finlay is worth starting again.

Rd 7: Burying the Ghost of 16

Columbus Crew SC defeated Columbus Crew SC of last year (Toronto FC standing in) at Crew Stadium this past weekend.

Toronto is coming off a similar MLS Cup loss hangover as Columbus was last year. The similarities are there after the devastating loss along with a shortened offseason. Crew SC this year was up to the challenge of burying a nasty ghost from last year by holding a lead all the way through the second half.

This game has the markings of two teams splitting off into completely different directions. Toronto's season looked wanted to break one way or another and Columbus was looking to firm up their believe that they can compete with the best near the top of the table this year.

It wasn't a particularly good looking game for Columbus. 1st-year players Niko Hansen and Alex Grognale had nice games (both with assists), but outside of that the two teams looked fairly even save for the discipline and desire to win in the second half.