Crewe Alex: The Tricks and Treats

With Halloween under 48 hours away, and the season well underway, it’s only right to talk about the Tricks and Treats of Crewe Alexandra’s campaign so far. I have decided to pick out three treats of the season and three tricks. Starting with the treats; Alex Kiwomya, Transfers and improved attitude in-game; as well as three tricks; the seven game winless run, risky defending and whether or not Davis should stay as manager – all of which are intertwined one way or another.

Treats (Kiwomya, Transfers, Attitude):

Alex Kiwomya: The winger’s Twitter name is @Golden_Kiwomya , and he has certainly been a golden player this season. His dynamic dribbling, electric speed and the quality of his finishing have made him a star turn in the team this season. He has contributed with goals and assists, which gained vital points early on this season. Davis is meeting with Chelsea representatives later this month, to discuss the loanee’s future, hopefully it is at the Alex this season – if it is and he keeps up his golden performances, the team keeps playing well, we could be in for a successful season.

Transfers: This summer, in my opinion, has been Davis most successful at the Alex – businesswise. The Birmingham born boss brought in; Ryan Lowe, Chris Dagnall, Danny Hollands, Alex Kiwomya, Zoumana Bakayogo, Liam Smith – all bar Liam Smith, who got injured early in his loan spell, have made a positive impact at Crewe Alexandra. Hollands, Zooms (Bakayogo), Lowe and Dagnall; have all added much needed experience to a young side. Whereas Kiwomya, has added pace, flair and positivity to the wing. These signings have put the Alex in the playoffs and I believe can keep us there, as long as we remain consistent.

In-game attitude: During the disastrous campaign of last, it was not uncommon to see heads drop when we were a few goals behind in a game. It has been a different story this season however, with positivity and the mental attitude of the team being vastly improved. George Cooper is a prime, solo example of how that has changed. Cooper admitted himself that he let himself and the team down with his low work rate and how he let his head drop when the game weren’t going his way. This change has enabled us to gain a lot more points, than we would have done with an unchanged attitude to various situations.

Tricks (Winless run, Defending, Davis):

Winless run: Before today’s 2-0 away victory to Leyton Orient, the Alex hadn’t won in their last seven games. That sort of run is damaging, and can cost mangers their jobs, especially if it went on any longer. Alex fans can breathe a sigh of relief now though as it’s over. But the run did cause concern, for me and other Alex supporters. At times we looked unorganised and unprofessional, a totally different team to that of the start of the season. Defending was poor, opportunities weren’t being created and strikers weren’t finishing – a recipe for relegation.

Defending: Losing a 3-1 lead to Hartlepool, suffering a 5-1 thrashing to Wycombe; both prime examples of the defending woes, that have been occasionally highlighted this season. This negative however does come from a positive, trying to play a high line and generally with a high success rate, which I am not criticising us for attempting. The issue in my opinion, is the lack of execution when asked to defend something ‘simple’ (i.e. an over the top through ball). We seem unable to deal with; balls over our heads or balls into the box; the basic bits of defending – that’s what has let us down. If you can’t do the basics right you will inevitably drop points, as we have during the season so far (especially the winless run of seven matches).

Steve Davis: At any other club, Davis would be out the door by now. As it is at Crewe Alexandra, he is the fourth longest serving manager in England. However has been on a downward spiral ever since, the Johnstones Paint Trophy (JPT) victory. Looking purely at the league positioning, we are not doing too bad this season. However when took into account, where we could be if the winless run was avoided – we should be a lot higher in the table. Over recent campaigns, Davis has lacked fresh, new and successful ideas. Davis isn’t solely to blame though, the lack of finances and negative attitude played a part, however I often say in football ‘any given set of players, can only be as good as the manager makes them’.