COLUMBUS, Ohio – Gregg Berhalter is usually one to stay positive. After Columbus Crew SC’s second straight loss Saturday night, a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Eastern Conference rival Montreal Impact to extend their winless streak to five games, the head coach did not mince words.
"There are no excuses tonight; I'll take full responsibility for the performance," he said. "I think we lacked organization, we lacked ideas, we lacked the ability to move the ball quickly, and that's on me."
Berhalter talked in the days leading up to the match about Montreal's ability to counterattack. But when it came down it, his team seemed unaware of that danger, allowing both goals – from Maxim Tissot and Andres Romero following a scoreless first half – to come on the counter. Berhalter shouldered that blame, as well.
"(Montreal) has done a good job of staying compact and counter attacking," he said. "We all saw the [CONCACAF] Champions League run they had. To combat that you need to play much quicker, you need to be much more organized, and we weren't tonight. That's on me."
What would he have done differently? Berhalter pointed to the sequence that led to the first goal, where Montreal went straight from defending a set piece deep in their half to scoring at the other end.
"We got scored on on our own set piece at the top of the box; I think that says enough," he said. "The organization needs to be there. You can't expect, against a counterattacking team, to play like that and win the game. You can't expect it."
Berhalter said his players tried to do too much themselves, and said their play showed a "lack of respect for our game."
"Maybe they thought they were taking it into their own hands, but our game is a team game," he said. "It's about the collective, it's not about individuals. If guys start playing like individuals, we're not going to win too many games."
After a hard-fought draw in Orlando last Saturday, goalkeeper Steve Clark said he thought the 2-2 result could bring the team together and be a catalyst for a turnaround. Since that game, they have lost two matches in four days, the first coming in a 3-0 rout Wednesday against the Philadelphia Union, and Clark admitted the club is at their worst point of the young season.
"When you talk about the process of a journey, right now we're at a low point as a team, and we're going to come back," he said. "That doesn't mean it can't turn. I still believe we're closer now than we were before that Orlando game."
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Captain Michael Parkhurst says he isn't sure what to do as a team leader. But what he wants to avoid, he said, is another stretch like last season, when the club won only one of 16 matches during one stretch of the summer.
"We went through a tough patch last year and didn't win for many games in a row; we want to get out of this before it escalates," he said. "There's a lot of season left, and we need to stay positive and get back to working hard. We all need to step our game up, collectively and individually. The effort has to be better, the tactics, the technical aspect, everything has to be better."
Berhalter was left equally befuddled. But he was certain, he said, that the club should have left MAPFRE Stadium with three points Saturday.
"There's no disrespect to Montreal at all, but we should win this game, and I'll take responsibility for that," he said. "We should have a team on the field that's able to win this game tonight."
