Crewe Alexandra v Port Vale

[JJ1532]

Sorry L1 fans, another Alex v Vale thread. Only difference is, this is the big one, the thread on the game we've been bickering over for the last 2 months.

Not a lot worth saying at this stage to be honest, its mostly been said in the **** off thread.

I think it's pretty evident how we'll line up:

Garratt
Turton, Ray, Guthrie, New LB(I hope so anyway!)
King, Fox, Bingham
Dalla Valle, Haber, Inman

Subs: Richards, Ng, Baillie, Atkinson, Wintle, Saunders, Cooper

New CB if we sign one will probably go on the bench. Really hard to call this one. Question marks over both clubs squads. I'm worried about our defence, about a 3 man midfield and about putting LDV as a wide man in a 3 man attack. Not sure the 4-3-3 is the right formation to use. We'll see soon enough.

As for the Vale, their fans on here seem quite optimistic, which is fair enough. Not trying to start another argument, but I think they'll struggle big time. Not a lot of proven quality upfront, just a bunch of ifs, buts and maybes(same as us to be fair). Midfield looks strong even without Occy. I'm unconvinced by their defence, but they don't seem to be worried. Again, fair dos. Their real weak link looks to be Johnson. A few early shots next Saturday to test him out would be great.

I can't call this one. You could make a case for us finishing mid table all the way down to rock bottom with our current squad. I'm just not sure what to expect next week. Whilst a win would be a great way to get the season going, our opening day record is abysmal, haven't won one of these games since 2007. Got to change soon right? But on the other hand, we've won our last 3 games against the Vale, so thats got to change too, right?

I'll sit on the fence and say this one will finish 1-1, Dalla Valle and Byron Moore scoring. 7,100 ish fans. Many coming from Burslem?

 

[Dan Phillips]

0-2.

May as well award you the three points now. Vale are wank. Crewe are amazing. Vale fans are biased thugs.

 

[valefan16]

3-1 got a real good feeling we're going to put in a very good performance in this (usually do early season to give us false hope). Plus we never lose the first game of the season. No idea why I'm feeling it though as we've been dreadful against Crewe in the past few games.

Hopefully Boot will be in goal or a loan keeper though.

Uche x 2 and Dodds

As for struggling, we may but I think we will do ok. Defence is improved, Streete and Inniss are a huge improvement on Duffy and Robertson who were dire last year. Midfield is very strong and the likes of Kelly look to have some quality and going forward that is the if and but. It has potential as Andoh, Uche and AJ have all been rated at one point so it's how they step up and if we can get that out of them. Uche will certainly batter and destroy defences but sounds like he's one of them that does the hard bit then fluffs his lines so we will see.

Overall we stayed up with last years side which was weaker than this years so I'm confident we will fair better this year even if only slightly.

I'd like up 4-4-1-1

Boot

Purkiss
Streete
Inniss
McGivern

Moore
Foley
Grant
Kelly

Dodds

Uche

How we will line up could vary massively though as little hints from pre season!

 

[valefan16]

2-0 Crewe. Port Vale are relegation certainties: not just me who thinks that but the majority of the forum!

We've been relegation certainties for the last few seasons so enjoy proving people wrong on that to be fair.

 

[Crewelad87]

Until about a 5 days ago i was gairly optimistic but in true SD fashion that has now evapourated. The defence looks even worst than last season (which i didnt think was possible) hopfully the Chester game was a blessing in disguise and it pushes SD/the board into action to sign a LB and CB this week.

As for Vale i dont think they are great shakes either, they are missing two key players in Neal and O'Connor, and i just cant see them scoring enough goals to see them go anywhere this season.

Crewe 1-2 Vale (LDV, Moore, Dodds) 7,312 (2200 six fingered inbreds)

Got a bad ferling about Saturday, our record on the opening day is beyond awful and SD has had another shocker of a window.

