Sometimes it takes a review of where you`ve been to remember if it wasn`t all as bad as it seems. With Crewe Alex it`s quite often the case that everything is always doom and gloom but I`m going to look back over the first half of the 2016/2017 season to see if that was always the case. Let me take you back over the last 6 months and see if anything can give us optimism for the second half of the season.
Pre Season:
This time for us was all about how we can start to recover from a quite frankly awful 2015/2016 season that saw Crewe Alex relegated to the basement league. Plenty of talk about who should be shipped out, who we should bring in and should Steve Davis keep his job? If ever 3 topics feel like Groundhog Day it`s sure to be these!
It was obvious to many that Steve Davis needed to clear the decks to free up some money in the wage bill, as a result he waved goodbye to senior pros Brad Inman, Marcus Haber, Lauri Dalla Valle, David Fox and Chris Atkinson. Add to that a player that we never saw given the chance to fulfill his potential in James Baillie and also the young academy products that didn`t quite meet the grade of Liam O’Neill, Fraser Murdoch, Joe Kearns, Joe Howell, Toby Mullarkey and Andre Brown.
That freed up the room to welcome the experienced strike force of Ryan Lowe and Chris Dagnall, the permanent signing of Zoumana Bakayogo, a short term deal for Danny Hollands and the loan signings of Liam Smith and Alex Kiwomya. All in all, most Crewe fans were fairly pleased with the business that had been done and it was an upgrade on the players that had left the club.
Any growing optimism was brought back under control with a very mixed pre-season. The usual trips to lower opposition brought some very worrying results that saw strong teams loose to Hendsford Town and Lincoln where players were being bullied on the pitch. This didn`t send a strong message for the year ahead in a physical league.
August:
I had to read back through the results to see that August was actually an OK month for Crewe Alex that saw them pick up 6 points from a possible 15, a cup run in the EFL Cup (Yes, two games counts as a run for Crewe) and a solid win in the mocked Chekatrade Trophy.
A good win to start the season 2-1 away at Stevenage was followed by three draws and a loss in the league. These were all decent enough performances with the old issues of not being able to kill the opposition when the game is for the taking. The highlight of the month had to be a very good win away at Sheffield United in the first forind of the EFL cup which then rewarded Steve Davis`s men with a trip to Ewood Park in the next round to take on ex Premier League Champions Blackburn Rovers. A 4-3 loss followed that night but what all Crewe fans witnessed that night was a great game and the potential that the Crewe players do have the ability to step up their game.
September:
The month that will be remembered for letting fans dream of what could be before bringing them crashing back to reality. Home wins against Doncaster and Exter were followed up with a 2-0 win against a confident Grimsby and then coming from behind to secure a draw against Blackpool at home. A solid 10 points from a possible 12 and fans were looking at the top spots wondering how high we could go. Then on a Tuesday night in Wycombe everyone was dragged back to earth with a bang. It was one of those nights where the players just didn`t turn up as they lost 5-1 but the consequences of the manner of defeat would leave a scar that`s been hard to recover from.
October:
Three 1-1 draws in October reminded all Crewe Alex fans of our inability to win games convincingly. In all three of these games Crewe had to come from behind to earn a point against teams that all Crewe fans would be expecting to beat, Mansfield, Luton and Notts County. A home defeat to a physical Yeovil team was followed up by a good solid away win at Leyton Orient. 6 points from a possible 15 and fans were starting to see us drop down the league again as the leaders started to pull away.
November:
The worries started to really kick in during November as we saw an easy FA Cup exit at the first round to Cheltenham after a reply. It wasn`t just defeat that was the issue but the fact it was a 4-1 home loss to a team that had only just been promoted from the National League. 4 points from a possible 12 continued our run of about a point a game that just wouldn`t be good enough to mount a promotion charge. At this point it was only the inconsistency of the teams in the league around us that was keeping us in a respectable position near to the playoffs. As every game went by we were being caught, the leaders were pulling away and we were becoming a mid-table team. The voices in the crowd that had been restless with Steve Davis all season were certainly getting louder, demanding the action to remove him and get a fresh face in at the helm.
December:
Yet more defeats, only 2 wins since the start of October and Crewe Alex fans are finishing 2016 firmly looking over their shoulders staring at the bottom two places in the league that are getting closer by the week. The thought of dropping into non-league football is becoming a distinct possibility under the current management team that whilst trying their hardest, cannot seem to inspire the attacking football that is demanded to bring the goals to win games. Losses to Crawley, Cambridge and Accrington Stanley and a draw at home to Carlisle have offered a return of just the 1 point from a possible 12, that is relegation form.
Player Report:
As is suggested by our league form, there are too many players in the Crewe Alex squad that are not performing well enough to be kept on. Crewe don`t posses a squad big enough to carry these players as has been suggested by the largely unchanged teams that follow our heavy defeats. Most teams would drop the under performers for fresh players ready for the challenge. We ether don`t have those reserves or they are not being produced by the academy ready for the fight.
The form of loan man Alex Kiwomya has been a huge positive and securing him for the rest of the season is essential. Direct and pacey is what Crewe Alex fans have loved since the days of Rodney Jack. Kiwomya has also weighed in with a healthy 7 league goals from the wing, which is a good return. With George Cooper also starting to find the net with 6 goals and James Jones with 5 it is pleasing to see other areas of the pitch chipping in with goals.
Ryan Lowe and Chris Dagnall have 8 and 5 respectively which isn`t enough given their high earning position in the team. They do bring the experience Crewe cried out for but their form has dropped off with the team over the last few months and they desperately need to find the goal trail again if we`re going to have a successful 2017.
The defence has remained fairly static and no real improvement has been noticed from the team that was relegated in 2015/2016. The players have been given their chance to step up but few barring Jon Guthrie have taken that chance and we continue to leak goals.
Where Next:
The voices to remove Steve Davis from his position at Crewe Alex are growing louder by the game. There is a general acknowledgement that he brought us great success but this is being tarnished by the reality of two and a half years of very poor football and watching the club drop towards the EFL trapdoor to the abyss of non league.
By all accounts nothing will change at Crewe. The board have enough off-field issues to deal with that they are avoid the question about the teams performance and will leave the manager in place for the January transfer window. This will surely be the final throw of the dice for Steve Davis to get it right but the consequences if he fails could be fatal to the club. We need reinforcements whilst on a limited budget. Some players have outstayed their welcome and have proven that they cannot improve., can we find buyers to take them?
Two notable players to leave could be Ben Garrett and Jon Guthrie if they continue to refuse new contracts. Whilst I prefer to see players remain loyal I cannot blame them for keeping their cards close to their chest to see where Crewe will be playing their football before committing to new deals. It will be interesting to see if there will be any takers for players from one of the football leagues worst teams?
Witnessing the defeat to Accrington Stanley on the last day of 2016 was quite a fitting way to end a very poor year. Unable to take the rare chances that were created, horrendous errors in defence that cost us a goal and an inability to change a formation or personnel that the opposition had figured out after the first 5 minutes. This has been a reoccurring theme throughout the year and nothing currently suggests a valid reason why any of that should change right now if the current players and management stay in place.
I believe that Crewe Alex will stay up this year but it will only be due to the poor form of other teams and not our ability to play our way out of the relegation battle that is looming. With 5 games in January we may have a very different outlook come the end of the month if other teams do manage to up their game around us. This is certainly the lowest any Crewe fan has felt for years, let`s hope the second half of the 2016/2017 season brings changes on a few different levels for Crewe but not the change of league that we all dread!
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