Recruitment and Starting Line-up’s

[The Terminator]

GK: Dean Brill

RWB: James Brophy
CB: Marvin Ekpiteta
CB: Josh Coulson
CB: Danny Happe
LWB: Joe Widdowson

CM: Craig Clay
CM: Josh Wright

CAM: Jordan Maguire-Drew

ST: Conor Wilkinson
ST: Lee Angol

Subs:
Sam Sargeant
Myles Judd
Jamie Turley
Dale Gorman
James Dayton
James Alabi
Matt Harrold

Backups:
Sam Ling
Jayden Sweeney
Shadrach Ogi
Brendan Shabani

Quick update now that we've signed a few more up for next season. Now that James Alabi is confirmed as staying we have our four strikers, can't say they're going to send fear into the rest of the league.

Jobi McAnuff is Player/Coach, but he hasn't featured at all for us in preseason on the pitch, he's been in the dugout off it, which leads me to believe his playing days are all but at an end. This means we need to sign at least one more central midfielder with the formation we're expected to play.

Our backup left back this season will be first year pro Jayden Sweeney who played a few times last season in the FA Trophy and impressed. We've also got young Shadrach Ogi as a back up centre half as well.

In short, I expect us to sign one more midfielder and possibly one more winger (likely to be a loan) and that will be that for us.

 

[hellogregory]

I’m looking at everyone else’s starting lineups with absolute envy.

 

[Luke Imp]

Here is how I imagine we will start the season as of right now.

GK: Rory Watson
RB: Jordan Clarke
CB: Harrison McGahey
CB: Andy Butler
LB: Kgosi Nthle
RM: Alex Gilliead
CM: Yann Songo'o
CM: Matty Lund
LM: Adam Hamill
ST: Lee Novak
ST: Kyle Wootton

Subs:

GK: Jake Eastwood
CB: Rory McArdle
CB: Cameron Burgess
CB/LB: Jacob Bedau
LB: Lewis Butroid
CM: James Perch
CM: Levi Sutton
CM: James Horsfeld
LM: Andy Dales
LM: Yasin Ben El-Mhanni
LM: Ryan Colclough (Would normally start but injured at the start of the season)
AM: Jordan Hallam
ST: Kevin Van Veen
ST: Olufela Olomola
ST: John McAtee

Very happy with our starting defenders and midfielders, not confident with the keeper or the strikers. We also still need to offload a few, too many wasters still hanging on.

Watson and Wootton progressed well then?

Watson made his debut at our place for North Ferriby and was very poor and aside from being tall and winning the odd header, Wootton didn't really show anything on loan at us.

 

[Bottega Don]

Watson and Wootton progressed well then?

Watson made his debut at our place for North Ferriby and was very poor and aside from being tall and winning the odd header, Wootton didn't really show anything on loan at us.

Watson is meh. Good shot stopped but fails to command his area which I find is common at this level for keepers. Wootton has a lot about him and did relatively well last season. He's great at hold up play and helping others play better but never seems to translate that into enough goals. Big year for him.

 

[hellogregory]

As things stand, with less than 2 weeks till the season opener...

GK: Adam Collin

RB: Christie Elliott
CB: Byron Webster
CB: Nathaniel Knight-Percival
LB: Jack Iredale

CDM: Mike Jones
RCM: Stefan Scougall
LCM: Jack Bridge

RW: Harry McKirdy
ST: __________
LW: Hallam Hope

Subs:
Louis Gray
Jon Mellish
Jarrad Branthwaite
Keighran Kerr
_________
_________
_________


Anyone look at our squad and think yeah I’d love to have their squad?

 

[shoddycollins]

As things stand, with less than 2 weeks till the season opener...

GK: Adam Collin

RB: Christie Elliott
CB: Byron Webster
CB: Nathaniel Knight-Percival
LB: Jack Iredale

CDM: Mike Jones
RCM: Stefan Scougall
LCM: Jack Bridge

RW: Harry McKirdy
ST: __________
LW: Hallam Hope

Subs:
Louis Gray
Jon Mellish
Jarrad Branthwaite
Keighran Kerr
_________
_________
_________


Anyone look at our squad and think yeah I’d love to have their squad?

I've a feeling Mellish may start at LB. I'm sure Iredale is still high in Pressley's thoughts but Mellish has staked a pretty decent claim for that position in the chances he's had. Pressley said Iredale would be involved in the squad for Ross County, so Mellish will probably be there against Tranmere and if he continues to impress in that position then come Ross County it could be Iredale trying to regain it.

