Crewe Alexandra 23/24 Monthly Review - February

2024 has been good so far hasn't it? The Alex bounced back from a sticky patch in December to post a 4 win January and a narrow avoidance of the Manager of the Month award and curse. Well, for the 3rd time in 7 months, the Alex went unbeaten in a calendar month, going 3-2-0 in February. So, let's see what happened as we recap the final winter month of the season:

Looking Back

The Alex came into February looking to bounce back from their defeat to Salford. And boy did they do that. They started off with a solid if unspectacular 0-0 draw at Prenton Park, one of their usual bogey grounds. They restricted Tranmere to little and had a few chances of their own to nick it, but were unable to and they had to settle for a draw.

Next up was surprise promotion contenders Crawley at home. In truth is was another tough watch, as both sides played a cagey game and in the end, a 2nd half goal from Rio Adebisi was enough to get Crewe over the line.

Following that was a trip to Edgeley Park to avenge the last few results against the Hatters. They more than did that, as they grabbed an early goal from Mickey Demetriou. They got pegged back on 35 minutes and you did wonder which way the game would go before Ed Turns popped up with his first for the club just before half time.

Just after half time, Josh Austerfield opened his professional account with a well taken 3rd. The Alex then proceeded to take the sting out of the game and see out a fairly comfortable win. Which says a lot given their opponents were the league leaders and who had lost just twice at home before the Alex came to town.

Harrogate were the next visitors to Gresty Road and they came still stinging from a 9-2 defeat at Mansfield only days earlier. In what became a game between the Crewe attack and the Harrogate defence, the Alex just couldn't break down a resolute backline, despite CBR hitting the bar and Kirk forcing a superb late save from James Belshaw. It was their 2nd 0-0 in a month, something unheard of for them.

Finally, they had another tough away trip to a big L2 team in Notts County. Over 1,400 Alex fans made the journey across the Midlands and they weren't disappointed. Another Demetriou goal, followed by an Elliott Nevitt penalty, had the Alex in command after 20 minutes. They weathered the Notts storm after that and snatched a 3rd on the break with 13 minutes to go. They did concede a dubious goal, but overall they were able to comfortably see out yet another impressive away win.

That meant they finished the month unbeaten as already mentioned.

U21s

Another quiet month for the U21s, They had just 2 games after other fixtures were postponed. The first was a 2-0 defeat away at Coventry. Then there was a 3-3 draw at home to Wigan, which ended their losing streak, but only just. Thankfully March looks a bit more interesting, with a home game against Congleton to look forward to for a place in the Cheshire Senior Cup final. It's also a chance at revenge for last season's defeat to the Bears in this competition.

U18s

Sigh. The scholars had a decent January, but a disastrous February. They lost all 4 of the league games they played in against Sheffield United, Burnley and Birmingham twice. They conceded 14 goals in those 4 games, which probably doesn't bode well for some of the youngsters hoping to get pro deals.

Injuries

Another mixed bag on the injury front. They lost Chris Long to a 5 week injury 4 weeks ago, so hopefully they should see him return in the middle of March. Luke Offord picked a season ending ankle problem, which likely curtails his Alex career, a huge blow. Zak Kempster-Down also had a problem with his groin, which might explain his absence from the Stafford Rangers team.

The better news was that in February, they managed to get back Joel Tabiner and Zac Williams and avoided serious issues with Thomas and Booth. The return of Charlie Finney feels imminent as well. Not in a fantastic place with injuries, but not terrible either.

Player	Injury	Possible Return Date?
Jack Powell(CM)	ACL	July-August 2024
Owen Lunt(CM)	Back	March 2024
Charlie Finney(LB/CM)	Calf	1-2 weeks
Luke Offord(CM/CB)	Ankle Ligaments	May 2024
Chris Long(LW)	Thigh	Mid-March 2024
Zak Kempster-Down(CB)	Groin	???

