Crew planning to ease Mullins into its system
Joining Crew SC during the season can be daunting for a player.
The team’s nutrition program, training regimen and tactical planning all take some getting used to, and the team knows a player’s adjustment won’t be immediate.
Forward Patrick Mullins, 26, completed his first training session with the Crew on Thursday, less than 24 hours after the team announced it had acquired him from D.C. United in exchange for $150,000 in targeted allocation money.
Mullins is in the middle of his fifth Major League Soccer season and has watched the Crew’s system from afar, but his first few days in Columbus will be light on information as he acclimates to his new surroundings.
“We want to see what he’s bringing up close and personal and then we want to start coaching him,” coach and sporting director Gregg Berhalter said. “We’ll keep the instruction very simple and let him do what he does and observe it and make corrections or maybe we’ll learn things. One thing that we’re very open to is learning from the players and a lot of the way we play is based on the strengths of the players that we have.”
Mullins said Thursday he joins his new team with an open mind while realizing he will have to be patient in his transition after making his last 44 appearances with D.C. United.
He knows what he can add, though. At his best, Mullins has shown a strong finishing ability in the box, and 20 games in, the Crew needs a scoring threat off the bench.
“I think it gives you a little comfort knowing you’re in a good environment,” Mullins said of the Crew’s history of developing strikers. “That being said I think it’s up to me now to make my chapter here what it’s about.”
Mullins is hopeful a change of scenery will help him finish off 2018 on a strong note after a rocky start. The New Orleans native recorded just one assist in 10 appearances for D.C. United this season.
“It wasn’t the greatest first six months of the season for me individually — that doesn’t mean I wasn’t working hard, doesn’t mean I wasn’t learning a lot about myself and my game — (but) it just didn’t work out there,” he said. “That’s part of this business sometimes. I’ve seen it now. I’ve been in a few clubs but I’m very thankful to be at a place where they wanted me and I think it’s a good place.”
Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey M. Brown issued his first order in the City of Columbus and State of Ohio’s lawsuit against Crew operator Precourt Sports Ventures and MLS since PSV and MLS’s appeal was dismissed last month.
The order calls for the two parties to submit an “agreed protective order” — used to protect sensitive information in discovery — by Monday. If they are unable to agree to terms on a protective order, the order read, both parties will submit a proposed protective order for the judge to review.
Brown also wrote that he will set new deadlines for complying with the terms of his May 8 order after he completes separate meetings with the two parties.