 

[hellogregory]

I've a feeling Mellish may start at LB. I'm sure Iredale is still high in Pressley's thoughts but Mellish has staked a pretty decent claim for that position in the chances he's had. Pressley said Iredale would be involved in the squad for Ross County, so Mellish will probably be there against Tranmere and if he continues to impress in that position then come Ross County it could be Iredale trying to regain it.

I thought Mellish was poor yesterday.

 

[shoddycollins]

I thought Mellish was poor yesterday.

We were poor all round yesterday

 

[hellogregory]

We were poor all round yesterday

We were decent for 20 minutes. Then once Barton clicked on what we were doing and started shouting “higher, higher” they pressed us high and had us pinned back in our own half for pretty much the rest of the match. We had no answer to it or flexibility to adapt to it which was a worry. We just continued to play right into their hands.

Individually I thought bridge and elliott were decent. Elliott’s use of the ball was a huge contrast to Mellish on the other side. The latters decision making , positioning and ball use was Sunday morning standard. That’s why I think if Iredale puts in a half decent performance at Ross County next Saturday he may well find himself in the starting 11 v Crawley.

 

[Bottega Don]

Bradfords squad seems to be miles better than everyone else's in the league, will be very surprised if they don't go up automatically.

 

[loz]

Bradfords squad seems to be miles better than everyone else's in the league, will be very surprised if they don't go up automatically.

You seem to know more about Bradford's squad than I do. Of the 10 new signings, I only previously knew 3.

 

[WilsdenBantam]

Bradfords squad seems to be miles better than everyone else's in the league, will be very surprised if they don't go up automatically.

We usually find a way to fuck it up, a fair few had us down for top 6 last season!

Hopefully now off the field issues have been sorted and we seem to have added more balance to the team, means we can get our act together.

 

[Cas]

Bradfords squad seems to be miles better than everyone else's in the league, will be very surprised if they don't go up automatically.

Nah.

 

[Chris FGR]

We've announced our squad numbers.

1 Adam Smith
2 Liam Shephard
3 Dominic Bernard
5 Matt Mills
6 Farrend Rawson
7 Carl Winchester
8 Dayle Grubb
10 Aaron Collins
11 George Williams
12 Taylor Allen
14 Ebou Adams
15 James Morton
18 Kevin Dawson
19 Nathan McGinley
20 Liam Kitching
21 Shawn McCoulsky
22 Udoka Godwin-Malife
23 Joseph Mills
24 Lewis Thomas
25 Junior Mondal

20 players, 1 of who is a player coach and only 6 are over 23.

Some good young players in there, but going to be a big ask to repeat last seasons exploits I reckon.

Vince has said our business is done, but wouldn't be surprised to see us bring in another couple.

 

[hellogregory]

Now Hallam Hope has picked up a hamstring injury in training. He’s having a scan tomorrow.

Chances are he’ll miss the first few games of the season then be back just in time to be sold at the end of August.

Carlisle United FC. Bringing their fans constant disappointment.

 

[Si Robin]

We have 14 first team players tonight due to players already picking up knocks. Our midfield is bereft, bar Rohan Ince. And we don't even have any triallists.

 

[Howzy]

We have 14 first team players tonight due to players already picking up knocks. Our midfield is bereft, bar Rohan Ince. And we don't even have any triallists.

Duffy keeps saying he gets 40 players thrown at him... where are at least 3/4 of them tonight? Agree with midfield Ince aside we are very weak and very bare. I can see Broom playing in the Maddox role from last season as long as Long stays fit.

 

[Big Bird]

Duffy keeps saying he gets 40 players thrown at him... where are at least 3/4 of them tonight? Agree with midfield Ince aside we are very weak and very bare. I can see Broom playing in the Maddox role from last season as long as Long stays fit.

You seemed to be recruiting well fairly early on in the window unless I've made it up. Budget issues or just not the right players available to sign yet?

 

[Si Robin]

We have recruited well, but it was clear from early in the summer that we're short in the middle of the park. Duff has a lot of leeway because he's a bonafide club legend, so the decent signings up front and in defence have hidden the fact that we're still missing at least two players in midfield.

No triallists when we have only one more pre-season game is tantamount to negligence in my view. Whether he's the right man for us or not, I can't believe we're not looking at someone like Sam Foley for example.

 

[Howzy]

You seemed to be recruiting well fairly early on in the window unless I've made it up. Budget issues or just not the right players available to sign yet?

