Armchair Analyst: The Tao of Gregg Berhalter & how Columbus Crew SC will continue to rise

I'm about ready to admit I was really, really wrong about Gregg Berhalter. Last summer I thought, based upon his less-than-successful stint managing in Sweden and a tepid first four months in charge in Columbus, that he was going to be the type of manager who had good ideas but no real way of implementing them. I figured his team would play nice soccer but not get nice results.

Obviously I was off-base. Following Saturday's 4-1 domination of the Philadelphia Union, let's take a look at what makes Berhalter's team tick:

1. Use the ball to shape the game

One of the advantages of going with a 4-2-3-1 over a 4-4-2 is built-in numerical superiority in the central midfield. Crew SC play a 4-2-3-1, and they usually win that central midfield battle. It shows in their possession and passing accuracy, which are both near the top of the league for the second straight season:

Columbus are second in possession and passing accuracy, but first in chances created from open play and "Big Chances" -- chances Opta says should be goals -- created.

This is the difference between "possession" and "possession with purpose." When the Crew move the ball around, they're doing it in order to open up the field and shift defenses side to side. Doing so allows for the next point on the list...

2. Straight murder opposing fullbacks

Fullbacks in the modern game have a tough job. You have to push up the field with the ball in order to either support, or even initiate the attack. You have to use the ball a ton -- fullbacks are regularly among the highest-usage players in the game. You have to be able to differentiate between when it's time to play the killer pass vs. time to play the safe pass.

And then, on the other side of the field, you have to be able to defend on an island as well as protect the back post on crosses. And above all, you can't ever let the winger on your side get behind you, because that pulls the whole defense out of shape.

Even elite fullbacks struggle with this balance. We all remember how great Fabian Johnson was last summer, right? Do you also remember that both Ghana's late goal and Portugal's even later goal came when his man got behind him?

In the game today, that's where space is found, and that's why wingers who can score are so valuable. Enter Ethan Finlay:

Finlay was the Man of the Match on Saturday, picking up two goals and an assist and generally just beating the living hell out of Fabinho. This about sums it up:

What is so fun about Finlay's play is his lightning-quick ability to swap roles. Sometimes he's crashing the back post, acting very much as a second forward while Kei Kamara (offseason pick-up of the year, perhaps?) clears space at the near post; sometimes he's flaring wide to bend in a sweet cross, as he did on the opening goal; and still other times he's pinching narrow to break through the lines at a sprint, stretching the field vertically and horizontally. Even when he doesn't score on that type of play -- but by the way, he did -- he still pulls defenders every which way with his attacking gravity, and forces them to think faster than he runs.

It's not easy.

On the other wing is Justin Meram, whose bag of tricks on and off the ball is probably worth its own column at some point (here, have a goal). He's become an expert at picking his spots to pinch centrally, clearing out the flank for Waylon Francis on the overlap, our domestic league's best example of the fullback/winger synthesis that dominates much of the modern game.

3. The Perfect Platform

This style of play isn't possible if you don't have guys in central midfield who can open up the game and make it sing a little bit.

Federico Higuain doesn't produce the numbers of an MVP candidate, but the Argentine enganche is nonetheless an MVP candidate; Tony Tchani was arguably the league's most improved midfielder last season, and has elicited some national team discussion even with a somewhat rocky start to 2015; and Wil Trapp actually got his first full USMNT cap a few months back. In his recent, injury-related absence Mohammed Saeid has filled in almost flawlessly, which says as much about Saeid's ability as it does about the talent of the guys around him.

Look at how relentlessly they spread the game wide against the Union, specifically trying to find Finlay on the run:

There are still some rough edges that need sanding down, and we saw one when Francis got beat on Philly's lone goal (scored on a Finlay-esque back-post run by Erik Ayuk, followed by a celebration that was maaaaybe just a tad excessive). We've also seen communication issues between Michael Parkhurst and Emanuel Pogatetz, and while Kamara's on fire now, he's never been a lights-out scorer in MLS or anywhere else.

So I'll say this: it's not a done deal that Columbus will be first through the tape at the end of the regular season. But at this point, I'll be surprised if they're not.

Philly are so bad in transition. This is brutal from first to last: