Shrewsbury Town 0-4 Crewe Alex 25-26 Review - (Almost)Perfect

The highs and lows of football eh? The previous 2 Saturday's, you were having to talk Alex fans away from the ledge given how their afternoon's had gone. A late collapse at Bristol Rovers and a battering against Walsall. About as low as you can get. But the brilliant thing about football is, there are usually some highs to balance it out. And boy did the Alex put those 2 games behind them with an incredible performance today in the glorious Shropshire sunshine. This is my review of their 4-0 win over Shrewsbury:

Unfortunate

I'm going to start with 2 negatives from the day and they both occured off the pitch. The first relates to Crewe fans. A small minority of idiots unfortunately smashed up a shuttle bus, meaning fans who came by train had to walk back to the town centre. A couple of others ended up getting arrested in the middle of the opening 2 goals. Not great on both counts.

The 2nd negative was the Alex's place in the standings. Unfortunately, not one result went their way. Everyone from 7th down to 13th won, which means that it's as you were in the table, except with 1 game less to play. Don't get me wrong, it shows how utterly vital this win was, as a draw/defeat here would have put their top 7 push on life support. They'll have to stay grounded and keep pushing though.

Next up is a game at Gresty Road against a bang in form Oldham. who are right on their heels and have won 4 straight. As tough as they come. As Bell often says, everyone connected to the club should enjoy their weekend. But now, they have to replicate this performance, or something close to it, next week.

Perfect

For probably the first time ever, I have no nitpicks about what took place on the pitch. No criticisms, no minor foibles. Nothing. There isn't a single thing I can honestly think to bring up even as a 'must do better in future'. Even in the wins over Salford, Fleetwood and Tranmere, they conceded a goal to ever so slightly blot the copy book. But here? Nothing. Moving on.

Strong Start

Walsall benefited from a fortuitous early opening goal last week. It gave them renewed confidence and it threw the Alex's game plan right out the window. Today, that luck swung the Alex's way after just 5 minutes. Josh March's shot was cleared off the line, but only onto the back of Shrews keeper Matthew Cox and in for an own goal.

The Alex used that to their full advantage and added a 2nd 3 minutes later, as March got his goal with a lovely curling finish. This was the Alex of the opening 4 games, where they blew the opposition away early doors. They in truth should have had more before half time. Lankester netted but was offside. Agius, March again, O'Reilly and Tezgel all had shots on target in an incredible first half. One of their attacking halfs of the season, in what has become a growing collection of them

Strong Finish

Any concerns about the 2-0 lead not being more was calmly dealt with in the 2nd half as the Alex kicked on to grab goals 3 and 4. March and Tezgel's efforts were too much for poor Cox to keep out, who had an absolute stinker. Again, it could have been more. Cox parried away under his bar when Tezgel looked set to tap in number 5. O'Reilly forced Cox into a smart save at his near post. March fired just over. Holicek had one deflect just wide and then fired a super curling effort just past the post. Connolly had a header at the near post blocked.

Notice how I'm saying 'just' a lot? It's because they were inches away from goals 5, 6 and even 7. Had they netted 5 or 6, it would have been fully deserved. They looked more likely to score more than Shrewsbury did to finding a consolation. As dominant a display as we've seen from a Lee Bell team in his 3 1/2 year tenure.

Defensive resilience

What was also nice was that the excellent attacking display was backed up by a superb rearguard action. Yes, Shrewsbury don't possess a good attack, but the Alex have been in the habit of giving bad teams cheap goals all season. This was only their 2nd clean sheet on the road after all.

But in truth, it was one of their easiest. That's not to say they didn't have to dig in and earn it, they did. They just kept everything Shrewsbury threw at them at arms length. Lawlor didn't have a difficult save to make. The defence threw themselves into blocks, headers and tackles. This was an all round performance where the defence deserve just as much credit as the attack.

New Shape = New energy

The team selection raised questions. Only 1 CM and 5 attackers in Agius, O'Reilly, Lankester, Tezgel and March? It was bold, but it paid off and them some. The players all round effort was incredible. Just non-stop work from all of them. Sharp on the attack, solid in defence, quick and energetic in the middle. Snapping into tackles, winning duels, showing a bit of flair when they could. I don't think this 4-1-3-2 can work every week. But it should hopefully give Bell some food for thought if the 4-2-3-1 gets sussed out, as it did against Walsall.

