Bromley v Crewe Alex 24/25 Preview - A spark?

New ground alert, New ground alert! Yes, the Alex make their first long trek of the season as they head down to London to face the newly promoted Bromley, who are making their debut in the EFL. The Alex head to the capital hoping for not just their first win of the league season, but their first goal(s) as well. Can they get their season up and running or will the optimism of the last few days go up in London smog? Here is my preview of the game.

Food for Thought

The Alex are in the middle of a scoring crisis, in the league anyway. But how much did Tuesday's encouraging showing against the Liverpool U21s affect Bell's thinking? Fin Roberts scored and Chris Long grabbed 2. Long will no doubt be pushing for a start in this game and I suspect the likes of Holicek, Roberts and a couple of others have done their chances no harm either.

Whilst a lot of the players that are likely to play in this game weren't involved against Liverpool, I'd like to think the increased pressure and competition for places will give not just the manager some food for thought, but the players who are in the team and aren't performing as well.

On the Road

I continue to hold more confidence in the Alex when they play on the road. At home, they struggle to maintain possession and territory and the players seems to struggle with the pressure of playing at Gresty Road for whatever reason.

But since the start of the last season, the Alex are 10-11-9 in all competitions away from home, which might seem average, but given their historical struggles, this is a marked improvement. They'll need that strong away form to come through here as they bid for their first win of the season.

To me, to you

That being said though, Bromley aren't a possession based team either. Their stats are a bit skewed by the fact they played for 83 minutes with 10 men last week at Bradford granted, but they are currently 23rd in average possession and 20th in average accurate passes per match. They are a very long ball team, sitting 4th in that category.

Both sides are going to spend a fair amount of time turning the ball over to one another I'd imagine.

A Spark

Sometimes, all you need is one positive result to get your season going. Now, I won't class a dull 0-0 against Swindon or a hammering of the Liverpool U21s as that, although they're better than 2 defeats. But what you feel the Alex need is a win to spark their season into life. It could be the scrappiest, ugliest win you've ever seen, but 1 victory could get their season up and running.

So why not here? Bromley have had a reality check after a tough defeat against Bradford. They are a L2 side like the Alex are, so there is no reason why the reds can't head down there and get a result. I'd imagine they'll be travelling down there overnight, so an early coach bonding trip could be just what the doctor ordered as well. A win could get them going after 2 confidence boosting results at Gresty Road. So, let's see it.

Approach

I wrote a piece on Monday detailing how I'd like to see the Alex throw a bit more caution to the wind when it comes to how they set up attack wise. That doesn't just come to who they start, but how they tell to play. We need to see them sent out with more attacking intent. I know their confidence will still be a bit tentative and they won't want to leave themselves open defensively.

But in order to win games, they need to have more shots and shots on target. They'll only be able to do that if they show more attacking intent. They have to get back to their roots and realise the only reason they had success last season was because they leaned into the high scoring, high conceding version we were used to seeing under Gradi and Artell and we saw early last season. Do that, and the season can still be a good one.

Ref Watch

Scott Jackson

Are we ready for the Scott Jackson show? In 2 games last season reffing the Alex last season, he showed them 11 yellow cards. That's 10.2% of their total, in just 2 games. He's a notoriously picky ref who won't take any dissent and will whip out the cards for the littlest offences. The Alex have to be guarded around him to avoid any silly cards.

2024/25 Record: 4 games(1 League Two, 1 National League, 1 League Cup, 1 EFL Trophy), 15 yellows, 1 red

Last Game: Fleetwood 0-0 Gillingham, League Two, 24th August 2024, 5 yellows

Crewe Alex Record: 0-2-0, 11 yellows

Injuries/Absences

Bromley

The Ravens are going to be without midfielder Ash Charles after he was sent off at Bradford last weekend. Other potential absences are Omar Sowunmi and Sam Woods, who were both not in the squad last week, but their injury list looks light.

Crewe Alex

Ryan Dicker has said Omar Bogle is back in training and could be available for selection, although I don't think he makes the bench just yet given the plethora of options who'll want to start. The only remaining question then is over Tom Booth and how far away his return is. The Alex's injury list is looking nice and small. I'm scared.

Team

Bell has some very interesting decisions to make. And dare I say it, he has some headaches, with several players liable to be disappointed at not making both the starting XI and the bench. A few players who didn't start last Saturday made cases on Tuesday, so do they get included?

For me, the keeper and back 3/5 stays the same, with Billington, Knight-Lebel, Demetriou, Williams and Conway(assuming he's not injured) starting from right to left. I don't want to see them change shape back to a back 4 at this stage.

In midfield, he has to decide if he perseveres with a duo of Thomas and Sanders. Yes, they might give you better work off the ball, but can you carry both when you want to score more goals? I think he needs to throw caution to the wind and drop one of them, but I expect both will start. I'd drop Thomas and start either Breckin or Tabiner, maybe the former after his impressive display on Tuesday.

As for the front 3, for me if you can trust Long's fitness to give you 60 minutes, he starts. He was their biggest threat against Swindon and bagged 2 on Tuesday. You have to make the most of him being fit and he plays alongside Hemmings down the middle. The final starting spot is a toss up between Tracey, Lankester and Holicek. Personally, I'm starting Holicek. He's started 2 games cup games and has a goal and an assist in them. It's only right he gets the nod.

Then the bench will be tough to pick players for, with any 6 from Thomas, Tabiner/Breckin, Tracey, Connolly, Cooney, Lankester, Lunt, Agius, Bogle and Finney all likely wanting to be in the squad. Good luck choosing who to leave behind.

Score Prediction

It's hard not to get a little bit of confidence after the Liverpool game and the small steps forward taken in the Swindon game, but now we need to see that transferred into an away game against a tough opponent who is used to winning and doing it in a way the Alex often find it hard to combat. I know it sounds negative, but I'd take another 0-0 at this point, even if I'd actually prefer a 2-2. They've got be targeting a draw at least, so I'll go optimistic and say that's what they'll get.

Bromley 1-1 Crewe Alexandra