 

[valefan16]

Your only having 2200 home fans? I though we didn't have thousands in the home ends

 

[Gypo]

O'connor might be back for the derby but if not we have options to cover, not sure how the game will pan out even though we always seem to do well first game back - its against Crewe and we've not turned up recently against them.

Expect us to line up 4-4-1-1

----------------Boot------------------
Purkiss-Streete-Inniss-McGivern
--Moore---Foley---Grant---Kelly--
--------------Dodds-----------------
--------------Uche--------------------

Attendance 6,541

 

[Freakyteeth]

O'connor might be back for the derby

It's not a derby

 

[Vale on Trent]

We will batter them and end up losing from a Crewe counter attack. Surely this is the worst Crewe team we've faced for many a year though?

 

[Buxton Vale]

Confident of a win assuming no goalkeeping issues.

Crewe 0 2 Vale

 

[valefan16]

It's the weakest Crewe side I've known but we can't take that for granted as they've raised their game against us before and I'm sure they will again.

We certainly can't go sleep and give them a 2-0 head start like last season and need to score first.

 

[markpvfc]

Not confident for the season overall, can't see us scoring enough goals for anything more than a relegation fight. Our biggest problem for the season is that Rob Page will still be manager after proving himself completely inept last season.
For this match our good record on opening day compared to their bad record suggests an away win should be a certainty, so i'll expect nothing more than a point.

 

[TimeyWimey]

How any Crewe fan can have any optimism for new season I have no idea. That team is absolutely horrendous.

 

[markwwfc1992]

Sorry to be off topic but didn't know where else to post this:

Do Crewe fans rate Ryan Colclough? He's on trial at us at the moment, but all I know about him is that he once climbed a tree to evade arrest before being tasered by a police officer until he fell out. Sounds like he would be a great addition

 

[Crewelad87]

Hes talented, a good winger/forward. Can beat a player, fairly tricky got a great shot. His problems are hes injury prone and obviously his off the field antics 2 or 3 appearances in court over the last couple of years. I think we will probably hold out for around 500k for him otherwise id guess it would be a tribunal.

 

[Brammer_£500000]

4-0 to the Alex, left back and centre half in today, plus we have to break our 1st game jinx, and we own these arseholes.

 

[leedsvaliant]

4-0 to the Alex, left back and centre half in today, plus we have to break our 1st game jinx, and we own these arseholes.

Do you really think that both loan players will go straight into the side having been drafted in just a few days before the start of the season with not much competitive action under their belts and not knowing their team mates? - it would be a risk.

I'd be amazed if we play as badly as we did in the first half at Gresty Road last season - the defence was calamitous and I don't think it ever recovered all season. At least we have one or two more leaders and defenders who can actually defend crosses.

On paper we have the better team and Crewe's defence is still shite even if you put two new players in it. Their midfield looks far weaker than ours and they don't look to have a ball winner in there. Fox is a good player but not really a battler and Bingham is of a similar ilk, the other guy I don't know much about but the talk is that he's more of a creative type and he's young. Haber can be hit and miss from what I have seen and the same applies to Inman. Della Valle (if that's how it's spelt) could be the danger man but I don't think he's prolific.

What concerns me is that we are often slow out of the traps and tend to go for the easy option in front of a big following. We also sometimes run out of ideas on a tight pitch and tend to just lump it forward and hope. Let's hope Page's new style of passing is not just something that they've tried in preseason.

We need to be 'up for it' as you just know that Crewe will be desperate to do one over on us. It seems like it's one of the few games that they really put the effort into.

I'm hoping that it clicks and I can't see past a 1or 2-0 to us.

 

[Brammer_£500000]

In all honestly I have not got a clue how this match will work out. Trying to make my mind up if this game is best played now and out of the way or could we have had a better start against a team who are still not hurting from being hammered by us. I think because the game means so much to Vale, they always seem to let the occasion get the better of them and choke, but on the other hand we are terrible starters to a season, even when we win promotion. I just hope we don’t lose and the day passes off without trouble.

