Crewe Alexandra vs Bury Alexandra (Crewe vs Bury)

[UTS]

Title inspired by the wealth of ex-Crewe personnel we have on our books.

The return of Lowe, Dagnall and Maynard to Gresty Road this weekend to face an out of sorts Crewe side who are languishing in the bottom third of the table.

The Shakers are on an okay vein of form, picking up wins away at Swindon and Colchester, and picking up a point away at Northampton and a fair point at home to Mansfield in a game we were on top. Maynard and Dagnall will surely be looking to haunt their old club with the former scoring 2 good goals last week on his debut.

A win could take us into the play-off places. Crewe from the outside looking in seem to put out XI’s that are young and technically good, but ones that perhaps lack a proper spine and are mentally weak. Pleasing on the eye but perhaps easy to get on top of.

With that in mind, and our fair wealth of experience throughout the side, I’ll go for a 2-1 Bury win.

Attendance of 4,350 with 1,000 ish Shakers.

 

[GTFCfish]

I expect Crewe to win this one without conceding as Danny Mayor will be playing up front for Bury and he’s that shit that he couldn’t score in a fucking brothel.

 

[UTS]

I expect Crewe to win this one without conceding as Danny Mayor will be playing up front for Bury and he’s that shit that he couldn’t score in a fucking brothel.

The same Danny Mayor who scored 2 against Grimsby this season?

Also he’s a winger.

 

[The Alex]

Maynard, Lowe and Dagnall are coming back to haunt us, guaranteed. See no reason as to why we'll put in a good performance. Be good to see someone bring a few fans other than Vale for once.

 

[JJ1532]

Disappointed you both forgot Byron Moore. And Steve Schumacher on the coaching staff.

I'm hoping in the wake of this weeks comments that Artell actually takes the shackles off and lets the team play. Couldn't work out why we'd gone from a free scoring team to a toothless one over the summer, but given his and Porter's comments about them only doing defensive work in pre-season, it makes sense now. Typical mentality of having a defender for a manager that he wants to concede less.

Doesn't seem to realise with Crewe, we are at our best when we go for the 'attack is the best form of defence' approach. Hopefully he lets the team focus on attack, because the goals and results will hopefully come if he does.

Tricky game this. Bury have got some very good players. If Maynard is fit and confident, as he looks to be, he is far too good for this level, even at 31. God it's weird to think of Maynard as 31. Still remember him as that youthful teenager banging them in back in 06-07 and 07-08. What a player he could have been but for injuries.

Could do with a win, but would take a point right now.

 

[Luke Imp]

BTTS, >2.5, Bury win.

 

[King Kev]

Disappointed you both forgot Byron Moore. And Steve Schumacher on the coaching staff.

I'm hoping in the wake of this weeks comments that Artell actually takes the shackles off and lets the team play. Couldn't work out why we'd gone from a free scoring team to a toothless one over the summer, but given his and Porter's comments about them only doing defensive work in pre-season, it makes sense now. Typical mentality of having a defender for a manager that he wants to concede less.

Doesn't seem to realise with Crewe, we are at our best when we go for the 'attack is the best form of defence' approach. Hopefully he lets the team focus on attack, because the goals and results will hopefully come if he does.

Tricky game this. Bury have got some very good players. If Maynard is fit and confident, as he looks to be, he is far too good for this level, even at 31. God it's weird to think of Maynard as 31. Still remember him as that youthful teenager banging them in back in 06-07 and 07-08. What a player he could have been but for injuries.

Could do with a win, but would take a point right now.

Artell seems to be trying to take the pressure off, declaring Bury as title challengers and saying we have been big spenders this summer. For once, judging off our signings we haven't been.
Why did you become negative after starting with a tonne of goals, did the Colchester result perhaps startle him a fair bit?

 

[Crewelad87]

This has got to be the most obvious defeat of the season.

Maynard has to be right up there as one of my favourite former players. Probably the most natural finisher I’ve seen play for us. Even at such a young age, I was always confident with him in front of goal. He forged a great partnership one year with Varney.

