Despite victory, Nancy seeks better performance by the Crew
The foundation of Crew coach Wilfried Nancy’s system is maintaining possession of the ball.
For Nancy, when his players have the ball, they’re able to dictate the tempo of the game and manipulate their opponents, creating spaces to attack freely. But in the Crew’s 2-0 win over D.C. United on Saturday, D.C. had 54.7% of the possession in the first half and 52.7% for the game.
Nancy isn’t a dogmatic coach — his tactical flexibility is one of the reasons the Crew hired him away from CF Montreal in December — but for him, his principles around possession are put in place to help his team control the game.
The Crew won Saturday despite not dominating possession of the ball, but Nancy doesn’t believe the way they played Saturday is a basis for longterm success.
“Yes, we won, but I would have preferred to have better control of the game at certain moments,” Nancy said. “This is something that we have to be a little bit better. The emotional control for me is really important. Today, we rushed the play when it was the moment to keep, to manipulate a little bit more the opposition, to disjoint a bit the line.
“This is something that we need to be better. This is not easy because this is all about the momentum. This is complex, but this is something that I like.”
Midfielder Lucas Zelarayan scored
the first of his two goals just 10 minutes into the game — a thrilling, fast-paced start for the sellout crowd at Lower.com Field, but also a start that fed into Nancy’s exact concern about emotional control.
“We were excited to play. We have to manage that emotion, especially at home,” Zelarayan said. “With our people, we want to run and score. Sometimes, it’s difficult to manage that, but we have to keep working on that and try to be patient, keep more of the ball, play side-to-side to find the spaces.”
The possession was more even in the second half, as the Crew settled under their 2-0 lead, but Nancy believes his team can be better — and needs to be better — as they implement his ideas throughout the season.
“We need to recognize when we have to rest with the ball and to slow down the play, and to speed up the play,” Nancy said. “Today, we had too many moments where we sped up the play but it was not the good moment to do it. It was the moment to keep the ball and to recycle, to attack again.”
CREW 2, UNITED 0
D.C. 0 0 - 0
Columbus 2 0 - 2
FIRST HALF: 1. Columbus, Zelarayán 1 (Hernandez), 10th minute; 2. Columbus, Zelarayán 2 (Matan, Moreira), 44th.
Yellow cards: D.C., Najar (foul) 59th, Klich (foul) 84th; Columbus, Morris (foul) 65th. A: 20,391.
Shots: D.C. 15, Columbus 12. Shots on goal: D.C. 3, Columbus 4. Saves: D.C., Miller 2; Columbus, Room 3. Fouls: D.C. 16, Columbus 17. Offsides: D.C. 2, Columbus 0. Corner kicks: D.C. 7, Columbus 1.
Lineups: D.C. - Miller; Birnbaum, Jeahze (Williams 85), Najar, Pálsson, Santos (Hopkins 62); Durkin (Ku-dipietro 62), Klich, Canouse; Benteke, Robertha (Asad 80). Columbus - Room; Degenek, Farsi, Moreira, Quinton; Matan (Molino 80), Morris, Nagbe, Zelarayán (Zawadzki, 90+1); Cucho, Yeboah (Díaz 75).