Radcliffe 1-5 Crewe Alex - 5 Thoughts

I remember after the Kidsgrove game I said I might not do many friendlies. Well here I am, 4 for 4, looking rather silly aren't I? Anyway, here is another round of thoughts after the Alex's 4th win of the warm up matches, in a game where the scoreline doesn't accurately reflect what took place.

New Signings on Show

Whilst we've seen Phil Croker and Josh March already this summer, we've had to wait a little while for more new faces(not including trialists) to turn out. Well, in the space of a few days, we've got 3 more new lads to watch. This time, it was Sam Waller, Reece Hutchinson and the newly signed Tommi O'Reilly who were playing their first game's for the club.

It was a mixed bag from all 3. There were some teething troubles, especially from Waller, as he made a few mistakes early on when trying to play out from the back which Radcliffe should have punished. Hutchinson and O'Reilly were also a mixed bag, not having much space but having success on other occasions. Waller redeemed his early nerves with a fine save late in the first half. Of course, you read little into these games, good or bad, but it was nice to see 3 new lads.

Game of 2 Halves

It's hard to read anything into the games against the first 3 teams, given the huge gulf in quality between them and the Alex. But this one, against a National League North opponent, was different. Radcliffe look well funded given the impressive level of facilities and their rise up 2 divisions in the last few seasons.

Their first half XI was very strong and they posed a lot of problems, with their 3 at the back system stymying a lot of what the Alex were trying to do. They should have been ahead by a couple of goals at the break as they were by far the better team in the first half. The Alex's performance in the first half might have been concerning, were it not for the fact that they were only playing maybe 4 starters in Demetriou, Hutchinson, O'Reilly and Powell, with the rest being the youngsters.

In the 2nd half, the roles were reversed. Radcliffe threw on their 2nd team and trailists, whilst the Alex improved as they added first teamers in Booth, Billington, Connolly, Lunt, March, Sanders and Thomas. The game swung dramatically in their favour as they ran in 5 goals and made it look way more one sided than it actually was.

A New Challenge

I think Bell will deep down have enjoyed this game. Because it allowed him to throw his players into a new environment. The pitch at Radcliffe slopes significantly, so playing an uphill/downhill game will have allowed him to see how his players adapted. In addition, after 3 games on dry, firm pitches and in warm/red hot weather, the surface in this game, whilst pristine, was wet and greasy from the frequent rain there was before and during the game.

Yes, this isn't the first time they will have played in the rain. But this is the first time they've played in the rain together as a group. So it'll have been a useful experience for them to iron out the issues.

Thin

I'm going to go over the list of needs the Alex have in the transfer market, as with Waller and O'Reilly signed, things have shifted a little bit. They are still thin at RB, as outside of Lewis Billington, they have been mixing in a trialist, Olly Armstrong and Stan Dancey out there. No offence to the latter 2, but they can't be asked to play regular L2 games straight out of the academy. Will said trailist be signed permanently?

Upfront, it's been said numerous times, but they still remain very light, with Bogle, Tabiner, Holicek, Thibaut and Lankester sidelined/absent. A striker and a winger feel important.

But, a position I feel is going under the radar is CB. I've raised it before, but why the club haven't moved for one yet, I don't know. Is Zac Williams' ongoing contract dispute the reason? Either way, they do need to address this hole in the squad, because their current options are Demetriou, Connolly, Croker and Dancey. Basically, they have one experienced and reliable CB. That's not enough, especially as we watched Connolly limp off late in this game.

If they have any/enough budget left for 1 more permanent signing, then a 25-32 year old CB should be the priority over any other position personally. Because whilst they can afford to go younger and less experienced at RB and upfront, I don't think that is something they can risk doing at CB.

Experimenting Is Over

I suspect we've seen the end of the experiments in the starting XI as well. The first 2 games, we saw mixed teams play 45 minutes each. Against Ashton, it was something closer to what we can expect the starting XI for Salford to be, but that team was still sans Hutchinson and O'Reilly. And of course for this game, it was full experimentation mode.

However, with 2 Championship teams coming up and then the final dress rehearsal against Southport, I'd imagine we'll see what Bell's preferred starting XI will be for the Salford game on display for at least the first 45-60 minutes in these next 3 games.

Rolling over non-league opponents is fun, but the next 2 especially will give them a better idea of where they are at. We won't be planning the title parade should they pick up some positive results, but if we can see the outline of a formation, starting XI and some patterns of play, that would be nice.