Crewe Alex 0-1 Fleetwood Town 25-26 Review - It's Happened Again

Tonight, Fleetwood fans deliriously sang "It's happened again!" at full time and on first hearing it, it's hard to know what exactly they were talking about. But then, with a bit more thought, it becomes obvious. 11 months ago, fresh off 2 straight wins to push the Alex back into the top 7, they played Fleetwood at home on a Tuesday evening and got mauled 4-1. Tonight had the scoreline been the same, I don't think many could have complained. This is my review of a bruising evening:

Tactics

Let's start with my biggest issue tonight, the tactics. Bell and Dicker have credit in the bank for successfully juggling their available players to a 5 game unbeaten run, navigating some very tough opponents and logistics in the process. But they seemed determined to burn through as much of it as they could with their frankly baffling decisions tonight.

Yes, Owen Lunt hobbling off at half time forced them into what was likely an unplanned change. But instead of shoring up the midfield, they weakened it by bringing on Josh March. Off came Holicek for Demetriou. Off came O'Reilly for Bogle. Off came Powell for Moore. Don't get me wrong, all of those last 3 subbed off players were playing poorly, but the tactics devolved to just getting the defenders to lump the ball up the pitch and comepletely sacrifice any build up play.

It didn't work even once. Having 3 strikers on the pitch is all well and good, but where were the wingers or midfielders to put the balls into the box? Who was supposed to be pouncing on the 2nd balls to keep the pressure on?

That's the level of management I'd expect from Big Baz managing the Dog & Duck on a Sunday morning whilst nursing a hangover. A L2 manager should have more in his tactical arsenal than that.

Be Better

The players too have built up some credit. The core group that have carried them to where they are now deserve huge praise. They've done so with barely any help from the rest of the squad, too many of whom have been sat on the sidelines either because of injury or a lack of quality. But that being said, nobody comes out of tonight with credit.

Lawlor was shaky in the first half, Billington and Hutchinson gave them nothing going forward. Pond and Connolly(not surprising) struggled. Powell's set pieces were dreadful. Holicek and Agius were ghosts, again. O'Reilly, whilst clearly in need of a break, is too predictable these days and is easy to shut down. There were a lack of leaders, a lack of physicality, a lack of quality and worst of all, a lack of composure tonight. Nobody took control, nobody steadied the ship or said "right, I'm going to be the one to drag us back into the game". It was a poor night from the management, but the players need to cop some flak too.

Worrying Trend

The Alex are 3-0-1 in their last 4 home games including this one. That's all well and fine. But the concern is that they've been dominated in all 4. The stats make for alarming reading.

Stats	For	Against
Possession	42.8	57.2
Shots on Target	7	18
Shots	24	71
xG	2.24	6.47
Corners	10	28

Bare in mind they have all been against sides below them in the table. Not ideal when 4 of your last 6 home games are against sides currently in the top 10 and 3 are in the top 7.

Another alarming trend is the goals scored column. Since the Barrow game, they've scored 6 goals in their last 7 games. There are reasons why that is, namely the core 3 of O'Reilly, Agius and March being flogged and them getting next to nothing from any of their other attackers for various reasons. But it's a worry. We just have to hope that the returns of Lankester and Tezgel in particular aren't too far away, as the current attackers need help, and fast.

Positivity

After a very down review so far, let's end on a bit of positivity.

First, whilst we are into hopes and prayers territory I grant you, we can hope that the 2 above names are closing in on a return. Max Sanders too is hopefully 2-3 weeks away. Even having them on the bench for the final 10 minutes of games would be a huge psychological boost for everyone at the club.

Second, the Alex are now down to just 1 scheduled midweek game. Only 3 other sides can say that and 2 of them are down at the bottom. All their rivals might have games in hand, but I remain optimistic that in the coming weeks, as the Alex are sat at home between Saturday's resting and hopefully getting bodies back and players back to 100%, their rivals will be running around getting increasingly battered and bruised on mud bath pitches.

And third, there are plenty of twists and turns left in the promotion race. Of the 10 sides top half sides playing tonight, only 3 won. Bromley, MK and Salford all dropped points at home to strugglers. Notts County lost, Colchester drew. The Alex might have dropped to 8th, but they remain 2 points behind Salford and Chesterfield.

Yes, making the top 7 still looks to be a long shot. But let's get this defeat tonight out of the system quickly and see if they can't do what they at Bromley and Barnet and snatch a result out of nowhere at the County Ground on Saturday.

Ref Assessment

He let a lot of Fleetwood's blatant shirt pulling and gamesmanship go, but on the whole he didn't make any big mistakes from what I could see, so another average performance from him.

Management Assessment

An awful night for them. The starting XI was fine, but their subs and tactics were a throwback to the stuff we saw earlier in the season.

Player Assessments

Ian Lawlor MOTM

Nothing he could do about the goal and kept the score down in the 2nd half. There were some shaky moments in the first half though that he could do with tidying up.

Lewis Billington

Ok enough, but not at his best and the midfield experiment isn't one I'd like to see continued to be honest, as he looks fairly clueless in there.

James Connolly

Dire. Silly free kicks, poor positioning, can't win headers. And why is it that Pond has to play on his weaker side despite Connolly being the more experienced CB? He's a poor defender and he needs to be moved on in the summer.

Alfie Pond

Not a great evening, but he had no help from those around him.

Reece Hutchinson

Looked increasingly leggy as the game went on. He was ok, but not his best outing.

Owen Lunt

Fairly anonymous until he went down with his injury. It's a worry if he's out, given Sanders and Thomas are both sidelined.

Jack Powell

He's been solid in recent weeks, but tonight he was awful. His set pieces were atrocious. Like Connolly, I'll thank him for his service come the end of the season, but it's long past time to move on.

Tommi O'Reilly

If something hasn't happened by half time for him at the moment, it's unlikely to happen in the 2nd half. Is there a reason why every other forward player has been rotated yet he hasn't? Are the Alex on the hook for his wages if he doesn't start? Still, a spell out of the team is coming soon through injury, given how much opponents are fouling him lately.

Matus Holicek

I'm sorry, I see people raving over his performances lately and I don't get it. He's been a non-factor for weeks. Since his return on New Year's Day, he's credited with just 4 shots on target(2 came in quick succession at Crawley) and has created just 3 big chances all season. He needs to be doing way, way more than he currently is.

Calum Agius

See Holicek. I have more sympathy given his youth and the lack of rotation he's had, plus the times he ends up at RB, RWB or in midfield. But he's another that needs to step up and make himself a factor in games more.

Adrien Thibaut

I can't criticise him too much tonight. He was working with virtually no support and no service, plus he was getting fouled every time he touched the ball.

Subs:

Josh March

45 minutes of game time and he was a non-factor. Still, the service to him and the other attackers are abysmal, so I don't blame him too much.

Mickey Demetriou

Fine when he came on, although I honestly think they should have just chucked him upfront, as he's way better in the air than any of the strikers to be honest.

Omar Bogle

Some nice touches and moments, but some head scratching ones too. I'm just not sure he's what they need to improve their goal scoring output. I hope I'm wrong.

Luca Moore

Not a lot he could do in the 10 minutes he was on to be fair to him.

Overall Verdict

A damaging night where nothing went right. Now they've got to go to the side currently sat 2nd and just 3 points off the top and get something, with a tired and threadbare group. Good luck.