Is the title a little click bait-ey? Yup. *shrugs*
The table below shows some offensive stats for the Columbus Crew during Gregg Berhalter’s tenure there (2013-2018).
| Year | Goals | Assists | Shots | Payroll |
| 2013 | 42 (12th) | 31 (16th) | 479 (4th) | 15th |
| 2014 | 52 (8th) | 46 (8th) | 473 (4th) | 15th |
| 2015 | 58 (3rd) | 66 (1st) | 464 (5th) | 13th |
| 2016 | 50 (8th) | 52 (6th) | 463 (5th) | 18th |
| 2017 | 53 (8th) | 54 (7th) | 400 (17th) | 15th |
| 2018 | 43 (21st) | 43 (21st) | 497 (5th) | 20th |
What does this tell us?
A couple things stand out when you look at those numbers. One, Columbus doesn’t spend money, or at least they didn’t (that may be changing). Two, they create a lot of shots.
Quickly on the low spending thing. I’m actually fairly optimistic about the USMNT, but spending time managing a “thrifty” club and getting the most out of what you have is pretty good prep for managing the US. Outside of CONCACAF the team is going to be outgunned and needs to be better than the sum of its parts.
The second point on creating shots is where I’d like to spend a little more time. The actual goal and assist numbers are decent, but rarely top of the league, more like top third with a couple seasons of bottom half or worse. Aside from a blip in 2017, the Crew were top 5 in shots each year of the Berhalter era.
While I was writing the roster review article a couple days ago, one of the points I made was that Berhalter is confident in his ability to create scoring chances. (This is how I’m mentally justifying the ego headline.) The shot numbers would seem to support that confidence.
Hypothesis:
My hypothesis is that Gregg believes that if the players follow his principles he can create scoring chances/goals through his system irrespective of player quality (to a point). The numbers above back that up. With a revolving cast of forwards and wingers (Higuain was the constant) the Crew were consistently creating opportunities. The flaw with this idea, in my opinion, is that actually turning these shots into goals does depend on the quality of the players.
The one year where the overall offensive numbers of the Crew matched their shot output was 2015. That was the year Higuain, Kamara, Finlay, and Meram all had good years at the same time. This is also the year they made the MLS Cup final.
As I’ve thought about it more, that hypothesis makes the “Forwards” he selected for the March games make more sense. Here’s the roster people would have been okay/happy with vs. the group he actually selected.
| What we wanted: | What we actually got: |
| Sargent Weah Wood Arriola Zardes Baird | Arriola Baird Lewis Morris Ramirez Zardes |
On pure talent I think only Arriola and maybe Lewis have an argument to be on a full strength USMNT. However, it’s pretty clear the roster wasn’t chosen on who the best players are. The guys on the roster all were in January camp and know Gregg’s system. (Except Morris. I know he stopped by camp for a couple days, but I have no idea what to make of his selection.)
If talent is close, Berhalter is going to choose guys that know his system because he believes that being familiar with the patterns of movement and knowing where to play the ball is going to create goal scoring opportunities. Ideally, the most talented guys are also the ones who know the system, but that’s not the case right now.
Should we be upset?
If this ends up being the 23 for the Gold Cup knock out rounds…come back here for some #MadOnline takes. For now, I can deal with it since the team only has a few days together and he did call in the three most important guys (Pulisic, Adams, McKennie) to get them up to speed.
The players called in will start getting into camp on Sunday (3/17) with some showing up on Monday. The first game is on Thursday (3/21). That gives Berhalter Tuesday and Wednesday with the whole group. I can understand why he would want guys that he doesn’t have to start over with. The honeymoon is just about over, but let’s give GGG until the Gold Cup before we starting seeing if www.fireberhalter.com is taken yet. (FYI – It’s available.)
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Berhalter leaving off our Euro-young dudes seems less to do with ego and more to do with practicality, IMO. He’s a systems coach, much more so than we’ve ever had. Ergo, you can’t throw too many new guys in at once. People need to chill. You’ll have all your toys eventually, but practice some self restraint! 🙂
Agreed. Just thought the headline might get some clicks. 🤓🙃