For the last seven years, when the Columbus Crew took the field, fans knew what the team was going to look like. Both head coach Gregg Berhalter and his replacement Caleb Porter preferred a 4-2-3-1 look that had variations depending on the opponent but was, especially to the untrained eye, more or less the same from game to game.
Based on what the Crew is doing so far this preseason, that will not be the case in 2022. Porter would like his team to have more flexibility in the way they line up this season, meaning the formation could change much more frequently than it has in the recent past.