Salford City 1-3 Crewe Alex - The Best Crewe Alex Attacking Display I've Ever Seen

I don't usually write follow up posts about single games. I do a match review and then move on to looking ahead at the next game. But I'm honestly still struggling to process just how incredible the Alex's attacking display was at Salford on Saturday. Let's just rattle off some stats, some of which have been taken from Alex fans on Twitter.

This was the first time since the 2013 JPT Final that they put up 10 shots on target away from home and even then, that was when they were a L1 side playing a L2 Southend. They put up a 3.94 xG (which didn't include a penalty), the first time they've reached a figure that high since xG started being recorded as a stat. 22 shots total, the highest figure away from home against a non-10 man team since the 2019-20 season.

Ok, to some teams and fans, that might not seem that special. But for me, I'm in disbelief at what I just witnessed. Because in my opinion, it was the best attacking display I've ever seen from a Crewe team. Which I know on the surface sounds like recency bias and hyperbole. I mean, how can that possibly be true when I've seen them score 5s, 6s, 7s and even 8 against teams before?

How was this display better than say, the 7-0 win against Barnet in 2010-11. Or 8-1 against Cheltenham in the same season? Or the 6-0 against Morecambe in 2017-18? Or the 5-1 against Stevenage in 2019-20? There have been lots of high scoring games. Surely they rank higher than a 3-1 win against Salford right? Well, let me explain why I think this one tops the lot.

Historical Context

I'm not going back further than 2010-11, because the stats aren't there compare this to. Maybe some older fans will remember games which top this one, but it's my memory, so I'm going off games I can remember, which for me go as far back as 2010-11.

The Alex were a very high scoring team in 2010-11. They scored a 7, an 8, 2 fives and a 4. They scored 87 goals across that season. But then, they should have been good in attack. That attack contained Clayton Donaldson, Calvin Zola and Joel Grant, who cost half a million between them. That team had Shaun Miller, Ashley Westwood and Luke Murphy as emerging talents. That team was stacked and should have made the top 7, but a poor defence let them down. I'm not knocking their goal scoring achievements that season, but none of those games rank top of my list for the above reasons.

Ok, what about some of the big wins between 2017 and 2020? Well, there are a few to choose from. But as you go through them, the vast majority did not include stats of 10 shots on target, 22 shots total and a 3.45 xG. In 17-18, they never managed anything close to that. In 18-19, they did get close on a couple of occasions, with 10, 19 and 3.2 xG against Crawley in a 6-1 win. Still less though.

In 2019-20, in a 5-0 win at home to Morecambe they managed 9 shots on target, 33 shots total and 3.1 xG. But Morecambe were down to 10 men from the 34th minute. Then there was a 5-1 win at Stevenage. They managed 8, 21 and 2.3 across the 3 aforementioned categories. So less. There was a 2-1 home win against Crawley in February, where they managed 10, 23 and 2.8. So pretty close.

But whilst all 3 of those wins were impressive in their own right, Morecambe and Stevenage finished 22nd and 23rd respectively, whilst Crawley were 13th. And whilst you take nothing away from the performances, 2 were at home, 1 was against 10 men and all were done with a fantastic gelled Alex team at the peak of their powers. They didn't happen in game 1 of a new season, where a new squad were still getting to know each other.

In 2020-21, there was a 4-2 win at home to Swindon where they managed 12 shots on target, 26 shots total and a 3.6 xG. I think that one rivals Saturday's win pretty close. But like in 2019-20, that was against a Swindon side that would go on to get relegated and concede 89 goals that season. Obviously they never came close to these totals in 21-22 and 22-23.

In 23-24, they managed 10, 26 but only a 2.44 xG in the season changing 3-2 home defeat against Morecambe. So close, but they didn't hit all 3. Last season, they never once managed 10 shots on target or hit a 3.0 or more xG. I just think, the more you look at the historical results they've managed, that whilst they have scored more goals, they were done from less impressive all round stats.

