For Columbus Crew players and interim head coach Laurent Courtois, there was no point in belaboring Wednesday night’s match.
That’s not to ignore the performance – a 2-1 loss to CF Montréal at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field. But rather, everyone knew the game wasn’t good enough, and there’s no time to dwell with Saturday night’s match at Nashville SC.
“I learn a lot about people when they are having a struggle,” Courtois said. “Are they going to step back or are they going to lose their mind? I apply this to myself. My general thought to them was, ‘I'm disappointed – we all are – but there's a lot of games and we're going to learn a lot about each other in the next few weeks because you guys are the best group I'll ever coach, the best players and the best people.
“Now we faced back-to-back challenges. Let's see how we respond collectively and individually.’ We're going to apply what we say, which is let's adjust, let's reset and let's talk about options.”
For a second-straight match, the Crew found themselves trailing early and needing an equalizer. On Saturday night, the deficit doubled before Chase Adams gave Columbus a goal. Against Montréal, the Black & Gold scored via a Thomas Gillier own goal.
“Yeah, we'd say it's two games,” Steven Moreira said of the defeats. "The games before were the reverse. It was going first, so like it's more easy to manage the game. But the last two games we concede like very early, so to give confidence to the other team. So, we're chasing a result. Like I said, we talked already. We know what we have to improve, and that's good because we have a game in a few days, so we have to give the response.”
Courtois had similar sentiments.
“You can see the other way where you don't have to much time to think about [tonight’s result],” the coach said. “You address the wrongs, the average and the OK, and you gotta jump on that plane and redeem yourself. Sometimes, it's not the worst.”
On Saturday night, the Crew play at Nashville, before a trip to California to face Club América in the Leagues Cup quarterfinal. On Aug. 29, the Club returns home to host the New England Revolution.
“We have Nashville, it's coming,” Moreira said. "You have the quarterfinal. You have the [U.S. Open Cup] semifinal too. So sometimes, like I say, the season will not be easy. Even the past few years, nothing was perfect. Everyone was talking about us, but nothing was perfect, so we just move on.”
