Wigan v Crewe Alex

[JJ1532]

Gonna say right off the bat that I think this one has the potential to get ugly. Really ugly.

For us, I'll keep saying it, however pointless it might be, but we HAVE to switch things up. We're conceding goal after goal because of the system and we aren't scoring because of it. 4 out of our last 5 goals have come through fortune, rank bad defending and some superb finishing. Nothing to do with good play or having loads of chances or dominating part of games.

Team should be a simple 4-4-1-1. Get Cooper and Inman on the wings, Bingham and Fox in the middle, Coco in behind Dalla Valle upfront. But no, we'll continue to start the ineffective King because...reasons. We'll also remain 4-3-3 because...erm...nope, got nothing. Oh yeah, because we dominate midfields...nope, thats not it...Dunno! Haber will continue to struggle upfront by himself, because hey, who needs a mobile front man offering runs in behind? Who needs the best goalscorer in the team benched because he apparently had the temerity to question why our genius of a manager was playing him on the wing? Team will no doubt be the same one that started on Saturday.

As for Wigan, not been a great start for them at all. Only 1 win from their first 4 games and crashed out of the cup as well. However, they do seem quite solid at home. 0-0 with Donny and then a 3-0 win over Scunny where they sounded very impressive. Got quality throughout their team, especially upfront. Grigg, Jacobs and Davies are 3 very good players who, if we play the way we have been doing, will have a field day against us.

I genuinely think we're going to get mauled here. 4-0 or 5-0 to Wigan.

 

[TomPNE94]

You'll be happy with whoever wins won't you?

 

[Crewealexfan123]

First post on here for a while as I've been busy. (not really, forgot my login details and couldn't be bothered to reset them but hey we'll go with that)

Predictions:
-Wigan 3-0 Crewe
-For there to still be no sign of a left back joining us anytime soon
-Us to show 'character'
-We'll make 'individual mistakes'
-Haber will lose every header
-The Crewe Alex hashtag will be divided after the game between budgets and Davis out.

Shame this game falls when the morale is at an all time low because with it being local and early in the season we could have taken a fair few. As it happens everyone is completely fed up so we won't.

Anyone from this board travelling?

 

[JJ1532]

You'll be happy with whoever wins won't you?

I don't follow?

 

[joethegill]

Wigan didn't really create a lot against us, a lot of pointless sideways passing. Press them high and you have a chance.

 

[Dan Phillips]

I don't follow?

Your little 'boycott' last season.

 

[TomPNE94]

I don't follow?

Thought you had a soft spot for Wigan? I remember you doing match reports on a lot of their games

 

[The Alex]

Anyone from this board travelling?

Lol, no.

 

[Crewelad87]

Hopfully the new lads will nake a difference. Fraring the worst though.

Wigan 3-1 Crewe 7,429 (450 Crewe) (Grigg 2, Ray og, Wilson)

 

[Dan Phillips]

Did you type that hammered?

 

[Brammer_£500000]

1-2 for the Alex, 650 foot soldiers, still not good seeing as how in the past Wigwam made us play at 11:00 am one year due to us catching them on the hop the previous year in the Freight Rovr Trophy and having more fans in Springfield Park than they did, heady days

 

[jbet]

Gonna say right off the bat that I think this one has the potential to get ugly. Really ugly.

For us, I'll keep saying it, however pointless it might be, but we HAVE to switch things up. We're conceding goal after goal because of the system and we aren't scoring because of it. 4 out of our last 5 goals have come through fortune, rank bad defending and some superb finishing. Nothing to do with good play or having loads of chances or dominating part of games.

Team should be a simple 4-4-1-1. Get Cooper and Inman on the wings, Bingham and Fox in the middle, Coco in behind Dalla Valle upfront. But no, we'll continue to start the ineffective King because...reasons. We'll also remain 4-3-3 because...erm...nope, got nothing. Oh yeah, because we dominate midfields...nope, thats not it...Dunno! Haber will continue to struggle upfront by himself, because hey, who needs a mobile front man offering runs in behind? Who needs the best goalscorer in the team benched because he apparently had the temerity to question why our genius of a manager was playing him on the wing? Team will no doubt be the same one that started on Saturday.

As for Wigan, not been a great start for them at all. Only 1 win from their first 4 games and crashed out of the cup as well. However, they do seem quite solid at home. 0-0 with Donny and then a 3-0 win over Scunny where they sounded very impressive. Got quality throughout their team, especially upfront. Grigg, Jacobs and Davies are 3 very good players who, if we play the way we have been doing, will have a field day against us.

I genuinely think we're going to get mauled here. 4-0 or 5-0 to Wigan.

What you talking like a yank for soppy bollocks?

 

[dannyc5]

Not quite sure how their goal stood......

 

[JJ1532]

In our last 3 away games, we've conceded in the 13th, 14th and 10th minute and had to work from 1-0 down every time. Until we start games better and don't concede the first goal, especially away from home, we don't have a chance of picking up results on a regular basis.

Today was probably our best performance on the season in terms of general play. But in terms of creating chances and looking like scoring, we were pretty poor.

First half, we started quite well but fell away. But todays problem came from our own making. Faffing around in our own half, overplaying it, losing the ball too much. The goal though, I wasn't watching Ray and Jacobs but Ray did seem convinced he'd been pushed over. However, I have a hard time giving sympathy to a 6ft 4in CB when he is pushed over by a 5ft 9in winger. Maybe it was a foul, but regardless, Ray has to show some fucking strength for a change and ensure he wins the header. He's a butter soft player with the mental ability of 4 year old and is making the same mistakes he's made for the last 2 years! When is enough enough?

Came close to levelling through Inman when he hit the inside of the post and Kingsley forced a good stop out of O'Donnell but Wigan could have stretched their lead, Garratt made a couple of stops and we got away with a few hairy moments. But I felt we'd done alright in the first half. 2nd half, we had a shaky 1st 5 minutes and then really pressed in the next 20-25. Didn't create much bar a blocked Inman shot and a Dalla Valle flicked header. After that, we faded badly and despite having plenty of the ball, never looked like scoring.

Got plenty of concerns about the game. We badly ran out of steam in the last 20 minutes and that is annoying as hell. I thought those issues were over? We looked fresher last week after 5 games in 2 weeks, but a free week this time and we run out of legs. Why? Another issue was the form of our defence bar Kingsley, who I thought had a good debut. Turton did well at RB last seaosn, but this season he's proving his doubters right. Really struggling at the moment. Ray and Nugent are just poor players. Give Davis and Guthrie a run in the team next week please.

We also really struggled to create any noteworthy chances bar the 1st half ones for Inman and Kingsley. Played at once pace and far too narrow. Never really troubled them or stretched them in the 2nd half, made it far too easy to defend against us. The way we played in the middle of the pitch was pleasing, but unless we find a way to score goals without hoping Inman or Colclough create something out of nothing, we'll struggle to enough goals this season. Yet further proof that Davis can't set up a side to score goals, he simply doesn't have any ideas or a plan B. Not sure he has much of a plan A to be honest.

However, saying all that, we gave Wigan a game today after I thought we'd get battered. They were pretty average(we weren't much better mind) and were there for the taking. Probably our best performance of the season and had we not ran out of steam and had we not had to use 2 subs due to injury/cramp, then things might be different. Not convinced Wigan will be anywhere near the top 6 on this evidence. Reckon they'll have strong home form, but away from home I can see them getting turned out regularly.

Not too disappointed with today, we were awful against the Vale and Bury and managed draws. But for all the positives from today, we've now got to the stage where we have got to get a win. We realistically need 4 points from our back to back home games v Swindon and Millwall. No excuses.