We have recruited brilliantly so far but have 5 out injured. We will always have budget issues as we don't have the fan base. We need 3/4 more players. currently 19 first team players but 1/4 of them are injured

 

[LeonTheGreen]

Our strongest 11 now in my opinion now is:

GK: Alex Palmer
CB: Will Aimson
CB: Niall Canavan
CB: Gary Sawyer
RWB: Joe Riley
LWB: Callum Mcfadzean
CDM: Joe Edwards
CM: Danny Mayor
CM: Conor Grant
ST: Dom Telford
ST: Ryan Taylor

Subs: Mike Cooper, Scott Wootton, Ashley Smith-Brown, Antoni Sarcevic, Joel Grant, Byron Moore, Klaidi Lolos.

Still think we need another centre back, another CDM, and a striker. Lolos has impressed in pre season, but there are question marks as to whether he can do it in league football. Niall Ennis from Wolves and Zach Clough from Forest are the two names mentioned.

 

[Son of Cod]

Danny Mayor at CM? Joe Edwards is gonna have a busy season!

 

[LeonTheGreen]

Danny Mayor at CM? Joe Edwards is gonna have a busy season!

That’s where he played under Ryan Lowe last season. To be fair to him, he does track back and help out, or at least he has in pre-season. The wing backs provide the width.

 

[Crewelad87]

Our strongest 11 now in my opinion now is:

GK: Alex Palmer
CB: Will Aimson
CB: Niall Canavan
CB: Gary Sawyer
RWB: Joe Riley
LWB: Callum Mcfadzean
CDM: Joe Edwards
CM: Danny Mayor
CM: Conor Grant
ST: Dom Telford
ST: Ryan Taylor

Subs: Mike Cooper, Scott Wootton, Ashley Smith-Brown, Antoni Sarcevic, Joel Grant, Byron Moore, Klaidi Lolos.

Still think we need another centre back, another CDM, and a striker. Lolos has impressed in pre season, but there are question marks as to whether he can do it in league football. Niall Ennis from Wolves and Zach Clough from Forest are the two names mentioned.

4 ex players of ours in that squad, plus your manager and assistant played for us. It will be abit of a reunion on the 3rd.

 

[Son of Cod]

That’s where he played under Ryan Lowe last season. To be fair to him, he does track back and help out, or at least he has in pre-season. The wing backs provide the width.

Pretty sure he played LW against us at Gigg Lane, didn't see our match at Blundell Park admittedly. If he was actually playing CM he was given an exceedingly free role and chose to drift out left for most of the game.

 

[T.A]

Pretty sure he played LW against us at Gigg Lane, didn't see our match at Blundell Park admittedly. If he was actually playing CM he was given an exceedingly free role and chose to drift out left for most of the game.

CM under Lowe, but like you say has a free role and drifts out on to the left but also cuts in on his right foot and a few teams found out last season.

 

[Son of Cod]

CM under Lowe, but like you say has a free role and drifts out on to the left but also cuts in on his right foot and a few teams found out last season.

Genuinely thought you were playing 4-4-2 when you battered us! Where was Adams playing? Because he seemed to be playing on the right.

 

[T.A]

3-5-2 when attacking and 5-3-2 when defending seemed to be the plan but we were so Gung-Ho that CB were in midfield and WB were wingers. Adams was a RWB.

 

[Crewelad87]

Our squad numbers were released today.

Crewe Alexandra 2019/20 Squad Numbers:

1. Will Jaaskelainen

2. Perry Ng

3. Harry Pickering

4. Ryan Wintle

5. Olly Lancashire

6. Eddie Nolan

7. Daniel Powell

8. James Jones

9. Chris Porter

10. Charlie Kirk

11. Callum Ainley

12. Paul Green

13. Dave Richards

14. Oli Finney

15. Nicky Hunt

16. Tommy Lowery

18. Regan Griffiths

19. Owen Dale

20. Josh Lundstram

21. Luke Offord

22. Billy Sass-Davies

23. Travis Johnson

24. Lewis Reilly

25. Rio Adebisi

26. Connor Heath

 

[Jimbo’s Reds]

Well that’s probably all our business done for the summer, bar maybe a centre mid to replace flemo. My starting 11 for the Grimsby match would be -

Halstead

Buxton Lavelle Sutton Cranston

Alessandra Tutte Wildig O’Sulivan

Miller Stockton

A good starting 11, it’s the size of the squad that worries me a little, doesn’t help when 3 of our best players are made out of glass.