Crewe Alex 25-26 Monthly Review - Pre-Season/July

I do love it when all the Alex's friendlies fit nicely into the month of July. When they kick off in June or don't finish until August, something feels wrong. But no, all 7 of their warm up games this season were played in July and this allows me to do a concise first monthly review of the new season. I'm going to look back on the Alex's fortunes in their warm up matches, plus review their current injury situation and look ahead to August to see what sort of points tally we can expect them to pick up. So, let's get into it:

Looking Back

Last pre-season, the Alex played sides in the Cheshire/Staffordshire area exclusively. This time around, they wanted to stretch their travelling legs a bit more, as they headed to Ashton, Radcliffe and Southport.

There were 7 games in total and they started with 2 short hops into Staffordshire to visit 2 clubs which should be very familiar to Alex fans in Kidsgrove and Newcastle Town. They ran in 6 and 7 goals respectively, with the only 2 blots on the copy book being a penalty conceded against Newcastle and a serious injury to Joel Tabiner in the same game.

Next up with 2 trips to the outskirts of Manchester to play Ashton United and Radcliffe. 10 more goals were popped up in a 5-0 and 5-1 win, as new signings were introduced.

After that it was a pair of home games against 2 Championship teams in Birmingham and Stoke. Birmingham named a mixed XI as they also sent a team to Burton at the same time. The understrength Blues were dispatched comfortably by the Alex, who emerged 4-0 winners. Stoke were more of a challenge, as their almost full strength XI were 2-1 up at half time before they made mass changes at half time and allowed the Alex to almost level it up. They were unable to and the Alex fell to their first defeat.

A second string XI then made the trip to Southport for the final game and they failed to impress, going down 2-0 by half time. The game flipped in the 2nd half and the Alex got a goal back to make things close, but they were deservedly beaten and finished with a 5-0-2 record.

The top scorers were: March with 8 and Agius, Moult and Moore with 3 each.

Injuries

It's a mixed bag here. They only suffered one new injury in pre-season that, unfortunately, was a bad one in Joel Tabiner's season ending ACL damage. That's a big blow. The rest are problems that were carried over from last season. Matus Holicek has a pelvic/groin issue, Jack Lankester continues to rehab from his meniscus surgery and Shilow Tracey of course remains several months away from being fit to play after his broken leg. 4 injuries, 2 long term, isn't a great place to start given they haven't kicked a ball in anger yet.

Name	Injury	Expected Return Date?
Joel Tabiner(RW)	ACL	Summer 2026
Shilow Tracey(RW/ST)	Broken Leg	January 2026
Jack Lankester(RW/CAM)	Meniscus	September 2025
Matus Holicek(LW/CAM)	Groin	September 2025

Looking Ahead

It's a mixed bag in August. 6 league fixtures, including a midweeker, plus the EFL Cup game. It's a busy one for sure, but they play a wide range of teams, from predicted strugglers to expected promotion contenders. It's a bit of a crap shoot, so trying to predict how things will go does feel like a stab in the dark to a certain extent.

Optimistic Prediction: 3-2-1(Take 7 points from the 3 home games, 4 points from Salford and Fleetwood and lose to Gillingham, win both rounds of the League Cup)

Pessimistic Prediction: 1-2-3(Take 4 points from the 3 home games, draw one of the away games, lose the rest, including the League Cup)

My Prediction: 2-2-2(Beat Accrington and Crawley, draw with Swindon. Draw against either Fleetwood or Salford, lost the other and against Gillingham, lose to Stockport)

I think they'll have a fairly average month to start. I feel like they need 4 points minimum from the opening 2 home games. Maybe even 6. Picking out an away game where they can win is tough at the moment. If they can emerge from this month with 2 wins and less than 2 defeats, I think that would represent a good start.

Final Word

The Alex usually don't start seasons well. But if ever there was a time to have a good start, it's now. They have some tricky fixtures in August. They have some which, on paper, should be quite favourable. I do think they need to be looking at an 8+ point haul as a minimum from these first 6. That would keep them in mid-table and allow them to settle into the season ok, with a view to kicking on in the following 3 months, where there are no mid-week games of any importance and they play 4 games in each month and they should hopefully welcome back Lankester and Holicek.