 

[IanPVFC]

We'll lose, and every Vale fan posting on a forum/twitter will go into meltdown.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Garratt
Turton, Ray, Nugent, Holmes-Dennis (should he sign)
Fox, Bingham, Atkinson
LDV, Haber, Inman

1-1 (Haber, Nugent o.g)

Davis and our fans get carried away if we don't lose before Preston and Scunthorpe score 5 past us in the following week. Not getting carried away if we beat these because there are far stronger teams in this division and I still think this squad is lacking in experience. I expect both these sides to meet again in a relegation six pointer in April.

 

[jbet]

Jak Alnwick signed up on a short term deal.

Sad state of affairs that we had three full time keepers on the books but if the best one gets injured we don't trust the other two. Surely the end of the road for Sam Johnson? Saying that, I'm far happier in the knowledge that he won't be playing on Saturday. A boost for us.

 

[valefan16]

Jak Alnwick signed up on a short term deal.

Sad state of affairs that we had three full time keepers on the books but if the best one gets injured we don't trust the other two. Surely the end of the road for Sam Johnson? Saying that, I'm far happier in the knowledge that he won't be playing on Saturday. A boost for us.

His errors have been diabolical not added to the fact he just doesn't look at all arsed. Boot is too young and needs time on loan, could be a big player but wouldn't throw him in this game. The lad was superb against Chelsea and played in the top flight last season so the opportunity to sign him was a wise one. My main worry was we'd end up with Johnson in goal, he'd balls up again and leave us chasing a game we need to be looking to win.

 

[JJ1532]

“We have got a lot of faith in big Sam" Paul Bodin, 23rd July.

Yeah, clearly. A few pre-season gaffes and bam! Dropped!

Way to totally destroy the lads confidence. It's no wonder you don't produce any youngsters if this is how you treat them when they make a few mistakes. Shocking man management from Page.

I mean, I could understand if Neal was out for months or if you'd loaned in a temporary replacement straight away, but he could back by the end of August it seems. Not even enough confidence in Johnson to stick with him for the first 4-5 games of the season. Isn't this why you signed a goalie coach? So that he can help Johnson learn from these mistakes?

So funny to see your management panicking mind. Such is their desperation not to lose this game.

 

[Freakyteeth]

You are an advanced tier of Virgin aren't you

 

[mozzavale]

JJ has been brainwashed

 

[leedsvaliant]

“We have got a lot of faith in big Sam" Paul Bodin, 23rd July.

Yeah, clearly. A few pre-season gaffes and bam! Dropped!

Way to totally destroy the lads confidence. It's no wonder you don't produce any youngsters if this is how you treat them when they make a few mistakes. Shocking man management from Page.

I mean, I could understand if Neal was out for months or if you'd loaned in a temporary replacement straight away, but he could back by the end of August it seems. Not even enough confidence in Johnson to stick with him for the first 4-5 games of the season. Isn't this why you signed a goalie coach? So that he can help Johnson learn from these mistakes?

So funny to see your management panicking mind. Such is their desperation not to lose this game.

This is where Vale and Crewe differ you see. We're not just going to play young lads because that's 'our way', we'll play a team to try and win the game even if it does hurt their feelings. You suspect that crewe will persist with youngsters, often to the detriment of their team, because that's the 'crewe way'.
Personally at present I think you're being taken for a ride. You've earned a fortune in transfer fees over the last 15 years plus all the sell on fees yet you've got the smallest budget in the division. How does that work? I suspect one or two people are lining their pockets and couldn't give two hoots about how crewe do in the league, as long as they can sell a couple of academy boys for a few bob.
Although I'd like vale to have saleable assets eventually, I don't want the manager to play them if they're clearly not up to it.
Johnson is clearly shot with confidence and playing him in the first game of the season would be a massive risk. One mistake and his career is over.
We're playing to win and even if we don't I'm comfortable with the decisions made to benefit the first team.

 

[Vale on Trent]

“We have got a lot of faith in big Sam" Paul Bodin, 23rd July.

