Wilfried Nancy Tactics At Columbus Crew 2023/2024 – Tactical Analysis

On December 9th, Columbus Crew defeated LA Galaxy.

He won the MLS Cup in a season that amazed everyone with this team’s performance, characterized by continuous striving for initiative and attack.

Their team is considered the most potent in MLS this season, with 79 goals.

To understand the reason for this, we need to know the style of play of their French coach, Wilfried Nancy.

He is 46 years old, considered young in this profession, and is currently in his second head-coaching job after previously managing CF Montréal, where he had worked as an assistant coach and youth academy coach.

He is distinguished by his ability to manage people, work with players, motivate them, and make the team one big family, which reduces pressure on players both on and off the field, allowing them to play this calm and beautiful football.

“We play such a unique style where Darlington Nagbe and I get the ball all the time and in the middle of the chaos and have to be like a cooling source for the team and a calming source and to control the rhythm and the tempo, and I think that’s not always easy when the game is going 1,000 miles per hour,” said Aidan Morris, Columbus Crew’s midfielder.

“Lots of respect to Wilfried for giving me that role of being that calming influence.”

“It’s tough. I’ll have a great game, and he’ll come up to me and tell me something he wants me to do better. It’s like a father figure, almost,” said Morris.

In this MLS scout report, we will explain their tactics in the attacking, defending, and transitional phases.

Wilfried Nancy Tactics & Formations

First, we should mention their main philosophy and formation, as well as their general intentions in the attacking phases.

They prefer a 3-4-3 formation with three centre-backs, two wing-backs standing wide on the outer flanks, two pivots, and two inside forwards acting as two number 10s to form a box midfield and a striker, as shown in the first photo below.

They can penetrate the defending shape either by their box midfield in the middle or by forming triangles on the two wings.

In all that, they depend on the defenders’ calmness and patience, along with their pivots to calm the situation, contain pressure, and then pass correctly, breaking the lines.

You can find a sample of that in the case below.

When the pivot gets the ball, the other pivot moves vertically to open the passing lane to the outer flank, where the defending right winger has a dilemma of going to the wing-back or the inside forward.

Hence, he opens the passing lane to the wing-back, who passes it to the striker, who comes to complete the triangle.

Their three centre-backs are adept at this style of play, especially in passing and dribbling, while being diverse.

Malte Amundsen and Steven Moreira are the left and right centre-backs and frequently display great passing and dribbling skills for the level at which they play.

At the same time, Rudy Camacho is the central defender who excels at several types of passes and skills; he is exceptionally accurate and reliable on the ball. 

Wilfried Nancy Build-up and ball progression

They use the same shape in the build-up by exploiting the many options their box midfield provides.

Then, the rotations and triangles come, so in the first photo, you can see the centre-back passes the ball directly to the right inside forward while the right centre-back runs to form a triangle with him and the right wing-back, as in the second photo.

The wing-back passes the ball to him while the inside forward runs to receive the through pass, as in the third and fourth photos. 

They exploit the numerical superiority they build with five players in a 3-2 shape.

If the opponent presses with only four players in many ways, either directly pass to one of the two pivots, the free one, or by asking one of them to drop between the centre-backs to free the wide one, as in the case below. 

Here, the opponent’s forward chooses to press the midfielder, so the left centre-back, who shifted more wide, is free to receive the goalkeeper’s pass.

When the opponent’s press becomes more challenging, they have no problem making the wing-back, near the ball drop with the two inside forwards go near the ball, forming the same box midfield, leaving only the opposite wing-back and the striker on the other side, as in the first photo below.

In the second photo, the opponent presses with a 4-3-3 shape, with the right midfielder forced to move forward to press the two pivots with the striker; the three forwards are forced to stand narrowly because of the three centre-backs, and this 3-2 shape, so the passing lane to the right wing-back is open.

The right full-back has a problem: either facing the right wing-back or staying with the right inside forward, while the two other midfielders are fixed because of the other inside forward, who comes to the ball side and stands behind them.

The wing-back receives the ball, so the right full-back goes up, leaving the inside forward behind him, who will receive a through pass easily, as in the third and fourth photos.

Some opponents have dealt well with this build-up scheme, pressing with five players against the 3-2 shape, forcing them to pass to the wing-back while they execute the side-pressing.

With five defenders at the back, they ask the left centre-back to go up and chase the inside forward, as shown below.

The side pressing is clear, as in the two photos below.

However, this coach is excellent at handling changes during the game, so he makes a pivot to substitute another striker.

As a result, the build-up shape becomes 3-1, as shown below.

Why is the highlighted inside forward free?

As we said, the opponents play with five at the back, asking the left- or right-centre-back to go up to chase the inside forward.

Still, with two strikers, this centre-back couldn’t go forward because we already have five other forwards — the right and left wing-backs, the two strikers, and the opposite inside forward — which leaves the five defenders, as shown in the third photo.

This free inside forward receives a wall pass penetrating the high press, as shown below.

The five forwards fix the five defenders, so our highlighted man is free now.

In the progression phase, they usually use the same box midfield to achieve numerical superiority against the opponent’s midfield by having a 4-v-3 situation to free one of the inside forwards.

Columbus Crew Final Third

In the final third, they utilise many wing rotations, with the two pivots on the side of the ball and the three forwards standing closely.

Meanwhile, the wing-backs stretch the pitch, as shown below, which helps them in several ways that we will mention in detail.