Crewe 2-4 Bury (Porter, Kirk, Moore, Mayor, Maynard 2) 4,056 (886 Shakers)

 

[JJ1532]

Artell seems to be trying to take the pressure off, declaring Bury as title challengers and saying we have been big spenders this summer. For once, judging off our signings we haven't been.
Why did you become negative after starting with a tonne of goals, did the Colchester result perhaps startle him a fair bit?

No, this was something that started in pre-season. He even admitted as much this week to the local media, saying he wanted us to concede less than 50 goals as it would give us a good chance at going up.

He seemed to forget that in doing so, it would probably blunt our attack and so it has proved. It was just such an unrealistic target anyway, we've never been able to defend. We've conceded less than 50 just 5 times since the end of WW2. And the best teams only concede less than 50 because they have lots of the ball, meaning the opposition can't attack. Our tactics seem to be giving the opposition the ball and hoping our defence actually defend and don't make many mistakes, which is a daft plan.

I'd agree you haven't spent big, but then Adams, Moore, Dagnall and Maynard are hardly likely to have signed for small salaries. Plus you probably have a few L1 size wages carried over from the last few seasons like Beckford, Danns, O'Shea, Mayor etc. So I'd imagine you came into the season with one of the larger wage bills in the league, probably top 5. Plus with a team containing the aforementioned players, I'd say a push for the top 3 should be the goal, no?

 

[Luke Imp]

Artell seems to be trying to take the pressure off, declaring Bury as title challengers and saying we have been big spenders this summer. For once, judging off our signings we haven't been.
Why did you become negative after starting with a tonne of goals, did the Colchester result perhaps startle him a fair bit?

He did the same last week against us, although in that instance he went a little OTT and said we were spending two or three times more than anyone else in the division, which was a bizarre claim.

 

[King Kev]

No, this was something that started in pre-season. He even admitted as much this week to the local media, saying he wanted us to concede less than 50 goals as it would give us a good chance at going up.

He seemed to forget that in doing so, it would probably blunt our attack and so it has proved. It was just such an unrealistic target anyway, we've never been able to defend. We've conceded less than 50 just 5 times since the end of WW2. And the best teams only concede less than 50 because they have lots of the ball, meaning the opposition can't attack. Our tactics seem to be giving the opposition the ball and hoping our defence actually defend and don't make many mistakes, which is a daft plan.

I'd agree you haven't spent big, but then Adams, Moore, Dagnall and Maynard are hardly likely to have signed for small salaries. Plus you probably have a few L1 size wages carried over from the last few seasons like Beckford, Danns, O'Shea, Mayor etc. So I'd imagine you came into the season with one of the larger wage bills in the league, probably top 5. Plus with a team containing the aforementioned players, I'd say a push for the top 3 should be the goal, no?

Adams left Carlisle after a very poor contract offer, Byron-Moore released by Port Vale, Dagnall released by Crewe. Maynard only recently signed after being released and failing to score in Scotland. He is on a four month contract. They are not marquee signings, especially when ranked against the ludicrous big names signed in more recent seasons. I'd wager the players pushing our budget up will be those players that you mentioned above, all signed as part of the chairman's ridiculous championship gamble. A lot of overpaid dross has left us since January. One of the highest earners will be Dawson and he is injured and we have been trying to offload him. As far as I am aware, there has not been a single mention of promotion, not from the manager and certainly not from the chairman who learned a very tough lesson last season after years of embarrassing interviews and constant boasts about his five year plan.
After watching what happened to Chesterfield and the struggles Port Vale had last season, most Bury fans said they'd be happy with consolidation and building a team. Many, myself included said we'd just be happy to avoid relegation.

 

[UTS]

Maynard starts up top with Dagnall.

Mayor and Adams also feature.

 

[JJ1532]

I said I'd take a point and given that it sounded like the alamo for most of the 2nd half, I'll happily take it now.

