Crewe Alexandra versus Derby County - Match Day Thread ( FA Cup 1st Round )

[Topram]

Got back not long ago, absolutely battered then first half with possession but all we did was cross it to our smallest striker…

total domination with no end product and next minute we’re 2-0 Down and it’s too late to win, credit us for coming back so late on but all the domination in the world just to cross to no one will gets us nowhere… 

weird game papered over the cracks late on

[Chris_Martin]

4 hours ago, DCFC Kicks said:

I wonder when the classic Collins sub, two up front hoofball will happen.

[Chris_Martin]

4 hours ago, Ramarena said:

Surely we need to see Sibley on in the next few mins

oh, is he better at crossing?

[Topram]

Madness to think we had 33 shots we did batter them but can’t say we had 3/4 decent chances out of the 33

[HorsforthRam]

Despite the little possession Crewe had, they scored two and Wildsmith made a couple of good stops. As well as being blunt up top, I think it’s worrying how easily teams can play through us when they put a little effort in to attack. 

[rammieib]

3 hours ago, Mucker1884 said:

I'm pretty sure in some games we have scored nil?  🤷‍♂️

And in what other game have we had 32 attempts?

 

[BucksRam]

4 hours ago, ariotofmyown said:

I do think those huge poppies on the armbands are rather OTT. It's only Bonfire night too, plus I not even done my Xmas shopping.

I have 😎

[Rample]

4 hours ago, Mihangel said:

I'm hoping that was Warne's 'Mark Robins' moment and we're now going to see 20 years of sustained glory. Probably. Maybe.

United fans always though they were bigger than they were. Managed a 2nd place finish under Fergie and they were still moaning.

 

[Rich3478]

1 hour ago, derbydaz22 said:

The midfield 3 is still not right I still prefer Bird deeper as he’s good on the ball and protects the back four better than Hourahan and Smith. Im not actually sure what Smith does. 

Nor me, was really struggling to see why he played the 90 minutes. Just move bird deeper and get another attacking player on.

[Rich3478]

Who we’re expecting to win the headers from all of these crosses is still a mystery. It’s not how I’d want us to play but if this was his plan surely we need a tall striker?

[DCFC1388]

2 hours ago, eddielewis said:

How are we going to fit the replay in meaning as we have postponed the Reading fixture? 2nd round matches are played around 2nd December. Surely the F.A. will have to force our hand to play this replay around 14/15th Nov.

We played Notts Co in the EFL Trophy in the midweek before a postponed game so no reason we cannot play this cup game.

If anything it will potentially give us chance to give Elder, Waghorn and maybe even John-Jules some minutes before the break.

[Chellaston Ram]

20 minutes ago, Topram said:

Madness to think we had 33 shots we did batter them but can’t say we had 3/4 decent chances out of the 33

Today sums up our season, lack of quality in the final third.

[jono]

37 minutes ago, Ambitious said:

I didn’t watch the game, but I believe we had something like 700 passes and 30-odd shots at goal with almost 80% possession. 

I thought the majority wanted Warne out because we didn’t play in that manner more often? It’s hard for a manager to have total control over situations in football games, it’s not FIFA, all he can really do is set up a team in a way that generates the most possession, opportunities and the players are liable for the rest. 

Again, without watching the game, but just looking at the box score, I’m not sure how you can blame Warne for this?

They can and they will time and time again. They have some evidence and are busy making a crime and criminal to fit it. 
tedious beyond measure. 

[DRBee]

1 hour ago, Brammie Steve said:

 

NML kept launching Hinton style crosses into the box, and it is only because we do not have a Hector or O’Hare that every centre was messed up today!

This is a joke.... yes? 

[On the Ram Page]

Having sat and watched the League One leaders lose at Chesterfield, fielding their strongest team, but Chesterfield deservedly winning, I did wonder what Derby’s match at Crewe had in store.

Warne, I think rightly, did not change a winning team, many on here seem to urge that. Derby battered the Crewe penalty area constantly for most of the first half. Crewe often had 8/9 men in their penalty area at times, which was very congested. We did try a variety of methods to score, playing passes to try and break through the lines, to no avail. We then resorted to mainly cross the ball, usually failing to hit a Derby player. If there was a diffence from Tuesday night it was a lack of movement from the front players, to try and create space. Unfortunately, Fonzie had an off day with his passing, sometimes because of lack of movement in front of him, and the falling asleep for their first goal.

in the second half, we were still dominant in possession but particularly Hourihane slowed the game too much, in my opinion, maybe trying to look confident that we would get back in game. The 2nd game was again poor defending from both Bradley and Nelson. That led to Crewe packing their Area with even more men, had some luck but also were let off by some poor score scoring efforts.

