After a 5-2 drubbing at the hands of Orlando City Saturday, Columbus Crew Head Coach and Sporting Director Gregg Berhalter didn’t address his team at all.
“I didn’t say anything to them,” he said. “I thought that it wasn’t the right time. I was obviously emotional, disappointed, and it wasn’t the right time. We’ll get together again on Monday and we’ll regroup and we’ll talk about it, but certainly after a performance like that wasn’t the right time to address the group.”
What the club will be regrouping from is the worst defensive performance of Berhalter’s tenure in Columbus.
Crew SC gave up five goals in a variety of ways. And while Berhalter has been the quickest to defend his players’ effort, he was far from apologetic for his squad Saturday night.
“This is the most disappointed I’ve ever been with this group,” he said. “I hope they’re just as disappointed. What that was out there tonight, it wasn’t good.”
Columbus snagged an early lead thanks to a Federico Higuain goal just five minutes into the match. But they proceeded to allow five straight goals before an errant header gave them a fortunate own goal to bring the match to its 5-2 score.
After the clubs’ first two meetings of 2015 both ended with players being sent off with red cards, Berhalter said he hoped the league would get a glimpse of the teams playing 90 minutes at full strength.
And after they did just that, Berhalter said he wasn’t surprised that it ended in a blowout.
“When we perform like that, we’re not going to win a game,” he said. “I think we let ourselves down tonight. After a bright start, after some good ball movement and early pressure and an early goal, it was just way too easy conceding goals. In my eyes, that’s inexcusable.”
Players seemed no happier than their coach about the result. Goalkeeper Steve Clark was asked about his thoughts on the game.
“It wasn’t our best performance,” he answered flatly.
Berhalter said the club lacked a sense of urgency and had “a lack of understanding of what this is about.
“This is professional soccer,” he said. “We all make livings doing this. It’s about competing on every single play. When you’re playing a quality opponent and you, you’re going to get punished. We let ourselves down today, make no mistake about it.”
What does Berhalter do to fix his defense, which has given up the second-most goals in MLS? He isn’t sure.
“I don’t have the answer for that,” he said. “We’re going to have to analyze the tape, take a look at it. We certainly want to improve. If it means making some changes, we’ll make some changes.”
For the first time in his Columbus tenure, Berhalter showed signs of being open to changing his familiar 4-2-3-1 formation, if only to account for his club’s poor defensive displays.
“Defensively, we certainly need to do something different; there’s no question about that,” he said. “It’s obvious.”
And while he didn’t commit to any specific changes, a very different Crew SC lineup could take the field next week when the club travels to Colorado.
“In terms of guys being accountable for their performance, they have to be or they’re not going to be on the field,” he said. “If it means making some changes, we’ll do that. It’s about the collective; it’s about the group. Guys need to be accountable for their performance.”
