Crewe Alex 4-0 Birmingham City - 7 Thoughts

So, when's the open top bus parade? What's the earliest a team has ever been promoted? What's the record points total and how quickly do Crewe Alex surpass it? Yes, watch out League Two, the Alex mean business and are coming for you all. In all seriousness, whilst it's easy to be optimistic after a 4-0 thrashing of the newly promoted to the Championship Birmingham City, the reality is somewhat different isn't it? Here are some thoughts from myself after yesterday's win over the Blues.

Long Time Coming

Pub Quiz Question: When was the last time the Alex won a home friendly? Answer: It was way back in July 2021, when they beat Wolves 1-0 thanks to a goal from the newly signed Chris Long. They were in L1 then and it was the first time fans were properly allowed back into grounds after Covid. Since that win, they've drawn 3 and lost 5 of their home friendlies. Whilst the results mean little of course, it is still preferable to see your team win than not. So whilst the champagne isn't being popped just yet, it was nice to walk away from Gresty Road with a win in the bag.

Injury FC

It's a sick joke isn't it? Things ticking along nicely, 2 games into the pre-season and bam, down goes Joel Tabiner with a nasty looking injury, which is subsequently revealed to be an ACL issue. Surgery. Season over. Ok, the last few games have been successfully navigated, but then 34 minutes into this game, Tommi O'Reilly goes into a 50/50 challenge with Birmingham's Jack Quirk and he comes off the worst and goes down like a sack of spuds.

He's holding his knee, he comes off straight away and he is seen heavily limping down the touchline at HT with his leg wrapped in ice. Cue flashbacks to Jack Powell, Jack Lankester and Tabiner, all who've gone down in the last few years with bad injuries. It has to be a curse, especially given it happened to one of their few fit and available attack minded players.

Well, touching every piece of wood going, Lee Bell thankfully seems to think O'Reilly has avoided any serious damage. Whilst he knew straight away with Tabiner's issue that it was a bad one and said as much, he seemed optimistic that O'Reilly's issue was just a heavy knock. Let's just pray and hope he's correct, as the Alex's already thin attacking group can ill afford another lengthy lay off.

Absences

It was almost as interesting to see who wasn't in the team compared to who was and I'm not talking about the likes Thibaut or Holicek either. No, this time there was no Zac Williams and still no Omar Bogle. Both their situations look a long way off being resolved unfortunately. Also absent were their 2 recent trialists, Ollie Turton and Louis Moult. Does that point to them moving on, as surely if they looked likely to sign, they would have been included?

Will any of these 4 appear in Crewe colours again? Hard to say, but clarification on all 4 is becoming a growing necessity by the day.

A plan

When you play teams like Kidsgrove, Newcastle and Ashton, you can't draw any conclusions on how the team might play. But against even a half strength Championship side, you'd hope to see patterns of play and something resembling an identity. Well, we saw that in this game. The Alex played it around nicely when they could and went route one on other occasions. They mixed up wing play and there were times when they went more centrally.

The full backs got forward, the wingers looked lively, they were solid at the back and sharp in attack. This is what I want to see from a Crewe Alex side. But, all that being said, I'm fully aware it's easy to knock it around like this on a warm, dry(ish) summer's afternoon in July. It's a very different prospect on a cold December/January evening in places like Newport or Bromley. Or on the Gresty Road pitch after 15 games when it resembles a sand pit.

I just really hope that the management stick to this style of play once the season starts. It won't be easy. In fact it'll be very hard. It'll take a lot of guts, on and off the pitch, to play this way should a result or 2 go against them or should they suffer a heavy defeat. But given the players they have in the squad, from the likes of Hutchinson and Billington at the back, to Sanders and Lunt in midfield, to Agius and March upfront, they will not be successful playing any other way, of that I'm convinced.

I'm begging Bell to stay brave, to stick with the plan and to not go into his shell should they go through a rough spell. Do that and I'm sure the fans will stick with both him and the team through the thick or thin.

The kids are alright

Again, this is taken with all the context factored in, but man did the young lads look good in this game. Agius took his goal well and in the 2nd half, Oli Armstrong and Luca Moore in particular stood out, whilst Fin Roberts and Jordan Hodkin were a threat. Does that mean I'd be confident about them being options should they end up on the bench against Salford? No, probably not.

But there is some talent in the young players in the squad, with Moore's goal right before full time being the pick of the bunch. I don't expect the names mentioned in this section to get a lot of game time, but I do hope we see them given a few chances here and there to impress once the real games begin. You never know, they might just surprise.

March Hare

I had to find a suitable pun here, but I think I've found one to describe Josh March. I can equate him to the March Hare from Alice in Wonderland. Ok, he's not mad, but he's incredibly lively and his movement has been causing every team he's faced in pre-season no end of problems.

He grabbed 2 more goals in this game to take his tally to 7 for the pre-season. Ok, one was a deflected effort and the other a penalty, which brings his spot kick total to 3, but they all count. His first came from smart movement to work shooting space and the 2nd came off his own back, as he picked up the ball, drove into the box and was felled, much like he did against Radcliffe on Tuesday.

He's going to be a fan favourite for his all action style and his pressing from the front. If he can add goals to his game well, he'll be adored in no time.

Thin

Even if O'Reilly has avoided a long term injury, one thing this game did show is that whilst the Alex possess a solid enough looking starting XI, the squad is badly lacking depth. The 8 man bench for this game was 7 players aged 21 or younger and Jack Powell. Not a lot of proven quality to bring in should it be needed.

Internally, there is not much help on the way either. Tracey is months away from a recovery. Lankester is several weeks away at least. Holicek and Thibaut remain sidelined with their returns unclear. And who knows what is really happening with Bogle or when his situation will be resolved, whatever it really is.

We can hope the 1st year pros and development squad players step up, but they can't be relied on just yet. So that leaves external help, which I know has been covered a lot over the last few weeks. However, it was interested to see Bell put a number on the amount of players he hopes to have in by the Salford game, which was 4. Does that number include Moult and Turton? Is he referring to other players?

Names bouncing around social media are long term striker target Emre Tezgel at Stoke and journalist Alan Nixon mentioned they were interested in Wigan winger Dion Rankine, who apparently was even at this game watching on. He does has Burton and Barrow vying for his services though, which might complicate any move the Alex make for him.

If it is those 4 players who end up signing though, then it would fill the gaps in attack and at RB nicely and still leave them with not many holes left and leave them, on paper at least, as close to prepared for the season as you could hope. However, with now less than 2 weeks until things start for real and only 2 friendlies left, the time to add to the squad before the season gets underway is shrinking rapidly. Let's see what the coming week brings.