Crewe Alex: A New Era

A 0-0 draw with league favourites Portsmouth, backed up by 2 away wins, have given Crewe a surprisingly impressive start to the season. It has led Crewe fans to feel some rather strange emotions – excitement? Optimism? Hope? Who knows; it`s been far too long since we last experienced such?

The first two wins demonstrated what was already suspected; that our attack was much improved. Lowe, Dagnall and Kiwomya have all been fantastic, Cooper and Kirk are showing flashes of quality and Ainley is certainly capable of doing a job in the team if called upon.

What was unexpected, however, was the defensive solidity revealed with the clean sheet against Portsmouth. Portsmouth boast an attacking line-up that would not be out of place at the top of League One, with Carl Baker, Milan Lalkovic and Gary Roberts all arguably far too good for the basement division. Last season, much worse attacks than Portsmouth`s ran riot against us – for us to keep a clean sheet implies that a corner could have been turned.

So what`s changed to cause this sudden swing in form? Obviously, at this point, it`s anyone`s guess. Any suggestion of it simply being a lower standard of opposition could be countered by the quality of Portsmouth and Sheffield United. Some may propose luck, as Sheffield United in particular missed a host of chances and hit the woodwork twice.

However, my hypothesis is this; that some confidence has finally been injected into the squad, and this is allowing the players whose confidence had been previously shattered to start performing to their potential – Ollie Turton put in arguably his best performance of his career on Saturday to support this point. The encouraging signings gave us hope, and must have given the young players hope that we could succeed too. The biggest issue with the team last season was our lack of confidence – as soon as we conceded, heads would drop and we wouldn`t get back into the game. It was clear that we`d come into a match expecting to lose.

Momentum and conviction are more important than anything else in football – just look at Burton Albion, a perfect example of what positive momentum could do, now in the lofty heights of the Championship without spending excessively or having star players in their squad. With such young players especially, it is pivotal that they`re able to play with confidence and freedom, and if this run continues there is every chance we could be a force to be reckoned with this season. With winnable games against Hartlepool and Newport coming up, there`s every chance we could put together a solid foundation from which this season could be built upon.