The way the performances sound through fan comments and the media, they don't inspire much confidence. Today looks like we were battered for 45 minutes and have some fortune and Ben Garratt to thank for getting a result. Still, Maynard, Adams, Mayor and co make a pretty decent L2 team, so I'm not overly bothered.

 

[TimeyWimey]

Impressed by Bowery, Ray and Garratt. Barely worth the rest of them turning up.

 

[UTS]

Frustrating, sounds like we should have won based on the second half.

 

[Crewelad87]

That was awful, I didn’t even go and decided to save £10 and watch on ifollow. 1st half fairly even, lacked quality and chances but we managed to score a decent goal before half time through Kirk.

2nd half and same old Crewe, Bury came out of the traps whilst we looked like we were still in dressing room. What Artel says at half time baffles me. Time after time we start the 2nd half slow. I take nothing away from Bury though they were excellent. They will be kicking them selves that they only drew this game though. Mainly thanks too Garrett though he made at least 3 or 4 top draw saves. Any thing that bothers me we’re Artells lack of subs. Wintle had a shocking game and stayed on, Kirk and Ainley we’re exhausted and offered nothing with 20 minutes to go, yet no change.

Overall happy with a point as it wasn’t deserved at all, but alarm bells are ringing because of it wasn’t for Garrett and Ray who was the only other play to come out with credit, it would have been a similar result to the one at Vale Park today.

 

[King Kev]

Definitely two points dropped but taking into account the shambles of last season, it was just great to see us playing like that in the second half. I thought we were fantastic to watch. Full credit to Crewe's keeper though, he pulled off some cracking saves.
I do feel like there is something lacking at Crewe, like the heart has been ripped out of the club. There used to be some decent banter between home and away fans, and the stand to the right behind the goal used to be bouncing when they scored. There didn't seem to be anything yesterday, no offence intended of course.

 

[TimeyWimey]

The Gresty Road End has been dead since we came out of the Championship and the club would do well to swap and put the away fans in there and return home fans to the “pop side”.

We’re kinda in purgatory though and have been for a decade (give or take a brief 18month spell under Davis), hence lack of any real excitement or atmosphere. Most fans are going out of habit rather than any real hope or enjoyment.

It’s just the same old story of shit owners, no money and sex abuse allegations. The usual.

Re Be Garratt tho. Hilarious how many fans are obsessed with Dave Richards and will not pay credit to Garratt for yesterday. He’s our best keeper by mile.

 

[JJ1532]

The owners really annoy me. Their hearts are in the right place(well, bar one absent member), but their heads have totally gone. They haven't got a clue about how to run a modern football club, they are walking around like it's the 80s and 90s and we are still cutting edge, rather than left in the dust.

If they put half as much importance into the first team as they did the academy, we might actually go somewhere.

But this current malaise isn't really much to do with them. Yes, the side we have isn't a great team, but it's capable of being a mid-table team one, top 10 at a very long push. But it is a side that shouldn't be getting walked off the park most weeks. Yes, I haven't seen the games for the last 2 months, so I may be way off here, but it seems to be that most of our current issues come from Artell's ridiculous obsession with not conceding. He doesn't seem to realise that the best teams only concede less than 50 goals because they keep the ball and play a lot of the game in the oppositions half.

Artell's plan is seemingly to give the opposition the ball and hope they don't have the quality to score, which is working in the goals against column, but thats about it. Davis tried it in League One and unsurprisingly, we got the shit kicked out of us most weeks. How can he not see that the run we went on at the end of last season, when we went 8-3-5 to finish the season, came not because we played for 1-0s, but because we played to score goals. If he goes into games with a positive approach, I have no doubt the performances will improve.

We are at our best when we play positive football. If this continues, then Artell should be shown the door.

Oh and another thing that makes me laugh is people defending Chris Porter. The guy is a fucking donkey. He'd be better off on Blackpool beach than leading a L2 attack. He's scored 5(actually 4, given his Chesterfield goal on Boxing Day last season was an OG) league goals in his last 22 starts and 35 appearances. But he starts because he scored 2 in the Checkatrade against a backup keeper that made 2 horrible errors.