The subs did have an effect, freshening things up and eventually Derby scored the goals which gave them what they deserved. Well done for continuing to believe. Contrary to what some think, there is good spirit and they are playing for the Head Coach. As someone else said, Hourihane up his game tempo and was very important in the revival. Derby tried to play along the ground as much as possible, but trying to play through the centre of the defence was virtually impossible. Our standard of crossing improved a bit with Ward and to a lesser extent Wilson. Think Ward will be very important when he becomes match fit.

some of the comments on here during the match were embarrassingl and laughable. Special mention too to Crewe, who made it extremely difficult with their determination and hard work. Having watched the match against Northampton, their Manager wasn’t going to give Derby the amount of space they enjoyed on Tuesday.

Apart from a couple of pieces of defending and our finishing, it was a reasonable performance and no where near as bad as the Warne Out people are portraying. It was Crewe’s Cup Final - Chesterfield won theirs quite convincingly against Portsmouth!

[Ghost of Clough]

6 minutes ago, Ambitious said:

I didn’t watch the game, but I believe we had something like 700 passes and 30-odd shots at goal with almost 80% possession. 

I thought the majority wanted Warne out because we didn’t play in that manner more often? It’s hard for a manager to have total control over situations in football games, it’s not FIFA, all he can really do is set up a team in a way that generates the most possession, opportunities and the players are liable for the rest. 

Again, without watching the game, but just looking at the box score, I’m not sure how you can blame Warne for this?

You've glossed over the tactical plan and used stats to define a 'manner of play'. On the surface, a high number of passes, shots and possession is good. However, are those passes on the edge of our own box, on the halfway line, or around their box? Are the shots causing any threat to the opposition, or are they hopeful shots from outside the packed area, or tame headers from aimless crosses?

It's the entire predictability of play. A pass is made to the edge of their box, but before he receives the ball, you already know he's going to take a touch, turn to the side of the pitch to the winger, who will dawdle on the ball a little bit and then eventually cross it high. The only player we have who shows any level of creativity on the edge of a packed opposition box (and can actually pull it off) is Bird. We need to spend a lot more time on the training ground to address this major issue in our play.

There were only 2 shots in the entire game where I felt we actually had a good quality shot on target - Collins when he was offside, and Hourihane's equaliser. Even Mendez-Laing's goal should have been easily saved by their keeper. It's not surprising when we line-up with players who have never been known as goalscorers. Bird and Smith have a combined 18 career goals. At this stage of their careers, Hourihane, Barkhuzien and Mendez-Laing will do well to hit that many between them this season. Whilst Washington has a decent minutes to goals ratio, he's the sort who will struggle against compact defences when playing as a lone forward.
The bench doesn't offer much threat either, with WIlson's 6 career goals, Ward averaging about 5 goals a season, Collins on the decline, and Sibley out of favour.

[europia]

17 minutes ago, Chellaston Ram said:

Today sums up our season, lack of quality in the final third.

Just lack of quality overall. Crewe started the game poorly, we just let them grow into the game until eventually they looked the team from a higher division. We scraped a draw in the end, is the only positive. 

[Sheff Ram]

I find all this abuse of Warne at the match heard on the TV coverage and on social media really embarrassing and detrimental to us as a club. I've never know so much ire directed at a Derby manager before in my life. Can we all stop moaning and just support our team? We've been through the mill as a club and some fans need to realise we aren't just going to 'piss the league'. This constant tirade against our manager is really tiring.

[Stive Pesley]

9 minutes ago, europia said:

Just lack of quality overall. Crewe started the game poorly, we just let them grow into the game until eventually they looked the team from a higher division. We scraped a draw in the end, is the only positive. 

What game did you watch? Crewe didn't grow into anything other than growing the number of them in their own box from 9 behind the ball to 10 behind the ball. They soaked up pressure and took 2 chances on the break. A simple game plan that very nearly worked for them. Let's not pretend they looked like a better team than us 😂

I hate games like that. 

[MaltRam]

12 minutes ago, europia said:

Just lack of quality overall. Crewe started the game poorly, we just let them grow into the game until eventually they looked the team from a higher division. We scraped a draw in the end, is the only positive. 

At no stage did Crewe ever look like the team from a higher division.

We bossed the ball for 90 minutes, but for 85 of them we never looked like scoring or when we did get carve a sight of goal we fluffed it.

Where we annoyed the bejesus out of me was with yet another pair of soft, soft goals conceded out of low danger situations. Teams have always got a chamce against us, especially if we don't score early and they can stay compact and wait for the c***-up.

We got out of jail. Bring on err, Wolves youth team. Sigh.