Crewe Alex 2024-25 Friendlies & Pre-Season Review

I usually do a monthly review during the season, but it wouldn't have made sense to do one last week, as the pre-season schedule wasn't finished. Instead, I'll make this a pre-season review, where I look back at the last 5 weeks and recap what transpired during that time.

This will be a much shorter article that my normal monthly reviews, as it won't contain anything for the youth teams(as they didn't play), nor will we have a loanee recap, player of the month or analysis. But we will have an injury update and a look ahead to the first month of the season to see what lies ahead. So, let's get started.

Looking Back

The Alex returned to pre-season training all the way back on July 1st. After a week at Reaseheath, they were off to a 6 day training camp in Portugal. Not arranging a friendly in that time felt like a mistake, but hey ho.

After that, they got their friendlies underway with short visits to Newcastle Town(tier 8) and then Stafford Rangers(tier 8). They emerged 5-0 and 4-1 winners respectively, with goals from Jack Lankester(3), Joel Tabiner, Max Sanders, Kane Hemmings, Lewis Billington, Shilow Tracey and Conor Thomas.

There was a greater step up in quality as they faced La Liga side Real Mallorca in a behind closed doors game at Aston Villa's training ground. Both sides rotated throughout the game and eventually the Spanish side's quality told as they pounced on Alex mistakes to score a trio and run out comfortable 3-1 winners. Lucas Moore grabbed a nice finish to give the Alex something to take from the game.

They then returned to Gresty Road to face Stoke in their first high profile friendly. They took an early lead through a overhit Max Sanders cross which sailed into the far corner. They looked decent throughout the first hour of the game, creating several different chances and limiting a strong Potters side to little. Once the changes rang after 60 minutes, things flipped and Stoke were able to grab 2 goals to emerge with a narrow win they scarcely deserved.

A couple more non-league run outs followed against Warrington Rylands(tier 7) and Runcorn Linnets(tier 8), with 2 wins banked. Fin Roberts stood out in both games, grabbing 4 goals across them as the Alex emerged with 3-2 and 4-1 wins respectively.

The final game was at home to Blackpool today. In truth, it was a horribly one sided game, as Blackpool came and dominated from start to finish, looking fitter, sharper and generally just better in everything they did. They pounced on 2 poor defensive mistakes to take a 2-0 win away from Gresty Road.

It meant the Alex finished with a 4-0-3 record from their friendlies, winning the 4 against the non-league teams and losing all 3 of their games against the professional higher league teams.

Injuries

The Alex have a long list of players carrying issues of various kinds unfortunately. Long term, Nathan Robinson is rumoured to be out until the new year with whatever injury he sustained last season, which is a blow.

Also missing are: Tom Booth, Charlie Finney, Jack Powell, Conor Thomas, Chris Long and Omar Bogle. We know Powell continues to work his way back from his ACL surgery, but the issues that have seen the other 5 miss the pre-season are more concerning. How soon any of them are fit enough to make the squad for a match remains to be seen, but bringing in an injury list which is almost a third of your squad and you haven't kicked a ball in anger feels less than ideal.

Looking Ahead

The Alex begin the season with a surprisingly light August. They only play 4 times in League Two with a 5th game in the League Cup away at Rotherham allowing them to ease into the season somewhat. So, what awaits them in August?

Well, they open the season at Barrow, who've undergone a fair bit of change since last season. After that they travel to Rotherham. Then they have back to back home games against newly promoted Chesterfield and old foes Swindon. They round out the month with a long trip to the capital to face another newly promoted side in Bromley.

Optimistic Prediction: 3-1-0(Beat Barrow, Swindon and Bromley, draw with Chesterfield. Beat Rotherham in the cup and then get a decent PL draw in round 2)

Pessimistic Prediction: 1-1-2(Beat one of Swindon, Barrow or Bromley, draw the other 2 lose, lose to Chesterfield. Lose to Rotherham in the cup)

My Prediction: 1-2-1(Beat Swindon, draw with Barrow and Bromley, lose to Chesterfield. Lose to Rotherham in the cup)

August is always a weird, but vital month. Getting off to a good start allows for dips in form later in the season. But when nobody knows much about opponents or even their own teams, it can be hard to make predictions. The Alex have, on paper, 3 favourable fixtures against sides which aren't widely expected to challenge. And 1 side that definitely is. So I think it's vital they make the most of that and try to grab 2 wins from these 4.

It would set them up nicely for what looks to be(again, on paper) a similarly favourable September where they face Morecambe, Accrington, Harrogate and Newport.

Final Word

The friendlies are over the time for action is now. Getting off to a good start is vital to wash away the cobwebs from last season's final 12 games and set them up for what will hopefully be another successful campaign.