Four takeaways for the Columbus Crew through the first 10 games of the 2023 MLS season

The first 10 games of the 2023 MLS season have been something of a roller coaster for the Crew.

After opening the season with a 4-1 loss at Philadelphia on Feb. 25 and picking up just one win in their first four games, the Crew then reeled off three wins in a row — 6-1 over Atlanta United on March 25, 4-0 over Real Salt Lake on April 1 and 2-0 at D.C. United on April 8 — and were flying high. They came down from those heights with a 1-1 draw against the New England Revolution and two losses, 1-0 at Charlotte and 2-1 against Inter Miami, to complete the opening slate of the calendar.

The Crew are in sixth place in the Eastern Conference with 14 points at 4-4-2. Their 19 goals scored is tied for second-most in MLS, and their plus-7 goal differential is tied with New England for the best mark in the East.

Because there are 29 teams in MLS, one team doesn't have a game each week, and this week is the Crew's turn to be idle. A bye week at the 10-game mark presents a natural opportunity to assess where the Crew stand at this point, so here are four takeaways from the first two months of the season:

Early highs and lows for Columbus Crew show difficulty of adapting to new system

Coach Wilfried Nancy has been clear since his hiring in December that getting the Crew where he wanted them to be would be a process. In the early weeks, even as the Crew started 1-2-1, Nancy was relentlessly optimistic about his team's performances and the way they were applying his system on the field.

"Every team that we've played against, they adjusted all the time in terms of the way they wanted to defend," Nancy said March 22. "I think this is clear, what we want to do, with the ball and without the ball. Now, in terms of execution, sometimes, this is not the good one. But we have a clear identity about what we want to do. Now, it’s new. It’s a new process. It’s a new chapter. It takes time to put everything place."

That optimism turned into results in the Crew's three-game winning streak. The Crew were executing Nancy's style of play at a high level, controlling the ball and scoring goals in a variety of ways from a variety of players.

But over the past three games, those performances haven't been repeated. Their opponents have realized that the Crew struggle to break down defenses that sit behind the ball, so if the Crew concede the first goal of a game, the opposing team can sit back and defend for the rest of the game. The Crew's vulnerabilities in defending the counterattack have also been exposed.

After Saturday's loss to Inter Miami, the mood in the locker room was somber as Crew players reckoned with their recent difficulties. They're just under a third of the way through the season, so there's plenty of time left to get back on the upswing, but the struggles in recent weeks have been a reminder that the first year under a new coach is unlikely to be easy.

"It's a long season," forward Christian Ramírez said. "It's going to be ups and downs. These are the moments where we as a group have to stay together and believe in what we're doing. Because if we do that, we'll get through this little rough patch and be better for it going forward."

Wilfried Nancy's track record of developing young players already evident with Columbus Crew

Until he became an assistant with CF Montreal in 2016, Nancy's coaching background was largely based around working with young players. And in the professional ranks, Nancy has garnered a reputation for his willingness to put young players on the field — and the way those players develop under his tutelage.

"For me, if a player deserves to play, young or old, he’s going to play," Nancy said. "I don’t think about them as young players. ... The most important things, young player or old player, are effort, be bold, play with your brain. If they respect that, for me, they can play."

The Crew were one of the oldest teams in MLS last season, with an average starting 11 that was approximately 29 years old. In the first game of the season, Nancy's starting lineup had a median age of 23.5 years — the second-youngest for the Crew since 2013.

Goalkeeper Patrick Schulte, who made his first MLS start in that game while Eloy Room was unavailable, was just 21 years old at the time; Nancy could have given the nod to veteran Evan Bush but selected Schulte, early proof of his commitment to youth. Room has missed much of the season with a lingering knee injury, and with an increased role, Schulte has demonstrated his potential to be the Crew's regular starter.

Other young players have taken strides in their first weeks with Nancy. Midfielder Alex Mățan has started every game and has a goal and two assists — the first goal contributions of his MLS career. Prior to tearing an ACL, wingback Will Sands was Nancy's first choice on the left side, and on the right side Mo Farsi has played the most minutes of any Crew player.

Midfielder Aidan Morris entered the season as a fairly established MLS player, so his role with Nancy isn't a surprise, but the 21-year-old has taken strides in his development and has earned his first two calls to the U.S. men's national team.

Columbus Crew offense has cooled down, but Cucho Hernandez's return will provide boost

The Crew scored 12 goals in three games earlier this year, tying the most in a three-game span in franchise history, and they did it without star striker Cucho Hernandez, who missed six games with a knee injury. But in the final game before Hernandez's return, they were held without a goal for the first time this season in a 1-0 loss at Charlotte. Despite having the ball for the majority of the game, the Crew struggled to create dangerous chances after going down and couldn't find a way to score.

Within 10 minutes of making his return to MLS action against Miami, Hernandez scored arguably one of the Crew's best goals of the season, a curling strike from the top corner of the 18-yard box that Hernandez couldn't resist describing as a golazo after the game.

Though the Crew struggled to score again in the second half, Hernandez and midfielder Lucas Zelarayán showed off the chemistry they've developed since Hernandez's arrival last summer and looked more cohesive than they did in the first few weeks of the season.

As the Crew work to solve the scoring difficulties that have been present the last few games, the return of Hernandez will undoubtedly provide a major goal-scoring boost going forward.

Columbus Crew's depth remains a question

After this week off, the Crew's schedule kicks into high gear. They'll play a minimum of six games in three weeks from May 10-31, and would add another if they win their U.S. Open Cup fourth-round matchup with Loudoun United. Outside of the striker position, where both Ramírez and Jacen Russell-Rowe can play behind or alongside Hernandez, and goalkeeper, where Schulte has been successful in Room's stead, the Crew's depth is thin at most positions.

Nancy strongly prefers to play with three center backs, which meant converting Steven Moreira to center back from fullback during preseason. That move has worked — Moreira has been one of the best ball-progressers in MLS so far this year — but Moreira left Saturday's game with an apparent injury, and if he's out for any length of time, things get much tricker for the Crew along the back line. Miloš Degenek, who has played in the middle of the back three, also left the game with an injury. Degenek and Moreira are two of the Crew's most experienced defenders.

Crew general manager Tim Bezbatchenko said in early April that the Crew had made an offer to another club for a center back, but that move did not come to fruition prior to the close of the primary transfer window last week.

After Sands' injury, the Crew worked quickly to bring in a replacement, trading for Malte Amundsen from New York City FC. Amundsen and Farsi are now the only natural wingbacks on the roster, while players such as Yaw Yeboah and Max Arfsten are learning the position after primarily playing as wingers previously. Luis Diaz, another converted winger, has been out with a back injury since mid-March with no timeline for his return.

And now that the transfer window is closed, the Crew's roster will stand pat until the summer, when the window opens again. With the number of games the Crew have coming up, they'll likely need a dose of good fortune to keep from getting stretched too thin.

bjohnson@dispatch.com

@BaileyAJohnson_

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Evaluating Columbus Crew through first 10 games of 2023 MLS season