Oldham Athletic v Crewe Alex 25-26 Preview - Experience v Youth

It really is a battle between 2 contrasting managers and team building approaches in this game. Because on the one hand, you have Lee Bell, the 4th youngest manager in the division, leading the 2nd youngest squad in the division. And then on the other, you have their opponents Oldham under Mickey Mellon. He's the 7th oldest manager and they have the 2nd oldest squad in the division. I wonder who comes out on top. Here is my preview of the Alex's first visit to Boundary Park since August 2019:

Age

It really is something to see just how packed with experience the Oldham team is. Of their leading 9 appearance makers, none are under the age of 27 and 5 are over the age of 30. Joe Garner alone has almost 550 league appearances. 8 of the starting XI from the Alex's last league starting XI have less than 100.

By contrast, the Alex have 5 over 30 players in their squad TOTAL. Oldham aren't likely to beat the Alex through pace, mobility and youthful endeavour, but they are likely to grind them down with a solid, physical approach which favours a lack of mistakes at the back coupled with a moment of quality upfront.

Contrasting

It's not just in age that Oldham are a contrast to the Alex, it's in their entire approach to the game as well. They are a poor attacking team and at the moment, the Alex are not. The Latics have the 2nd fewest goals in the division with just 13, the same amount as Shrewsbury. Compare that to the Alex who are now 7th in goals per game.

But, Oldham are very solid defensively. They have conceded just 12, the fewest in the division by a margin of 2. They have the most clean sheets in the league with 7. The Alex meanwhile has 2 clean sheets and do have a few defensive gaffes in them. What will win out? The Alex's high risk, high reward style? Or Oldham's defensive stogdyness?

Requires Improvement

Whilst the Alex have gone some ways towards fixing their attacking issues recently, their away goalscoring form on the road remains an issue. We've seen them struggle against defensively solid teams away from home, especially recently. They've scored just 4 goals across their last 5 away games, putting up a 1-1-3 record in the process.

Those goals by the way came from just 12 shots on target and a 4.01 xG. You aren't going to score many goals with those numbers, not against a team who have given up just 7 goals and a 6.1 non-penalty xG at home like Oldham.

They have to find a way to start finding the back of the net and picking up results on the road once again, as that ability that was there for most of the last 2 seasons has deserted them a bit lately.

Decent Record

The Alex for the most part have actually got a solid record at Boundary Park in their more recent visits. They are 3-2-1 in their last 6 trips, with their only defeat being in the 15-16 relegation season after they were already down. The wins have been fun ones as well, with late winners from Mark Ellis in 2013, Nicky Ajose's incredible chip on Boxing Day in 2014 and 2 Chris Porter goals in 2019-20. It would be nice if this season's group could add to those memories with another positive result.

Quick Wins

If the Alex can win this one, it would be their 4th away win from their first 8 games on the road. Given they only won 3 in total in 22-23 and it took them 13 games to achieve that many away wins in 23-24 and 10 games in 24-25, it would be a good milestone to hit for sure.

They would still be a ways behind their total from the 19-20 season, when they had 5 wins from their first 7, but given they have only played 1 of the current bottom 8 on the road so far, they do have some favourable games on paper to potentially put up a really good away record this season. But games like this are where they can achieve that.

Consistency

I mentioned it after last week's win, but the Alex are searching for consistency in their league results. Their longest unbeaten streak so far is 4 and that was in their opening 4 games. Since then it's been either good or bad, with little in between. 4 defeats in 5, back to back wins, back to back defeats then back to back wins again. They need to go on a little run and against a side with just 1 home win all season, it feels like the ideal time to do so.

Ref Watch

Aaron Farmer

Farmer makes his EFL debut. He's done a few EFL Trophy games and an FA Cup game, but this will be his first league fixture at the EFL level. He's relatively quick with the yellow cards, but I'm fascinated to see how he copes in front of a 6,000+ strong crowd.

2025-26 Record: 10 games(1 FA Cup, 5 EFL Trophy, 4 National League), 36 yellows, 1 red

Last Game: Bristol Rovers 1-0 Plymouth Argyle, EFL Trophy, 11th November 2025, 4 yellows, 1 red

Crewe Alex Record: N/A

Injuries/Absences

Oldham

The Latics have a few notable names out at the moment. They will be without captain Tom Conlon after he injured his ACL a few weeks ago. Both their starting central midfielders from last week's win at Harrogate are also out, as Ryan Woods was sent off and Oli Hammond suffered a dislocated shoulder. They potentially added 2 more to the treatment table on Tuesday as new signing Daniel Simeu and Jack Stevens both came off injured, so they will be a little bit short handed in a couple of areas.

Crewe Alex

Ryan Dicker was typically clear as mud when giving injury updates on the injured Alex players. Charlie Finney should be available, but it sounds like Jack Lankester won't be, as being rated 50-50 doesn't suggest to me he'll be back. Omar Bogle is another that is unclear, as is James Golding. Josh March and Jack Powell remain unavailable for several more weeks.

Team

I'd still like to see a couple of adjustments in defence, but I doubt we'll see many. With Charlie Finney being available, does he continue to play or do they revert back to Reece Hutchinson? I can see it going either way.

The rest of the team picks itself I'd say, with the only enforced change someone needing to come in for Calum Agius, who is once again away on international duty. It's a toss up between Holicek and Rankine, but for me it'll definitely be Holicek.

The bench could range from slightly understrength to very strong depending on if Lankester, Bogle and Golding all get fit. If not, it'll be Waller, Finney/Hutchinson, Rankine, Moult, Mingi and then probably Stan Dancey and Olly Armstrong.

Score Prediction

This is a tricky one. I can see a wide range of results given the Alex's inconsistency. I could see a 1-0 loss, a scrappy low scoring draw or even them snatching a 1-0/2-1 win. Insightful I know. As much as I want to go optimistic, I'm going to edge on the side of caution and say this will end in a draw, which I don't think would be a bad result.

Oldham Athletic 1-1 Crewe Alexandra