Top Scorer Race

It's been a while since we've had a genuine top scorer race at the Alex. The last time was probably Owen Dale and Mikael Mandron in the 20-21 season. Since then, the top 2 scorers in each season have finished apart by a gap of 3, 8, 7 and 1, although that was last season and it was between Jack Lankester, Shilow Tracey and Chris Long. The former 2 ended the season injured and Long scored 1 in his last 10. Not much of a race, more like an F1 race where the 2 leaders crash out and the 3rd limps along with a flat tire.

This season, we have a proper battle. Josh March has used Emre Tezgel's absence to nudge himself ahead and his 2 today put him on 11 for the season. Not bad for a 'non-league forward'. Tezgel though showed he wasn't going to be left behind as his 9th means he's 2 behind March. It's a great sign that the Alex have their strikers scoring again. Hopefully they can both keep pushing and really battle it out for that coveted top scorer award.

Ref Assessment

Awful. Lankester gets pulled back in the box, but he stays on his feet and gets no penalty. Great, so basically ask players to flop to the floor. Then, he decides to book both March and Tezgel for 'excessive celebrations' and a 3rd, Lankester, for not retreating. That is probably the first time in a game that they've received multiple bookings in a game and not one has been for foul play. A weaselly jobsworth.

Management Assessment

Whatever they said to the players worked. The tactics and game plan they came up with definitely worked. The highs and lows of management eh? Booed off last week. Cheered off this week.

Player Assessments

Ian Lawlor

A quiet afternoon. I'd have liked to see him come for some of the crosses, but he had little to do overall.

Lewis Billington

I've been critical of his lack of attacking end product, but today he found a sublime cross for Tezgel's goal. More of that Billo!

Alfie Pond

He'll have tougher tests in the coming weeks, but he was solid and put a real shift in.

Mickey Demetriou

Celebrated his new contract with a brilliant defensive performance. Like with Pond, he'll have more challenging strikers to face soon enough, but today he was excellent.

Reece Hutchinson

Initially struggled with Kabia down the left, but soon got to grips with the lively attacker and kept him mostly quiet. A solid performance.

Max Sanders

Back to his best. Busy in midfield, just a decent all round game from him.

Jack Lankester

A superb assist on March's goal. Where would the Alex be had he not missed the majority of the season? Let's just pray him going down holding his knee just before he was about to be subbed off wasn't anything serious.

Tommi O'Reilly

A live wire as he looked determined to show his former team what they didn't perhaps see last season. 2 fierce shots caused Cox problems and some of his touches and turns were outstanding. Didn't register a goal or assist, but was still excellent.

Calum Agius

Came close early on and he was all over the pitch putting in a tremendous shift. I think the break with the Wales U21s next week will do him good.

Josh March MOTM

Forced the first goal, which he probably deserved to be credited with. But he then went and scored 2 of his own to mark his career high for goals. He also stabbed over from close range in the 2nd half to just miss out on his hat-trick. 16 goal involvements. Outstanding.

Emre Tezgel

The Shrews defence couldn't handle his pace and power. Got a well deserved goal on only his 3rd game back from injury. I can't wait to see what happens when he gets up to match fitness.

Subs:

Matus Holicek

Unlucky not to bag 1, maybe even 2. His benching was a surprise, but he'll likely be in from the start next week against Oldham, so hopefully this is the rocket up him that he needs.

James Connolly

Won some headers, including one at the near post late on which could have gone in.

Jack Powell

Another who I was a little surprised to see on the bench, but he was bright when he came on and he almost set up Connolly for 2 goal in 2 games.

Adrien Thibaut

Didn't get much chance to touch the ball, but his energy was welcome as they needed to rest March and Tezgel.

Omar Bogle

Got involved and showed some nice touches. His smart pull back for Holicek would have been a nice assist had Matus found the top corner.

Overall Verdict

1,700 Crewe fans sat in the beautiful sunshine watching their team blow away a local(ish) neighbour. What more can you ask for? We can now bask in this feeling for the next few days before attention turns to Oldham next Saturday. Their away form has been good in recent weeks. They now need to bring their home form along as well.