Kansas City vs. Columbus: Is it the defense or the offense or both?

As I watched Columbus score two relatively easy goals against the Wizards, both due to defensive blunders by young defenders, my heart went out to Jimmy Conrad.   The veteran defender and Wizards captain played a good game, a fact that would be easy to miss when you see a 3-0 final score.  He did many things well; he just didn’t have the help he needs.  Aaron Holbein and Jonathan Leathers will probably be solid defenders as they mature, but right now they are struggling to find their way and it is costing the Wizards big time.   The first goal was Holbein’s fault as he caused the corner kick that led to the Marshall header.   On the corner itself, Holbein seemed to be lost as he neglected to mark Marshall on the play.  The second goal came when Jonathan Leathers got sucked in to the middle and was out of position to effectively defend Moreno who exploited the open wing and scored on an easy chip over Kevin Hartman.   It was tough to watch, neither goal should have happened.  I leaned to the guy sitting next to me and said “I’ll bet Jimmy would like to have Nick Garcia back for another year”.   Don’t get me wrong, I think trading long time KC backfield steady Nick Garcia to San Jose for the first overall pick that was used to acquire Chance Myers will probably pan out in a couple years, but for now it is foolish to think Garcia isn’t a better defender than any of Kansas City’s existing backfield except Conrad.   Holbein, Wahl, Leathers, and Harrington are all faster than Nick Garcia, but none of them is as tough.  Opposing attackers move with relative impunity on the KC final third of the field.  Other than Conrad, none of the KC defenders made any of the Columbus players pay for coming in to their zone.   In stark contrast, the Columbus defense, minus Hejduk no less, punished the Wizards attackers all night.  Not only did Iro and Marshal dwarf Lopez and Sealy physically, they hacked, pushed, pulled, and wore out the strikers every time they tried to come in to their zone.  Leathers and Holbein can’t be knocked for their hustle; they’re just not playing consistently smart and tough enough to provide an effective transition to the midfield.  It seems like it’s time to move Jack Jewsbury back to defense.  Heck, maybe Jose Burciaga Jr. might be interested in returning to KC?  Onalfo shipped Burciaga to Colorado, essentially for nothing, because of his tendency to get caught upfield.   Relative to the defensive problems KC is having this season; Jose’s foibles don’t look so bad. 

OK, to be fair, getting spanked by Columbus wasn’t all about the poor play of the defense.  Kansas City’s offense was atrocious.  Scott Sealy looked totally lost and was utterly ineffective.  The most telling sign of Sealy’s poor play came when Lopez attempted a little through ball in the Columbus box that Sealy failed to read.  Lopez exploded at Sealy like I’ve never seen him do since coming to Kansas City.  For the better part of 15 seconds he balled Sealy out for not providing a proper run.  It was obvious frustration with Sealy had built up and Lopez finally unloaded on him.  It is baffling why Onalfo kept Sealy in the game for 90 minutes.   The KC midfield continued its struggle tonight with Arnaud and Jewsbury almost unnoticeable for most of the game until Arnaud started sliding all over the field in the final 15 minutes.   Just as it is time to make some adjustments on defense, something has to be done on offense also.  The stats prove it- two measly shots on goal against Hesmer, and neither was any good.   The Wizards have only scored 10 goals in 11 league games.  To make matters worse, their leading goal scorer is their center back.   

What’s going on with the Wizards attack?  I know its complex, but something jumped out at me during the Columbus game.  I sit at one end of the field for most games, I noticed something vividly- the Wizards rarely overlap.  One of the most basic soccer tactics is to provide constant overlapping runs to make attackers hard to mark.  This means quick diagonal runs with and without the ball.  Instead of this, the Wizards seem to run constant straight lines.  They seem easy to mark.  When Marinelli or Lopez are carrying the ball across the field no one overlaps behind and provides a run.  This happened several times against Columbus.   Overlapping runs seem so simple, but they appear to be totally absent in the Wizards attack.  I think Lopez was upset with Sealy because Scott almost never overlaps or provides clear diagonal runs.  

This was a game the Wizards should have won.  Columbus was missing their center back Hejduk and several other players due to injury.  Further, Columbus was coming off a U.S. Cup game against Chicago on Tuesday and should have been a touch fatigued.  The Wizards were returning  home for the first time in more than two months with a sellout crowd to greet them.  Still, they laid an egg.  The season is more than a third complete, several  weaknesses in the Wizards roster and strategy are starting to emerge.   Is it the defense?  Is it the offense?  Right now it appears to be both.   Will Onalfo and co. find the solutions before this season is out of reach?