Finlay yet to crank up his scoring
The night before Crew SC lost 3-1 to Atlanta United on Saturday, coach Gregg Berhalter delivered a message to his fullbacks and attacking group: For the Crew to be successful, the team must get midfielder Ethan Finlay involved.
Berhalter’s words stuck. Midfielder Justin Meram played a pass between two defenders in the fifth minute, setting up Finlay for his first on-target shot since March 4. Meram slipped another pass to Finlay in the 31st. Neither shot found the back of the net.
“I’m extremely disappointed, and I’ve tried to go back to work this week and get as much time in front of net as I could,” Finlay said of the missed opportunities. “Just seeing the ball hit the back of the net, whether there’s a goalie in there or not, is an important thing, and then you just need a little bit of luck.”
After scoring 11 goals in 2014, 12 in 2015 and six in 2016, Finlay enters the second half of 2017 sitting on one goal, which he scored in the season opener against the Chicago Fire.
Finlay’s presence as a scoring threat in the second half of the season could help diversify an offense in which three players — Meram, midfielder Federico Higuain and forward Ola Kamara — account for 23 of the Crew’s 25 goals.
Berhalter said of getting Finlay going: “It opens the field up more because when you’re worried about something behind you, you’re going to be dropping, and it’s going to make space for the other player. That’s what we desperately need. If we become a team that becomes predictable and plays in front of teams, it’s gonna be easy to defend. We need options going behind the line, whether that’s forwards or fullbacks or attacking midfielders.”
Finlay knows he is behind schedule in his first 14 games — 10 starts — of this season. He also thinks he’s not far from a breakthrough.
“As crazy as it is, you just need one to kind of go, and the floodgates all open,” he said.
The 26-year-old midfielder has helped free up space for other attacking players with runs behind the back line, but his lack of shots and goals stems from a variety of factors, including off-the-ball movement, where he receives the ball and his willingness to take chances.
Finlay isn’t discouraged, but he knows that teams won’t gift him goals to end his scoring drought.
Meram delivered Finlay two clear chances in the Atlanta game and will continue to look for his longtime teammate. Count him among those in Finlay’s corner.
“There have been three chances he’s given me that I didn’t finish. It’s just about staying positive as a group, as teammates, as brothers, and really get him out of this funk,” Meram said. “When he gets out, he’s gonna fly, and I believe that.”