Loans

Same old, same old on this front. Kempster-Down has seen injury disrupt his game time. Max Woodcock remains a fringe first teamer with FC United of Manchester. Richards remains on the bench at St Johnstone, Sass-Davies is still a regular at Boreham Wood and Charlie Colkett has played 9 minutes of football for Notts County.

Youngsters Jack Parry and Joel Vincent have played a few games for their respective teams deep down the non-league pyramid.

Player of the Month

Ed Turns

There is plenty of competition for this spot, but I'm going to give it to a player that has stepped in and hit the ground running. Turns has proven to be a stunning bit of business by the Alex, replacing Connor O'Riordan seamlessly. He's even popped up with a goal as well. A superb player playing really well at the moment.

Previous choice:

August: Mickey Demetriou

September: Chris Long

October: Mickey Demetriou

November: Connor O’Riordan

December: Elliott Nevitt

January: Luke Offord

Step It Up

Aaron Rowe

Rowe is a frustrating player. He has a lot of talent, but there are times when he takes too many touches and overthinks things. He started 4 games in February and all he's managed to achieve is 1 yellow card. With Chris Long out, Charlie Kirk lacking fitness and Shilow Tracey not in great form, they need a wide player to step up. And it could be Rowe. He needs to start to produce, given he has 1 goal and 1 assist in his last 12 games.

Previous choice:

August: Harvey Davies

September: Jack Powell

October: Chris Long

November: Shilow Tracey

December: Courtney Baker-Richardson

January: Chris Long

Underrated Player

Harvey Davies

Davies deserves massive credit for stepping into the team after Booth's injury and keeping 2 1/2 clean sheets, plus only conceding 2 goals in the other 2, with both the goals he's conceded looking suspiciously offside. He's taken his 2nd chance with both hands, looking more confident and more assured. He's not made any mistakes and has been rock solid.

Previous choice:

August: Joel Tabiner

September: Rio Adebisi

October: Zac Williams

November: Courtney Baker-Richardson

December: Luke Offord

January: Lewis Billington

Analysis

Like January, I feel like the home and away performances deserve separate reviews. Away from home, they have got the set up right. They seem comfortable having less of the ball, defending properly and then looking to hit on the counter attack. It works perfectly on the road and the 3 excellent games they've played against Tranmere, Stockport and Notts County perfectly.

At home, I think they are fighting it. A narrow win over Crawley and a good performance but failure to score against Harrogate says they are still trying to find the right balance between attack and defence at Gresty Road. And they are finding it harder to win as teams raise their game and look to put men behind the ball and come for draws.

Looking Ahead

The ridiculously tight play-off picture means 4 of their 6 games this month are against top 7 chasing teams. Their other 2 are against an improving Doncaster and a relegated threatened Sutton. Every team with something to play for, which can go both ways.

Optimistic Prediction: 3-2-1(Beat Morecambe, Sutton and Wimbledon, draw with Gillingham and Doncaster, lose to MK Dons)

Pessimistic Prediction: 2-1-3(Beat Morecambe and Sutton, draw with Wimbledon, lose the 3 away games)

My prediction: 2-3-1(Beat Morecambe and Sutton, draw with Doncaster and Wimbledon, draw with MK Dons and Gillingham and lose the other)

I said for February, they would go 2-0-3. They went 3-2-0. I'm going a little pessimistic once again in the hope they overperform that for the 2nd month. I should be be more confident for the away games, given they are 6 unbeaten on the road. The home games give me more concern than the away games at the moment, although the MK Dons game is looking like a massive one in the top 3 race.

But even if my prediction is correct, it would put them on 70 points heading into the final 6 games of the season, only likely needing a couple more points to secure a top 7 spot. I think if they want to stay with the other automatic chasing teams, they need around 12 points, which would put them around 73 and only 9 off 82 points, which is the historical benchmark needed to make it into the top 3.

Final Word

We're into the final stretch. They are bang in the top 3 race and it's shaping up to be a hell of a fight. Every game is a cup final, to use the old cliche. How are the nerves, because mine are shredded and we've still got 2 months to go until the end of the season.