Yeah, clearly. A few pre-season gaffes and bam! Dropped!

Way to totally destroy the lads confidence. It's no wonder you don't produce any youngsters if this is how you treat them when they make a few mistakes. Shocking man management from Page.

I mean, I could understand if Neal was out for months or if you'd loaned in a temporary replacement straight away, but he could back by the end of August it seems. Not even enough confidence in Johnson to stick with him for the first 4-5 games of the season. Isn't this why you signed a goalie coach? So that he can help Johnson learn from these mistakes?

So funny to see your management panicking mind. Such is their desperation not to lose this game.

I totally agree with JJ here. A back up should be exactly that. So when the first choice keeper is out or gets injured, then the back up should step up and be given the opportunity . Why give Johnson a new contract if you are not going to put faith in him? I'm not saying Alnwick isn't a good signing, but surely you have to give Johnson a chance, it's not even as if Neal is out all season. Johnson played a few games last season and did perfectly ok.

 

[mozzavale]

See this is why Page can't win sometimes, you can't please everyone. We're not talking about a kid who's only just come through the ranks. He's been in and around the team for 4 seasons. He's had 3/4 games during pre season and made a mistake each game costing us a goal. What does that tell you? He's not learning. You can coach to an extent, but the lad has to go out there ultimately and perform. He hasn't. He loses concentration and always appears too laid back. Page has therefore acted. Sometimes JJ, a manager simply has to think about what is right for the team. Don't forget, he'll have Smurf words, "we'll review Page's position in September "ringing loudly in his ears.

 

[jbet]

We all know Sam Johnson isn't good enough. He's much worse than the likes of Chris Martin and Joe Anyon - neither of whom went on to command first team football at this level after they left us.

It begs the question why he was offered a deal?

Another way we differ from Crewe is the number of fickle, floating fans who will make a knee-jerk reaction based on the result tomorrow. A win will see another 500 on the gate against Gillingham. If we lose there'll be some fans who won't appear again all season - 'same old rubbish'. Crewe will have the same number of fans regardless. So from chairman's point of view, he's made the judgement that having a terrible keeper for the first month of the season could cost us £50k in revenue in the first six weeks (Average of 500-1000 more fans through the gate each home game to watch a competitive side rather than a struggling one), making the signing of Alnwick a sensible decision.

Watch him throw one in tomorrow

 

[Brammer_£500000]

We all know Sam Johnson isn't good enough. He's much worse than the likes of Chris Martin and Joe Anyon - neither of whom went on to command first team football at this level after they left us.

It begs the question why he was offered a deal?

Another way we differ from Crewe is the number of fickle, floating fans who will make a knee-jerk reaction based on the result tomorrow. A win will see another 500 on the gate against Gillingham. If we lose there'll be some fans who won't appear again all season - 'same old rubbish'. Crewe will have the same number of fans regardless. So from chairman's point of view, he's made the judgement that having a terrible keeper for the first month of the season could cost us £50k in revenue in the first six weeks (Average of 500-1000 more fans through the gate each home game to watch a competitive side rather than a struggling one), making the signing of Alnwick a sensible decision.

Watch him throw one in tomorrow

We do have a hard-core of fans, always a minimum of 3000, even when we started sliding down league 2, I think the hard-core is now 4000 in this league, it can go up or down but not by much if we are treading water, though if somehow we started doing well the crowds would go up to 5-6000 in this league, not sure we can keep pulling nearly 7000 fans for a last day of the season decider as I think folk have had enough being in that position.
All the mudslinging aside, I think tomorrow’s outcome will be interesting, I think the level headed on both sides will not judge either team on one match, though if Vale easily beat us a lot of our fans will get onto Davies straight away, and if we emerge as winners yet again then I think Page will be getting it tight off sections of the Vale support. It's a game neither club need to start the season off if we are being honest, but it's a game for a lot of people neither team can afford to lose as it will rock the boat with some......