Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2017 2:48 pm
Posts: 4834
Location: In the Armchair.
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THE CAZBAR BIG MATCH PREVIEW – CREWE ALEXANDRAIf I’m gauging the mood correctly the jury is still out deliberating the LG 2 future of the Dons under the leadership of GA.
I know some are saying so what that we have played badly and still won, imagine what we can do when we play well, embrace where we are, and back the team. Well, I don’t think anyone should be accusing anyone of not backing the team, we all do that in our own way, but I think many of us can see the fragility of this team and in my honest opinion have a right to be concerned and furthermore be allowed to comment on those concerns, we cannot keep getting away with it.
At the moment we are doing just enough to hang on to the points, but surely teams no matter how poor the standard at this level are sooner or later going to get to grips with us and punish us…possibly badly.
I said in my piece to camera on Sunday we could so easily be sitting here today with 4 defeats to our name and just the 3 points to talk about, our LG 2 status is that concerning.
OK so we are not threatening and early claim to National League football, but we could as we have been outplayed in 4 out of the 5 games in the league, and I don’t care who you are that must be worrying.
On Saturday we looked to be well in control in a game of two halves, but the stats show we had just 38% possession against a team who are bottom ranked, and they had 17 shots, the second half was virtually one way traffic, although I will say we should have had a penalty 100% when Dennis was pulled down…but we got away with it…again.
What I can say is we defended well, but sitting back like that is a very dangerous game to play, and if Doncaster could shoot it may have been a different story.
One final word on that game…. Leko and Dennis need to up their game, and that means defending from the front, chasing down lost causes, and putting defences under pressure, we have to start making these teams feel edgy playing out from the back, not just stroll about like it’s a training game.
OK one more then….GA subbing off a fit player, when another is hobbling around was just plain mental, that is schoolboy stuff, and its about time Toby & Luke questioned this lunacy.
Crewe then, well while we were stealing more points last weekend Crewe fell to their first league defeat of the season losing 1-0 away to Bradford City who themselves had their backsides tanned the week before 3-0 at Morecambe, and then Morecambe followed that up with a 2-0 defeat at Harrogate, I know LG 2 is just plain crazy.
On Tuesday night there were mixed fortunes for Crewe and the Dons. At SMK a vastly changed side that saw the skipper return ran out 4-1 winners with a brace from sub Max Dean that might just put him in with a shout of starting on Saturday if Mo is in doubt.
Harness looks like he had a decent debut making a few good saves and Lewie looks to have come through an hour with no problems, the big question is how much store we are putting into this result.
Meanwhile Crewe travelled to Vale Park in the EFL Cup. The game finished 0-0 after 90 minutes and went to penalties, and Crewe missed their first 4 spot kicks to send Port Vale through to the next round.
Moving on then…. Crewe’s league results are below with the most recent shown first.
Bradford 1 Crewe 0
Crewe 2 Walsall 2
Crewe 4 Newport Co 2
Swindon 2 Crewe 2
Crewe 2 Mansfield 2
Below is the league record of the Dons and Crewe with the home record of Crewe and the away record of the Dons.
Crewe (14th) – P 5, W 1, D 3, L 1, GF 10, GA 9, Pts 6.
Dons (1st) – P 5, W 4, D 0, L 1, GF 12, GA 8, Pts 12.
Crewe (H) (9th) – P 3, W 1, D 2, L 0, GF 8, GA 6, Pts 5.
Dons (A) (3rd) – P 3, W 2, D 0, L 1, GF 9, GA 7, Pts 6.
We have an even record against Crewe that is detailed below with the Dons scorers, with the standout season being the 2014/15 season.
