2024-25 Crewe Alex after 10 Games - An Analysis

Everyone universally accepts that 10 games is a good starting point from which to analyse an EFL team's performance. It's just over 1/5th of their games and they'll have likely played a range of teams in that period, both good and bad. It's when you can start to take a look at the table and get an idea of your teams position and what it means for the rest of the season.

So, let's take a look at Crewe Alex in 2024-25, who yesterday reached that milestone. We're not only going to look at how they're doing this season though, but compare it in certain areas to how they were doing after 10 games last season and see if the 24-25 group stacks up to the 23-24 group. We'll then look at how the individuals in the squad are doing and the management as well.

A comparison

So, let's see how this Alex side compares to last seasons group. Let's put the 2 seasons stats side by side to see how they compare.

So, what conclusions can we take from this? Well, to put it mildly, last seasons team was better than this one. Better in the attacking sense at least. They were scoring way more goals and playing more on the front foot football.

However, where the 24-25 team claws back some ground is in it's defensive work, which is streets ahead of where it was last season. Now, part of the reason why they've improved defensively is they've gone for a more defensive approach. I'm not commenting on the rights or wrongs of that choice, but they are focusing on being hard to break down, tough to beat and then relying on having enough moments of quality at the other end.

And on the surface that is yielding similar results. Last season they were 4-5-1 and this season they are 5-2-3, but are sat on the same number of points, which is a fun coincidence. This group has probably done better than last seasons given it definitely lacks the talent of last seasons group. Which is fine by the way.

League Comparison

Ok, so maybe this version of the Alex isn't quite as good as last seasons. But as I'm sure some are probably saying right now, that doesn't really matter. Because context is important. Last season's league was packed full of attacking juggernauts. Last season across the league, teams scored at a 1.49 goals per game pace on average. This season it's down to 1.26 so far. There are fewer goals across the league, so it's not just the Alex that have noticed a drop.

Let's also look at where they stack up to other teams in the stats columns. All these stats are per game.

Now, this isn't me trying to dump all over the Alex's performances so far this season, but there aren't many metrics, aside from a few defensive ones, which suggest the Alex are a top 7 candidate at this stage.

Yes, we can point to big off season losses and injuries as being to blame for that, but I would argue that plenty of other teams will have the same excuses. And as I keep saying, when it comes to the players that keep missing time and have done throughout their careers, I'm not willing to give the club any excuses, as these were self inflicted issues.

Individuals

Let's look at the individuals in the Alex's squad to see how they've done. We can probably break this down into those we have played, and those who haven't. Obviously we can't discuss Nathan Robinson or Jack Powell, as they both continue their recovery from injuries, nor Tom Booth who's been relegated to 2nd choice keeper.

But we can discuss the fact that Chris Long and Omar Bogle have managed 5 sub appearances combined to date. That's a huge frustration, but not a surprise.

Some players have had mixed starts to the season. Matus Holicek, Lewis Billington and James Connolly have found playing time limited, although Connolly has bounced back in recent weeks. And I continue to worry about Joel Tabiner, who continues to flit in and out of games without making much of an impact. Shilow Tracey is another who has frustrated fans a lot. Whilst his 2 goals against Gillingham were great, those have been his only goal involvements in 10 games, which isn't enough for a player that starts every week and is expected to produce.

I'm not saying any of them have been actively bad, but all 5 have left me wanting more. Those players aside, the rest of the squad that have played a fair amount can feel happy with how they've done. First you have the surprise stories.

Ryan Cooney has suddenly turned into one of the better wing/full backs in the league, finding a new home in the Alex's 3-5-2/3-4-3 system. Filip Marschall came with a damaged reputation after a tough spell at MK Dons last season, but he's looked mostly excellent thus far and has 5 clean sheets to his name. Adrien Thibaut, a player nobody had ever heard until he signed for the Alex late in the summer, has been a revelation, scoring 2 goals and providing 2 assists in just 5 games across all competitions.

Mickey Demetriou is rated as the best CB in the league once again and Kane Hemmings, unfortunate injury aside, had enjoyed a decent start to the season with 3 goals in 8 games. The same for Jack Lankester, who was improving nicely until he suffered a hamstring injury against Gillingham and will now miss 6 weeks.

Zac Williams looks at home at LCB and Max Conway and Kian Breckin have been decent in their loan spells. The standout loanees however have been Marschall and Jamie Knight-Lebel.

Knight-Lebel was a total unknown, coming without any senior playing experience. But he's slotted nicely into defence and we once again might be having to sweat over him being allowed to stay with the club once the January recall window opens.

Management

2 things have impressed me about the management. The first was the way they rebuilt the squad. The summer transfers are mostly panning out. The 4 loanees have given them good early returns, whilst Lankester and Hemmings have made an impact. Obviously there are question marks over Connolly, Bogle and Sanders for various reasons, but it's still early in the season, so they'll get the chance to impress I'm sure.

