Coach Henrik Rydstrom feels Columbus Crew is 'too nice'
Columbus Crew coach Henrik Rydstrom feels his team is 'too nice' and must get meaner to avoid losing leads.
The Crew isn’t likely to get bigger anytime soon, but there's one area of growth that's eating at coach Henrik Rydstrom . More: Columbus Crew 2026 Leagues Cup kickoff times revealed. See here He wants his team to be meaner and more “cynical,” as he puts it, and not in the Jerry Seinfeld or Larry David examples of the term.
As a player, Rydstrom was a "cynical" midfielder who got by on defensive toughness and a relentless work ethic. T The Crew, meanwhile, is loaded with skilled possession players who like to play defense by playing offense. Meanness doesn’t come naturally to most of them, so Rydstrom sees a toughness void that must be addressed before more leads disappear in losses like the one they took May 2 against Minnesota United .
“Can you change a person’s personality? ” Rydstrom said May 5 at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field. “No, probably not, but can you change some behaviors?
Yeah, of course. ” Rydstrom used the example of children being told that eating candy is bad for their teeth, which probably won’t do much to quell most kids’ candy consumption. Offer a motivational reward for not eating as much candy, however, and your probability of success goes up.