And it also blows my mind that people reckon we should play to his strengths, which is getting it out wide and whipping in crosses. That would be a ridiculous idea, because it would negate the strengths of all the other attackers like Jones, Ainley, Kirk, Bowery, Nicholls etc. Why blunt their abilities just to suit one player? And why one player that is a poor footballer and in horrible league form?

Is it not weird that the moment he went out with injury, we suddenly started picking up results and scoring goals. Yeah, it wasn't just that, but it's not a coincidence either.

Stevenage and a midweek game with Yeovil up next, both away. Be interesting to see where we are heading into the Grimsby and Mansfield double header. Crunch time coming up.

 

[Crewelad87]

The owners really annoy me. Their hearts are in the right place(well, bar one absent member), but their heads have totally gone. They haven't got a clue about how to run a modern football club, they are walking around like it's the 80s and 90s and we are still cutting edge, rather than left in the dust.

If they put half as much importance into the first team as they did the academy, we might actually go somewhere.

But this current malaise isn't really much to do with them. Yes, the side we have isn't a great team, but it's capable of being a mid-table team one, top 10 at a very long push. But it is a side that shouldn't be getting walked off the park most weeks. Yes, I haven't seen the games for the last 2 months, so I may be way off here, but it seems to be that most of our current issues come from Artell's ridiculous obsession with not conceding. He doesn't seem to realise that the best teams only concede less than 50 goals because they keep the ball and play a lot of the game in the oppositions half.

Artell's plan is seemingly to give the opposition the ball and hope they don't have the quality to score, which is working in the goals against column, but thats about it. Davis tried it in League One and unsurprisingly, we got the shit kicked out of us most weeks. How can he not see that the run we went on at the end of last season, when we went 8-3-5 to finish the season, came not because we played for 1-0s, but because we played to score goals. If he goes into games with a positive approach, I have no doubt the performances will improve.

We are at our best when we play positive football. If this continues, then Artell should be shown the door.

Oh and another thing that makes me laugh is people defending Chris Porter. The guy is a fucking donkey. He'd be better off on Blackpool beach than leading a L2 attack. He's scored 5(actually 4, given his Chesterfield goal on Boxing Day last season was an OG) league goals in his last 22 starts and 35 appearances. But he starts because he scored 2 in the Checkatrade against a backup keeper that made 2 horrible errors.

And it also blows my mind that people reckon we should play to his strengths, which is getting it out wide and whipping in crosses. That would be a ridiculous idea, because it would negate the strengths of all the other attackers like Jones, Ainley, Kirk, Bowery, Nicholls etc. Why blunt their abilities just to suit one player? And why one player that is a poor footballer and in horrible league form?

Is it not weird that the moment he went out with injury, we suddenly started picking up results and scoring goals. Yeah, it wasn't just that, but it's not a coincidence either.

Stevenage and a midweek game with Yeovil up next, both away. Be interesting to see where we are heading into the Grimsby and Mansfield double header. Crunch time coming up.

From what I saw yesterday we did the exact opposite, and didn’t play to Porters strengths at all. In fact the complete opposite, long aimless balls into the channels, Porter looked like he was running through treacle. Not once did we look to get the likes of Kirk or Ainley to the byline to cross.

I agree though I’m also begging for us to get back to playing how we did last season, which mean Bowery and Miller up top. Also I’d push Pickering into midfield. Wintle isn’t good enough for football league football imo. I haven’t a clue what he’s in the team for, not what he’s actually good at.

Throughout my time supporting Crewe, we’ve always been at our best, when attack is our best form of defence. Credit to Artell as we look more organised at the back then I can remember. But and it’s a big but, it’s coming at a big price. We really struggle to keep possession, meaning we create very little and put more pressure on the defence. Playing this way we’re just not going to win many games.