Walsall 1-1 Crewe Alex 24/25 Review - Mixed Emotions

It's hard to break down that game. Like, on the one hand you're frustrated that, much like the Doncaster game, they defended well, got their noses ahead and looked on course to win away from home at a tough ground. But on the other hand, you're frustrated that they let the lead slip in avoidable circumstances and were only able to emerge with a point after leading. So, is it 1 gained or 2 dropped? Tricky to say. Let's go through the talking points from the Alex's draw at Walsall:

Limited Attack

The Alex had 1 shot on target and 3 shots in total. Whilst part of that was them adopting them the "let the opposition have the ball and hit them on the counter" style they seem to enjoy, it doesn't tell the full story. They had plenty of opportunities in the 2nd to potentially carve out openings, but far too often they went for the extra touch, extra cut back, extra pass. And the moment was gone.

Ok, they are still a work in progress upfront, but they need to find a way of improving their attacking output, which given they sit 20th in shots on target per game and 15th in xG feels a fair thing to say.

Subs

Sorry, but for the 2nd week in a row, I didn't get the subs. Like, at all. Taking off Bogle(ok, he could only do 70 minutes in his first start) was fine, but bringing on Connolly at LCB, moving Williams to LWB, Conway into midfield and Tabiner higher up seemed unnecessarily complicated.

And signalling you are sitting on your lead with 20 minutes of normal time to play doesn't send a great message personally. It was made even more bizarre when they reverted back by taking off Conway and bringing on Thibaut to go back to the 3-5-2 with 2 strikers up top they started with. And finishing the game with a front 3 of Thibaut, Breckin and Lunt, who admittedly coped well, isn't ideal. When exactly do they intend to use Long and Powell?

Mixing up the back 3 by putting Connolly in at LCB for me was the reason why they conceded the equaliser, as he was absent from that spot when Lowe was played in and finished well over Marschall, although perhaps Demetriou also takes some blame. For me, the back 3 of Knight-Lebel, Demetriou and Williams should start and end the game in those spots with no exceptions, bar injuries.

Mixing up what is the strongest and best performing part of the team doesn't make sense. If Conway needs to come off, then I'd rather see them push Tabiner out there, or have Finney on the bench and put him there. I hope this is a lesson learned about mixing around the CBs.

Good Team

The 2 above points being said, the Alex were playing a good Walsall side who before today won 5 of their 6 league games at home, plus dumped Bolton out of the FA Cup last weekend. They are where they are on merit. The Alex are only the 2nd side to hold the them to one goal or fewer at home in the league this season. This was another outstanding defensive performance, where the Alex limited one of the best attacks in the division to just 0.54 xG, which is impressive given they were averaging 2.10 xG per game before this fixture.

On the Alex, they showed today that once again they can hang with anyone in the division. That's now points away at the teams in 2nd and 4th in the table. Yes, they have more tough games to come in the coming weeks, but there is nobody they should fear and can compete with anyone if they're on their game.

Bogle Moving

I talked about the Alex lacking cutting edge upfront. But the good news is, their better attackers are coming back into the frame. Chris Long is back on the bench, Jack Lankester seems close to a return and Kane Hemmings, whilst still several weeks away, should be back before Christmas. But more crucially now is Omar Bogle's gradual ramping up of game time. Today he started and everything the Alex created came via him.

He should have done better with a 1st half header, but in the 2nd half he latched onto Holicek's lovely through ball and squoze the ball in from a tight angle to give him his first league goal for the Alex and his for any club since December 2023. Him being fit and firing will be huge whilst they get Long, Lankester and Hemmings back.

Feisty

It was funny to see what had been a pretty sedate game explode in the final 10 minutes. First Thibaut and Walsall defender Taylor Allen came together, which saw both players booked. Then Liam Gordon got into a francas with the Alex bench, which drew players, management and assistants from both sides into a general melee that ended with the Walsall kit man sent off and Lee Bell booked. It was a angry end to the game and did liven up what had been a mostly pedestrian tie up until that point.

Ref Assessment

I can see why Walsall fans were frustrated. The Alex did seem to get a few of the softer calls compared to them and the Alex's time wasting antics would have annoyed me if I was in the home end. The ref struggled though and lost control of things towards the end.

Management Assessment

I liked the starting XI. They rolled the dice on starting Holicek over Lunt and the former repaid the faith with a good performance and assist. But as I said, the subs and constant reshuffling of players for me didn't help and could be said was why they let the lead slip. But generally, they did all they could to help the players out today.

Player Assessments

Filip Marschall

Nothing he could do for the goal, he was solid and made some big claims. The best moment was just before half time when he stood waiting for Matt to close him down for a good 10-20 seconds, like some sort of Mexican standoff. Hilarious.

Jamie Knight-Lebel

Another typically unnoticed performance, which once again is what you want from a CB. He'll once again be missed when he goes on international duty next week.

Mickey Demetriou

There was a moment when he went down in the 2nd half and you worried, but him being the warrior he is, he was quickly back on.

Zac Williams

A quiet game from him, he tried to get forward and support Conway, but to limited effect. Helped keep Matt and Lowe mostly out of the game. Please stop moving him to LWB and leave him at LCB.

Ryan Cooney

Not his best game, although he did work hard to keep Liam Gordon quiet. I didn't like him going for a cross with his arm late on whilst already being booked. Had he made contact, he would have been off and it would have been such a stupid and avoidable thing to do. Thankfully he dodged disaster.

Joel Tabiner

Neat and tidy in what he was asked to do in midfield, but this is another game where I just think he'll struggle to develop and flourish when the Alex spent the majority of the game off the ball. His set pieces weren't great either.

Max Sanders

You can add Sanders into the poor set piece list. Although, in the other things he was asked to do, I thought he did them really well. One of his better games.

Matus Holicek MOTM

I thought he was really good. Tidy in possession, got stuck into challenges and best of all, his through ball for Bogle's goal was outstanding. I questioned why he was starting at 2pm. I wasn't questioning it when he came off. He more than repaid the managers faith.

Max Conway

He's frustrating me a lot at the moment. He's clearly a very good player. Technically excellent, he can beat a man over a short distance, can put in decent balls and drives forward well. But too often he takes one touch too many or makes one move too many. I'd like to see him be quicker in his decision making and get the ball out of his feet quicker.

Shilow Tracey

Another typical Tracey performance. Made some lovely runs into the channels to stretch their defence, but once again very little came from those moments. That elusive consistency in attacking output continues to elude him.

Omar Bogle

His all round game was mixed, but he had the 2 best chances of the game and scored the 2nd of those, which is great to see. They need him at his best in the coming weeks.

Subs

James Connolly

I'm not going to pin the equaliser all on him, but where was he when the ball was played in to Lowe? They need to stop putting him at LCB. Why not bring him on in the middle of the back and shift Demetriou out to LCB instead?

Adrien Thibaut

Not a lot of football impact to talk about, more him getting into a barney with half the Walsall team. Hopefully he enjoys his trip to Ireland for his international call up.

Kian Breckin

Did relatively well when he came on, trying his best to start some late attacks.

Owen Lunt

The same goes for Lunt, who whilst he didn't have much time to do much, still made an impact.

Overall Verdict

Back to the original question over whether this is 1 gained or 2 dropped? I think it's fair to say it feels like a little of both. They are looking good in defence, but a little short in attack. But what they continue to show is a battling attitude and that should stand them in good stead as they gear up to face 2 more promotion chasers in the next few weeks.