With Sean Zawadzki sidelined, who has Columbus Crew slotted in at center midfield?
For the fifth season in a row, center midfielder Darlington Nagbe has been a cornerstone of the Crew lineup. Nagbe has missed only four games this season and is sitting seventh on the MLS all-time regular-season appearance list with 414.
However, the center midfielder playing beside Nagbe has been a more fluctuating situation.
To start the 2024 season, center midfield for the Crew consisted of Nagbe and Aidan Morris. The duo had appeared in nearly every game together over the course of 2023 and continued until the end of June.
After five seasons playing for the Crew, Morris made the jump from MLS to the England's second-tier EFL Championship. Morris' transfer to Middlesbrough FC forced the Crew to make a change at center midfield, and that change was Sean Zawadzki.
Once the Crew's most utilized utility man, Zawadzki was slotted into the lineup as a more permanent center midfielder when Morris left. It was a natural transition for Zawadzki, as it used to be his main position before coach Wilfried Nancy had him playing all over the field.
Zawadzki recorded a majority of the minutes alongside Nagbe for the following three months, but Nancy also had Alex Matan, who would normally play on the front line, trying out the position as well.
"It’s a good position for me. I like it," Matan said in September. "I want to say that I’m really happy wherever I play as long as I play for this team. ... I think we are the best team in MLS, so playing in the best team in MLS, it’s a pleasure to play."
In the Campeones Cup on Sept. 25, Zawadzki took a hit to the torso in the opening minutes against Club America. Despite requiring medical attention, Zawadzki remained in the game until the 78th minute.
The day following the Campeones Cup, Nancy confirmed that Zawadzki suffered a rib injury and could be unavailable for "a few weeks."
"The way I received it, this is difficult to heal," Nancy said. "What I can tell you is this is not good news for us. ... It is a knock on the rib, and you know the ribs, this is so painful.”
The Crew has relied on Matan to start at center midfield in the past two games with Zawadzki sidelined. Prior to Zawadzki's injury, Matan had started six games at center midfield. Matan got the starts for different reasons, whether it be due to the lineup having a heavy rotation or Nancy wanting Matan to gain more experience.
Playing center midfielder was a pretty uncommon for Matan before this season, and the defensive aspect has been the most unfamiliar part of the role, according to Matan. The part that is lacking in surprise is Matan entering a new phase in his career with Nancy as his coach.
Matan struggled playing for Caleb Porter in 2021. In 2022, Matan was sent on loan to Romania's Rapid București until Nancy brought him back at the start of the 2023 season.
"That was a tough journey in the beginning," Matan said. " Since Wilfried (Nancy), of course, it's been better for me. Way better. This year was a little bit of a weird year for me, because I just had a couple of injuries that I didn't have last year. It made it a little bit weird, but now I'm healthy and this is what matters the most."
With the timeline for Zawadzki's return still unclear, there are other players Nancy is rotating at center midfield.
Derrick Jones has seen minutes at center midfield since Morris's departure. But Nancy has also wanted to see how mid-season additions Dylan Chambost and Aziel Jackson fit into the role, with the two making their first appearances at the position during the Crew's 3-2 loss to Inter Miami on Oct. 2.
"That was not planned, to be honest," Nancy said. "That's why, this is the beauty of my job, but I know that they can play here. So, the idea was, I felt that Dylan (Chambost) in this position as a number six, was a good moment for him ... We needed him with that range of the pass that he has and the simple play that he has with the pass.
"And Aziel (Jackson), defensively was with Dylan at this position, but offensively was to be between the lines and connect with other players and try to create something. So the game was good for them."
Following the Miami game, Nancy started Chambost at center midfield against the Philadelphia Union, which paid off when Chambost's two assists helped lead Columbus to a 3-2 victory on Saturday.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Crew: Who will play center midfield with Sean Zawadzki out?
