Is it the defending Major League Soccer champion, a veteran side honed to sharpness and highlighted by the presence of league MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto, one of the craftiest and most talented players ever to ply his trade in American soccer?

Is it an underperforming team with an injury-riddled roster and a maddening propensity for late-game collapses?

Is it "America's hardest-working team," as its marketing slogan touts, or one that slackens at the end of its workday?

One game shy of the halfway point of the Crew's first season as defending MLS Cup champion, it is clear that the team, under first-year coach Robert Warzycha, is all of these and more.

"We're almost halfway through, and people are still talking about last year," defender Danny O'Rourke said. "We're not going to take the same path we took last year. We have a new coach. We have some new players. We're going to find a new way to be successful and hopefully end up in the same spot we were in last year."

Last season's Crew played with a chip on its shoulder. After three seasons of missing the playoffs, it placed the collar of the underdog around its neck and did not remove it until it was lapping up the champagne after an MLS Cup victory over the New York Red Bulls.

But the champion is never the underdog. Without its identity and its coach -- Sigi Schmid left for expansion Seattle when a contract extension could not be reached -- the Crew started anew.

Warzycha, a longtime assistant who took over for Schmid, is learning the ropes. His players are learning him. The early results are not bad, nor are they particularly good. The Crew is 4-3-7 and in the thick of a tight Eastern Conference race.

"Even if I try to bring what was good from last year, I still have a different voice, a different personality than Sigi," Warzycha said. "It's going to take time for us to adjust and get to know each other better, for (the players) to really know what I'm about."

The learning process has had its ups and downs. The Crew has scored and allowed 20 goals. The offense ranks fourth and the defense ninth among 15 teams.

Schelotto leads the league with 10 goals, but his production has been dampened by the subpar performances of others, including Robbie Rogers and Alejandro Moreno, who have combined for two goals and two assists.

More alarming has been the inability to hold a lead after a season in which the Crew was unbeatable when striking first. Last year's team was 13-0-1 when leading at halftime and 15-0 when it scored first. This season, it is 2-1-4 with a halftime lead and 2-1-6 with the first goal.

That's part of the Crew's identity now, Warzycha said. "But we can only play better. That can be fixed and, if we fix it, we're going to be a very good team."

That sort of optimism permeates the clubhouse. The players remain calm as they search for another route to the postseason. No boasting. No cowering. Patience.

"To have a swagger, to walk around like a tough guy saying, 'Hey, we just won a championship,' that's not going to do us any good," O'Rourke said. "It's not like we're going to walk on the field against New York (on Saturday), and they're going to say, 'Oh, you beat us in the final, here we are, walk all over us.'

"At the same time, we have in the backs of our minds the things we did to accomplish our goal last year. We know we can do it again."

smitchell@dispatch.com