Accrington Stanley 2-0 Crewe Alex Review - Flat

In my preview, I had originally written a section about how fortunate the Alex were to be heading to Accrington at Easter and not in the middle of winter. But then the fixture gods decided to schedule a storm to hit the north west anyway. Typical. In a game that matched the weather, it was ugly, scrappy and bereft of quality. And in the end, the Alex fell short to complete a 3 game stretch where they showed why they are a promotion contender, but likely the odd one out when all is said and done come May 2nd.

Lee Bell called it a flat performance. I'd say that was a perfect summation. This is my review of a miserable day at Accrington:

Lack of Effort

I'd almost prefer them to just be bad. Because watching them go from smashing Shrewsbury to battling past Oldham to simply not turning up here is maddening. Yeah, conditions, a growing injury list, etc etc. But this wasn't about a lack of quality. We know they are good enough. We've seen it often enough. They went into the day 7th for a reason. There was no reason why they couldn't have gotten a result today.

This was about a lack of application and unfortunately, a lack of effort, as they were beaten by a side that isn't better than them in terms of all round quality, the table proves that. No, they were beaten by a side that simply wanted it more than them. And not for the first time either.

Story of the season

We wring our hands over their record against the poorer sides, but their home record has been ok. 8-3-1 against the bottom half is fine as you are never going to win them all. But it's their away record which continues to hold them back. This defeat saw them slip to 5-2-5 record against the bottom half on the road.

That will be one of the stories of their season from a negative point of view. The highest of highs, but this will go down with the lowest of lows, alongside Barrow and Newport. I'm not quite as angry as I was when I watched them throw away leads against Cambridge and Bristol Rovers. No, this is just disappointment.

Shortcomings

Today their shortcomings were laid bare, most notably in terms of holes in the squad. The lack of CM help for Sanders. The leaky defence. And the attack, despite their goals, going through long stretches where they lack pace, imagination, creativity and most of all, quality. Which is unacceptable for a starting line up that had 46 of it's 60 goals present.

The shortcomings in terms of the style of play were also evident. They don't impose themselves on games enough because they don't have a consistent style of play. They've been able to get results in spite of that, but today it was exposed badly. There were no patterns of play, no consistency to their approach. And again, that will be one of the reasons why they don't make the top 7 should that come to pass.

Rival Watch

Mixed is the word to describe their day in the promotion race.

Chesterfield picked up a narrow but unconvincing home win against struggling Cheltenham, so I wouldn't be nailing them into 7th just yet. Oldham surged ahead of the Alex once again by winning 3-1 down at Colchester. The defeat last week did little to halt their momentum it seems.

Grimsby had a shocker by losing 3-1 at home to Harrogate. So that's something I guess. Walsall also had a disappointing day as they let a 1-0 lead slip to draw 2-2 at home to Gillingham. Barnet were so close to a memorable home win over Bromley after playing the final 20 with 10 men, but the Ravens snatching a late winner must be so deflating for the Bees.

These results leave the Alex 9th, but as Chesterfield and Oldham both have games in hand over them, it puts them in a very tough spot, knowing 3 wins from their last 5 might be the minimum they need. It's not over, but it's gone from tricky to borderline impossible.

Ref Watch

Meh. Nothing much to say about him. A bit too quick for the cards, but I felt he was inconsistent in both directions, so I can't complain.

Management Assessment

There is only so much they can do. Yes, the squad building and lack of a clear philosophy continues to drag the team down, but today they put out 9 of the same XI that did so well against Oldham. So how much of it is on them?

Player Assessments

Ian Lawlor

Nothing he could do for either goal. It was a weird day for him, as he didn't have much else to do aside from pick the ball out of the net twice.

Lewis Billington

Love him as a defensive full back, but he's not good enough going forward. He's had a good season, but he and the coaching staff need to work on his attacking output heading into next season.

Alfie Pond

Not sure I'd pin too much on him, although he and Demetriou struggled today, which is a concern given it was against a goal shy Accrington side.

Mickey Demetriou

Also struggled, but to be fair, had Tezgel gotten onside, Mickey probably would have gotten an assist.

Reece Hutchinson

Did his best, but once again the lack of an actual/decent LW isn't helping.

Max Sanders MOTM

Trying to do job of 2 midfielders. Not sure what else he can do. Man of the match, but it's such a low bar I think even a snake would struggle to get underneath it.

Matus Holicek

Struggled with a knock from early in the 2nd half, but his inconsistency was back after such a high last week. He simply doesn't impose himself on games often enough. The Alex desperately need him to take a step in that regards.

Tommi O'Reilly

Quiet. Nothing happened for him all afternoon. His production, as with his energy, is dwindling at a worrying rate.

Calum Agius

Invisible yet again. I worry about him long term. Where does he fit into the first team picture long term when he lacks pace, skill, trickery and the creativity needed to be a LW? I get he played centrally today, but he doesn't look much like a number 10 either.

Josh March

Not a LW. It worked against Shrewsbury, great. But it hasn't worked in any of the 2 games since then. So stop trying it. Either play him centrally alongside Tezgel in a 2, or make the hard choice and drop one of them. Because shoe horning him on the wing is not the solution.

Emre Tezgel

I get he is lacking fitness, but his slow lazy non attempt to get back onside cost them as he was offside for Demetriou's header across goal. Had he not been so slow, he might have been to get into a goalscoring position and he would have drawn the Alex level. He's been good for the Alex, but that moment really frustrated me.

Subs:

Jack Powell

Just not the guy. He's had the odd moment this season, but his time in the EFL is drawing to a close.

Omar Bogle

Puts himself about, but the actual quality he brings is negligible, at best.

Adrien Thibaut

The game was lost by the time he came on. Added little, but his lack of usage in the last few weeks over Bogle has been criminal.

Overall Verdict

A damaging day for not just them in terms of the result and confidence, but for their play-off ambitions. They now have to do it the hard way, by finding, I'd say, a minimum of 9-10 points from 4/5 sides all above them in the table. Not ideal. Let's just hope for a darn sight better performance on Monday.