Crewe Alex 0-3 Grimsby Town 23/24 Review - Embarrassing

The Alex's injury situation this season has honestly been as bad as I've ever seen it. It started in earnest in late October and early November and whilst it improved slightly in January, it's been getting steadily worse since February once again, to the point where they are signing emergency keepers and having several scholars fill out the bench. 10 players out, not for the first time either. However, those injuries are not the reason why they lost today. In fact, they are barely a footnote. Here is my review of what was a pathetic afternoon for the Alex:

Workrate

Why did the Alex look completely 2nd best? They are supposed to be pushing for the play-offs and Grimsby are supposed to be struggling. But there was only one team who can say they put in effort today and that was the supposed strugglers. I'd argue most of the Alex players walked off with plenty of effort left in the tank. Rowe and Kirk were 2 of the joggers and a few others can't say they left it all out there either. Nobody emerged with credit.

Fitness

Injuries don't excuse yet another team playing the Alex off the park. Grimsby pressed with an intensity and energy we've rarely seen from a Crewe side. They looked far, far fitter and sharper in everything they did.

Fatigue isn't an excuse. The starters today(league starts in brackets) were Stryjek(33), Cooney(18), Billington(19) Williams(20), Demetriou(43), Adebisi(44), Holicek(10), Austerfield(14), Kirk(7), Rowe(22), Nevitt(26). That's right, only 3 of the starting XI have played more than 30 times this season. They should not be tired at this point. The fact they do is a damning indictment on their fitness and recovery.

Grimsby played on Tuesday too. They've had tough fixtures, they've played only one fewer than the Alex. How can they look so fit and sharp and the Alex look like they needed a lie down before the game even kicked off?

Home struggles

I've pointed it out for weeks. And I'll point it out again. This team are not good at home. At all. Don't believe me? They are now 11-5-6 at home. They finished last season 11-6-6. If they lose to Wrexham, as looks very likely, they'll finish with a worse home record than last season. How can that happen? How can they look so abject in what should be their fortress, their comfort zone?

It's not like the Alex fans are toxic in the stadium. And again, this goes beyond injuries. Falling behind in 12 games. Falling behind 2-0 in 6 games. 32 goals conceded, with is 6 more than last season with 1 still to play. I'm going to go into more detail next week underlining just how badly they've actually performed at home, but it's a real issue and I'm not sure I fully trust Lee Bell to solve it.

Best of the worst

I'm not going to even try and put a positive spin on it, because I'm too embarrassed to. But the Alex are looking more likely to make the play-offs than they were at 3pm. Every other side in the play-offs lost. Walsall and Wimbledon lost. Crawley and Barrow play each other on Tuesday, so even if one team wins, the other loses, which is good for the Alex. They are going to fall into the play-offs because the rest of L2 below 3rd(maybe 4th if we're being generous) is so shit.

Ref Rating - 6

Nothing majorly wrong from him today. Maybe a touch harsh on Cooney's yellow, but he mostly let the game flow and didn't miss anything controversial.

Management Rating - 0

I won't quantify their starting XI or subs, which were what they were. Not a lot else they can do. But what I'm concerned about is the 10 games up to and including this one. The loss of mentality, the loss of fitness, the loss of cohesion and team spirit. Yes, missing players affects that, but I think the current issues run far far deeper than that.

And it doesn't make me concerned for the final 2 games of the season or even the POs. It makes me concerned for next season. Does this look like a group that, should they fall short in the play-offs, looks anywhere near ready to mount a 2nd promotion run next season? Not for me. Bell and his team have got massive issues to fix.

Player Ratings

Max Stryjek - 4

Made a couple of solid saves, but it was a very shaky performance from what should be a L1 standard goalkeeper. He let the first slip through his hands and almost got into trouble outside his box on a couple of other occasions. A poor debut unfortunately.

Lewis Billington - 4 MOTM

Wasn't good, wasn't the worst. Struggled like everyone else.

Mickey Demetriou - 4

Didn't step up, got caught out on several occasions and looked once again exhausted.

Zac Williams - 4

Shocking from Zac. Terrible on the ball, shaky off it. Picked up a silly yellow for a frustrated 2nd half foul.

Ryan Cooney - 4

Not the worst offender, but as bad as most of the others.

Josh Austerfield - 1

For a player that goes down "injured" a lot, he never seems to miss games. Funny that. I feel for him as he has no experience alongside him, but it doesn't excuse some woeful displays of late, including today.

Matus Holicek - 4

Some bright moments, but they are too few and far between at the moment. Not showing much of the talent he flashed earlier in the season. Again, that's not all on him, but still, he needs to be better. Much better.

Rio Adebisi - 2

Atrocious. Does he think that sort of performance gets him L1 admirers this summer? Think again.

Aaron Rowe - 0

Another shocker from him. Swanned around the pitch doing nothing before coming off. I've said it before I'll say it again, not cutting his loan short in January was a massive mistake.

Elliott Nevitt - 5 MOTM

Ran around, half a couple of half chances, but once again he looked totally isolated upfront. To be fair, he did almost score thanks to his own never say die attitude. A shame most of the rest of the team didn't follow his example.

Charlie Kirk - 4

Looked injured when he made that shot over the bar in the first half. He at least looked a bit interested, but he couldn't do anything to lift a woeful team performance.

Subs:

Joel Tabiner - 4

Looked like he lacked match fitness and sharpness, which of course he did. But he added little.

Charlie Finney - 5

Oh so Finney does exist. Huh. He almost set up a consolation for Demetriou. He's been in the squad for over a month, how is this the first time he's come on?

Callum Agius - 5

And what's this, a 2nd year scholar being throw into a promotion chasing side? I thought that wasn't allowed? He had one bright moment where he almost fashioned a shooting chance with a nice turn in the box, but that was about it.

Overall Verdict

Next week could be really ugly if they perform like that. The season is ending with a really concerning run of form that has been looking ahead to next season with pessimism. I worry next weeks game against Wrexham, even if they have nothing to play for should the title be gone, will stick 5 past them and Colchester might need 3 points to secure safety.

So now, attention turns to the Alex's PO rivals. Namely Crawley v Barrow on Tuesday. It's sad that we're now praying for other teams to drop points in order to fall into the play-offs, but here we are.