|
|
|
|
New Season: Crewe Cut us up Again! - Crewe 2 Albion 1
|
Posted by David Snowball
at
Monday, August 13, 2007
|
This was one of those games which you think long and hard about on the tedious journey home. We played well, if not spectacularly, and deserved to come home with a point at the very least but it wasn't to be. The statistics showed that we had more shots and corners and looked likely winners for long periods but after taking the lead though Cox, a penalty and a late header were enough to give Crewe the three points. As we haven't beaten them at Gresty Road since 1967 I suppose that we should have expected this but it doesn't ease the disappointment.
Kuipers: Didn't have a lot to do which makes it difficult how to believe that we lost the game. Apart from one save I don't remember him having much else to do apart from trying to keep out an unstoppable penalty (see Hammond's entry) and a looping header into the corner for the winner. One noticeable thing was his distribution. He's always been criticised for it in the past but I don't think that he wasted a single kick or throw throughout the whole game. Is that to be credited to the new goalkeeping coach?
Whing: Looked a natural at right back (which, of course he is) and did his job in a composed and tidy manner. All of the Sunday Papers that I saw had him down as our Man of the Match. You could agree or make a case for either of the central defenders.
Butters: I thought that he may struggle this season as the age and the weight creeps up on him but if he continues in this vein, then he'll last out his current contract with no problems. His positioning keeps him largely out of trouble but with young legs next to him any slip ups are usually mopped up.
Lynch: Looks to be getting back to his best. Did lots of good work with Butters, won lots of balls in the air and seemed keener to play a simple pass to feet than the killer 50 yard cross field passes that I've seen him try too many times in the past.
Mayo: Kerry is not many people's favourite and you can see why. His passes down the line are often wayward and he's too big (sideways, not in height) to be fast and agile against tricky right wingers. The winner came from a header that he perhaps could have been closer to and I was surprised to see him in the team today. Whether he'll still be there at the end of the season is, I would expect, very debatable.
Fraser: Obviously, one of Deano's favourite Youth teamers but I do struggle to see what he brings to the team. OK, he runs and runs, wins a few tackles (but by no means all of them), his distribution is always of the simple and less creative type and when he does cross a ball it's never from the bye-line, but normally angled in from the same area each time. He did hit the bar with a header early in the second half but he's often the first one to be taken off and I would see him more as a sub to bring on later in the game when we want to close a game out as he's rarely likely to create a winning position for us.
El-Abd: Looks like he's now destined to become the midfield destroyer, so you would expect him to play in the holding position in front of the back four. Surprisingly, he was often more forward than Hammond and his lack of close control stops him creating unexpected openings for the forwards. He did win a lot of tackles and made one crunching block to save himself when he lost the ball in a dangerous position but a lot more work is needed to make him into the player he would like to think he is. He should be the one holding back when Hammond bursts forward, but at times it seemed to be the other way round in this game.
Hammond: Seemed reticent to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and almost looks like he's lost a lot of weight over the summer. He needs to bulk up, work on his stamina as he looked tired towards the end of the game, and get forward more. He was rarely in a scoring position apart from one looping header that hit the angle of bar and post early on and he gave away the penalty for Crewe's equaliser. The ball appeared to come across his chest and hit his hand but the referee at first waved play on, only for the linesman to flag furiously and that was that.
Cox: An odd game for Tiny as he scored a good goal to put us in front early on when we were dominating but was then in and out of the action. He should have won a penalty near the end when we were chasing the game but, despite all of the evidence to the contrary, the ref gave a free kick outside of the box, not from the spot where it should have been. He got himself stupidly booked for going down after a tackle, rolling around in agony and then jumping up as soon as the ref frantically flagged for the Physio to come on. It was a convincing performance of a bad foul but if he wasn't hurt then he should get on with the game. Perhaps that was why the referee didn't give him the penalty? The other time a player went down like that was the Crewe centre forward who ended up being stretchered off with what has been reported as a broken leg. You could see he was badly injured and it was a pity that some of the Albion fans decided the guy was a "Cheat, Cheat, Cheat!"
Revell: Looks like he's sorted out his injury problems and didn't stop running just as you would expect. Won his fair share of balls in the air but didn't create or have any chances to speak of. He doesn't look in the same class as his strike partner and I would have subbed him for Savage or Elder earlier in the game, just to try something different.
Forster: You can see that he has that little bit of class that gives him the close control and ball skills that will do him well in this division. His lack of height didn't help in the lost cause of the many balls thumped high towards the front two, but he kept on running and had a couple of chances that would probably have gone in once he gets that little bit sharper. As long as he stays fit he will be a good addition to the team but it may be a question of who his best strike partner will be. Personally, I'd try Savage up front with him and put Revell wide on the right.
Reid (sub for Fraser): He didn't look fit to me and was not really in the game. A bit too soon for him to come back.
Savage (sub for El-Abd): Not given long enough and didn't have any influence on the game.
Elder (sub for Revell): ditto Savage
|
|
|
|
LOOKING FOR MORE NEWS? Check out
our latest stories...
|
|
|
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Go back to the Homepage...