One of their ideas in wing rotations is to use the centre-back near the ball in this rotation by passing to the wing-back, then moving to take the inside forward’s place, who moves back to drag the defender, thereby freeing the space for him, as shown below.

Another method they employ is to play a direct long ball to the wing-back while the striker drops to drag a defender, allowing the inside forward to penetrate instead. However, the striker here decided to shoot directly, as shown below.

When the ball is in the middle, the three forwards keep narrow to free the space for the wing-backs, so the opponent’s full-back has two options.

Some decide to chase the wing-back wide, leaving a significant distance between him and the compressed defence line due to the forwards’ narrow positions, which are exploited with a through pass, as in the first two photos below.

Still, the pass is inaccurate, so the defender gets it.

Some decide to stay narrow, allowing the wing-back ample space to receive the ball in the outer flank, as shown in the third and fourth photos; however, the midfielder chose to pass in this case.

Columbus Crew High press

They usually press high to chase the ball and regain possession.

They prefer to use the side-pressing method with the three forwards narrowly asking the central one to press the opponent’s holding midfielder, who isn’t always the striker, because they sometimes ask one of the two wingers, inside forwards, to do that, especially Carlos Vela, while the other two close the centre and are ready to press the opponent’s centre-backs.

The wing-back near the ball goes up while the other one stays with the defence, as shown in the first photo below.

In the second photo, the opponent passes to the other side, so the shifting happens between the two wing-backs, and then they trap the opponent near the line, leaving us with no option but to pass to the full-back, as in the third and fourth photos.

The ball goes outside while the left centre-back is ready to press, as shown below.

In the first two photos, the same side pressing is done using the same scheme and the exact shifting between the wing-backs.

In the third photo, the right forward presses the goalkeeper with a curved run, closing the passing lane to the left centre-back and forcing him to pass inaccurately, as shown in the fourth photo.

They get the ball in a dangerous area with many options, as shown below.

Here, the same pressing scheme is employed, with another attacking midfielder dropping back, but one pivot follows him, then presses the goalkeeper, shadowing this midfielder in his back, as shown in the two photos below, forcing the goalkeeper to play a long ball.

But let’s know why this long ball could harm them.

When the ball is in the middle with the goalkeeper, the two wing-backs are a little high in the stage of shifting, meaning that there were 3-v-3 in the back, but why didn’t one defender follow the striker who receives the ball easily, then pass it to the full-back who crosses it to the wing in front of him?

This forces a pivot to run towards him, leaving the midfielder behind, as shown in the second and third photos.

The answer is in the fourth photo: they ask the two wingers to stand very widely to drag the right and left centre-backs with them, so the central centre-back couldn’t leave this large area in the middle to chase the striker.

Columbus Crew Mid-block and low-block

The 5-2-3 shape often performs their mid-press, but they have a problem leaving the area between the defence and the mid too large, so when the left full-back goes up in this space, putting the wing-back in a problematic situation, as in the first and second photos below, it could be harmful.

In the third photo, the right centre-back helps him well, but it is better to ensure this is done in a small space, as the opponent midfielder can exploit this area by shifting.

Luckily, the opponent decided to cross the ball, as in the fourth photo.

When they have to drop into a low block, they form a 5-4-1 shape that has typically proven quite solid and difficult to break down.

Columbus Crew Attacking transitions

They are effective in attacking transitions in several ways.

One of them is to have the centre-back play a long ball to the striker, who then runs directly to the opposite side with the inside forward, as shown below.

The most dangerous thing they have in attacking transitions is that they don’t need time to rearrange themselves because everyone can read the game and stand in the nearer positions they can based on their teammate’s position, as we will explain.

In the first photo below, the right centre-back gets the ball back.

At the same time, the 5-4-1 formation is shown, so he passes it to the right winger, inside forward, then moves quickly without thinking to fill the gap, so he stands as a striker while the striker stands in the right wing-back position, who stands at the back to cover the advancing right centre-back.

The left wing-back and the left inside forward are dashing to be ready for the switch, as in the third and fourth photos.

Columbus Crew Defending transitions

As world-class attacking teams, they prefer to regain possession quickly through tough counter-pressing.

In the photo below, you can see six players around the ball; four are already in position, while two are running to close the passing options.

This is also a good use for the narrow scheme they use near the ball, as mentioned above.

They could close all options for the opponent, as shown below.

However, they require assistance in the rest of the defence on the opposite side of the ball, particularly with risky actions from the defenders.

In the first photo, the right centre-back passes to the right wing-back, who then moves forward to receive a double pass.

However, the wing-back passes inaccurately, as shown in the second photo.

This action leads to making the central centre-back shift to cover behind him, but the left centre-back can’t shift because of the advancing left wing-back, so these two large spaces are created.

In the third photo, the left wing-back didn’t come back, while the forward was still marking the left centre-back in this dire situation, where the forward could either get the ball to this inside area or pass it to the player coming in at the red arrow. 

The attacker decides to enter the penalty area while the wing-back is still out of view, so the result is a goal.

Conclusion

In this analysis, we have shown many Wilfried Nancy tactics he has used with Columbus Crew in their attacking phases, including the build-up, progression, and final third, in their defending phases, including high press, mid press, and low block.

We have also explained how they handle attacking and defending transitions, along with their advantages and disadvantages in each phase.