The Thibaut and Fin Roberts pickups look sneaky good as well, with a great impact from Thibaut and some promising moments from the just turned 19-year-old Roberts.

Second, given how lost they looked after the Chesterfield debacle, you were starting to wonder about Bell's future. The team looked broken and without an identity, lacking any of the character and fight they'd shown for most of last season. But, with a little help from a soft run of fixtures, the management slowly built up the confidence with some gritty and unspectacular results. That has then led to some improved all round performances, including 3 straight home wins by a 6-0 margin.

They've brought back the team spirit and fighting attitude that to be honest, I thought had gone for good after the Chesterfield game.

The only downside is the entirely avoidable injury situation. Maybe these players are the best the Alex can afford, but keeping Long and signing Bogle feel like mistakes. Are either that good that you can stomach being without them for 20-25 games, just for the fact they'll likely produce in the 20-25 games they play? Not for me. But I guess we'll see come the end of the season what they've given you. Thomas missing game time is equally frustrating, but also equally unsurprising given his history.

I will say that Lankester and Hemmings are very unfortunate given they've been mostly injury free in their careers to this point. So yes, some of their situation is bad luck, but a fair chunk of it isn't.

Reasons for Optimism

So, I've basically surmised that this version of Crewe Alex isn't as good as last seasons. Nor are they putting up many metrics that suggest they are top 7 material. So, what's the good news? Well, I think there are many reasons why we should feel optimistic about the Alex this season.

1. It's an open league

This season we don't have the juggernauts of Stockport, Wrexham and Mansfield. It's a much weaker league with far more average to slightly above average teams knocking about. I've seen all 10 games and I wouldn't say many teams have stood out to me. The top 3 and top 7 look wide open and that presents the Alex with a real chance of getting back into the play-offs.

2. All this whilst being down players

Last season, the Alex had a great start and they were doing so with a mostly fit and healthy group. But by the end of October, they had lost Powell, Tabiner, Long, Williams, Holicek, Lunt and Finney to various long term issues. It was part of the reason why their performances and results started to suffer into November and December.

But this time, they've managed to get to 17 points and 9th in the table with minimal contributions from Long and Bogle. With no Powell. If and when they get those players fit, it will surely only boost them up and give them more options and a better team. And, touch wood, none of their current injuries project to see them miss more than a month or two. So they should have them back for the key Christmas fixture period.

3. A young group

Last season in game 10, the Alex named a starting XI that contained 4 players under the age of 21. Against Doncaster yesterday, it was 6. With 7 subs all aged under 21 on the bench. Their average starting XI age is the 2nd lowest in the league behind Walsall. They are picking up results without some of their more experienced players in the squad. That's a huge credit to them.

4. Smarter Management

Last season through the first 10 games, the Alex's issue was that they kept falling behind. In 7 of those games, they fell behind. They were 2-0 down in 4 of them. A lot of that I felt was down to the fact the team didn't come out looking prepared. They were a mess and disorganised and only some tactical adjustments got them back into games.

But this season, Chesterfield and maybe Bromley aside, the Alex haven't come out looking badly prepared. They've only been behind 4 times so far this season and have only been down 2-0 once. That I think comes down to Bell and his management team learning their lessons and getting the team better set up from the start of games.

Gone are the desperate tactical switches 30-45 minutes into the game, because they simply aren't needed. I think we all questioned them after the first few games, but since then it's been mostly mistake free management on their part. That hopefully points to a smarter and better prepared group, which can only be a good thing moving forward.

5. No passengers

Last season, we knew that there were several in the squad who had no future at the club. We don't need to drag up their names, but 1 of them had his contract paid off in January, one moved to Ireland and 2 more spent the whole season out on loan. This group doesn't have that issue.

They have 27 contracted players and they've used 23 of them through 10 games. The 4 who haven't played have been Booth(injured and then no 2. goalkeeper), Powell(injured), Robinson(injured) and Sant(First year pro). Bell says he has a small squad and that is true, but it's also a deeper squad for depth. Against Doncaster they were missing 6 first team players and they still had a team out there that most fans would say was competitive.

Conclusion

All the above being said, we are still only 10 games in. Things can dramatically change over the next 5, 10, 20 or 36 games. We're still less than 22% of the way through the season. But what this look back allows us to do is assess where they currently are and then perhaps do another review after 20-23 games to see how things have changed.

It might seem like I've been very down on them in this review, but a lot of the bad can be explained away and the good makes for some encouragement. This isn't the Alex of last season, but it's no less resilient a group. This is a group that once again shows the spirit and togetherness Lee Bell teams usually have.

They are picking up results despite being down 2 of their better attackers and missing other key players. And in a more balanced league with few stand out teams, I haven't seen anything yet to say this team can't be in the mix for a play-off spot. We'll see if that remains the case by Christmas.