2007/08 – Crewe 2 Dons 1 (FAC)(Johnson)
2008/09 – Crewe 2 Dons 2 (S Baldock, Chadwick)
2008/09 – Dons 2 Crewe 2 (Wilbraham, Puncheon)
2012/13 – Dons 1 Crewe 0 (MacDonald)
2012/13 – Crewe 2 Dons 1 (Bamford)
2013/14 – Dons 1 Crewe 0 (Bamford)
2013/14 – Crewe 2 Dons 0
2014/15 – Dons 6 Crewe 1 (Alli 3, Afobe, Grigg, Reeves)
2014/15 – Crewe 0 Dons 5 (Cole 2, Bowditch, Baker, Powell)
2018/19 – Crewe 0 Dons 0
2018/19 – Dons 0 Crewe 1
2020/21 – Crewe 2 Dons 0
2020/21 – Dons 0 Crewe 2
2021/22 – Crewe 1 Dons 4 (Eisa, O’Riley, Kioso, Watters)
2021/22 – Dons 2 Crewe 1 (Parrott, Coventry)
Total Record – P 15, W 6, D 3, L 6, GF 25, GA 18.
The Gaffer at Crewe is 40 year old ex-defender Lee Bell who has been in charge at Gresty Road since December 2022 and this is his first managerial role.
Like Grant McCann last weekend he seems to be a creature of habit having had 3 playing spells at Burton Albion, 2 at Macclesfield, 2 at Crewe, and in between stints at Shrewsbury Town and Mansfield Town.
In total he played 385 games in his career scoring 14 goals.
As a manager he falls below that magic Win Ratio figure I’m always going on about as it currently stands at almost 31%.
His stats including the Tuesday night Carabao Cup game against Port Vale are P 38, W 12, D 14, L 13.
Top scorer last season was striker Courtney Baker-Richardson with 8 goals but so far he has had limited game time for whatever reason, so the danger may come from Micky Demetriou who tops the list with 3 goals from the position of centre half, probably not surprising as Demetriou was once a striker, until none other than Glen Hoddle coached him into being a defender. At 6ft 2ins Demetriou is a threat from set pieces and also has a tasty shot in his locker, he could prove a right pain in the backside for Tucker and is not someone we want lurking around in our penalty area if we are defending a lead again.
If you are looking for a threat from a returning player, you may have an interest in Chris Long who was on a month long loan with us in the 2013/14 season playing just 4 games and scoring the once, he will be sitting behind the strikers in the No 7 shirt.
We are narrow favourites to win this according to the bookies, but there is a bit of value depending on your predicted match outcome.
Crewe 21/10, Draw 13/5, Dons 13/10.
Incidentally Notts Co are the new favourites to take the title at 5/1 with the Dons price more than halved from the opening show of 20/1, we are now 8/1.
My record on predicting the outcome stands at 3 correct from the 5 games, so as someone not to rely upon I’m tentatively going for a 2-2 draw. Crewe are stronger at home, and I just think our luck is going to run out, that is unless our new recruits have anything to say on the matter.
Finally, then the transfer machine kicked into action on Wednesday signing on loan from Charlton 5ft 5 in Jack Payne who has a record from midfield of 387 games scoring 64 goals. Much has already been said about him on social media with several comparisons between him and Dan Kemp, the camp it appears is divided, so its up to Payne now to stake his claim as he will no doubt go straight into the matchday squad.
Friday lunchtime we signed Posh fullback 23 year old Joe Tomlinson for an undisclosed fee. He has been at Swindon for two loans with a view to purchase. But despite being on the transfer list since the summer the Robins either haven’t met the valuation or considered it not an option they were considering.
For me just waiting for the final and the most important part of the puzzle, we’ve been here before in our search for a striker and failed to get a deal done and had to go short handed into the campaign, fingers crossed, we get this one over the line.
It’s 10pm and its looking ominous, the lights at SMK are still on but you get the feeling nobody is home, and the famed contingency plans they always talk about are nothing more than pie in the sky, and I just can’t shake that feeling they’ve had 3 months to sort out a striker, and we have failed, and not for the first time, frankly I think its bloody poor, but so MK.
Likely Mo is injured so an awful lot falls on the young shoulders of Dennis and Dean, and I have to ask, how in the hell are we here again, do these people not learn from the errors of the past, we are told we are going for it, but this says anything but that.
It’s 11pm…Nothing.
Good night…time for bed, Crewe in the morning. 
WDSTOP PRESS - Have we signed someone whilst I was walking the dog....unbelievable.
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Read the MELTDOWN after every game, no bullshit, just giving it straight
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