Why this game was so impressive

Look, maybe you think some of those above wins are as impressive as Saturday's was, or more impressive. Maybe you go back further in time to pick out a game that was better in your mind. That's fine. But I think the context of this game individually is what puts it top for me.

First, they were playing a decent Salford team who are widely tipped to finish in or near the top 7. Who finished 8th last season and were 1 goal away from making the play-offs for the 2nd time in 3 seasons. Since promotion to League Two in 2019, they've finished 11th, 8th, 10th, 7th, 20th and 8th. One anomalous season aside, they've been a good side at this level, with talents like Cole Stockton, Ben Woodburn, Jorge Grant, Kelly N'Mai and Kadeem Harris on show on Saturday.

Then we come to the Alex. For any Alex fans reading this, their struggles need no reminding, but for any neutral, let me just recap. They finished last season with 4 wins from 22. They didn't score in any of their final 4 league games and any of their final 4 away league games. They only scored 3 on the road once all season.

They have, one 14 game spell to start the 23-24 season aside, been a poor side going forward since dropping into League Two in 2022. It has been their achilles heel for the last 3 seasons, even during their run to the play-offs in 23-24. One of the biggest criticisms of Lee Bell going into this new season was about how he planned to attack teams and get them firing after he adopted a defence first approach for most of last season. Nothing could have predicted this would be how the game would turn out from a tactical point of view.

Then we come to the squad itself. They started a front 3 of Callum Agius(19 and making only his 2nd career league start), Josh March(a new signing) and Tommi O'Reilly(another new signing, making just his 10th career league start). There was Owen Lunt in midfield, making his 6th career league start. New signing Reece Hutchinson was at LB. James Connolly, who hadn't played a competitive game since early January, was at RCB. Tom Booth in goal was making just his 22nd league start. This wasn't a team packed with expensive superstars or veterans.

Of that front 3 I mentioned, 2 of them probably weren't even intended to be in the starting line up on day 1. Had Joel Tabiner not sustained an unfortunate ACL injury in pre-season, he would have started and O'Reilly might not have even been at the club. Had Matus Holicek been fit to play, he probably would have started over Agius. This was a hastily thrown together attack who had played twice together in pre-season, that's it.

Let's not also forget 2 other bits of important context. First is the Alex's dreadful record before this game at Salford. They had managed 1 draw and 3 defeats in their previous 4 visits, with them being on the end of some rough refereeing decisions in several of them. It's a ground they've struggled at season after season.

Then there is the 2nd factor, which is their dreadful opening day record. Going into this game, they had won 5 of their last 25 opening day games and only 2 of their last 10 on the road. Oh and they had only won 3 of their last 17 away league games. This was just so unexpected, which is what ranks it so highly.

Yes, they only scored 3. But the reality is that they should have scored at least 5. Callum Agius had 2 great chances saved by Salford keeper Matty Young. Josh March and James Connolly also could have had braces on another day. O'Reilly was inches away from netting a superb free kick. The stats back up what as an incredible attacking display, even if it wasn't reflected in the goals scored column.

Conclusion

I think all the above context is what makes it so special and enjoyable. Yes, they probably won't reach any of these figures in another game for quite a while. And no, I'm not suggesting they are about to go on a 100 goal goal-scoring spree this season(although I'm not saying they won't either) and romp to promotion. They might well struggle from here on out and finish in the bottom half as every pundit expects them to.

But whilst promotions are the ultimate goal for any club and are what should be celebrated the most, realising when you've witnessed a monumental game in your clubs history is something that should be savoured.

Yes, I'm sure some are reading this and thinking "christ, he's banging on a lot about one 3-1 win a lot isn't he, it's not even that special!". Maybe to you it isn't. Maybe your own club has had plenty of these sorts of games. But again, given all the context and all the history I mentioned, I think this game now ranks as the best attacking display I've ever seen from a Crewe Alexandra side. It'll take some effort to knock it out of top spot.