We look at just how worrying the poor pre-season is ahead of the start of Crewe’s League two campaign next week
As I sat looking through my twitter feed and saw we were 3-0 down against Lincoln at half time, I started to wonder just how worried I should be.
Pre-season certainly isn`t the be-all and end-all. If it was, Davis would probably be gone by now. Successes at Nantwich and Buxton are all that Crewe have to show for their efforts this pre-season. That`s two wins out of six games when the Alex have played their first team squad.
But there are still problems which should have been addressed and haven`t, none being more obvious than the defence. Apparently, 4-4-2 is “helping with defensive learning” according to the gaffer. Judging by the 6 goals conceded in 4 games against lower league opposition, it has not helped very much at all.
By all accounts the Alex could not deal with Lincoln`s physicality and, in particular, striker Matt Rhead. The centre-backs on at the start were Davis and Guthrie, who seemed incapable of stopping Rhead. The second half saw Davis pushed to a full back role and Ray and Nugent stepping in. The second half pair seemed to do a better job and kept a clean sheet.
The problem at the moment with Crewe is they lack physicality. They have great ball-players, but if you can`t win the ball, then you can`t use it. There are going to be many sides similar to Lincoln that Crewe will face over the coming season – I can think of Barnet off the top of my head, with their target man and top scorer John Akinde likely to cause problems. If Davis can`t find a solution quickly, which will hopefully be Ray at CB, then Crewe will struggle to keep clean sheets.
In terms of the rest of pre-season, results haven`t been amazing. The first game saw Crewe concede two early goals before coming back to win 3-2. A home defeat to Wolves followed before our best performance of pre-season, 4-0 against Nantwich. Two 1-1 draws followed against a “Bolton XI” (having originally said they would send their first team) and Altrincham, before today`s mauling at Lincoln.
In answer to the question of how worried Alex fans should be, it is difficult to relax. The defensive problems that fans have seen for many years have remained and the management are still yet to find a solution. I am not sure how much players are “up for it” during pre-season but as a player I can`t imagine you would have any other mentality than trying to win. As I mentioned earlier, pre-season is not everything – non-league Chorley beat League One Bolton 6-1 – but unless good work is done on the training ground then there could be a tough season ahead for the Alex.