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

[RoyMac5]

10 minutes ago, Tamworthram said:

Now you are being even more silly than ever. Read the thread. I don’t have a problem with people being posting comments on the game, tactics, team selection etc positive or negative (even though I may not agree with them all). All I said is, failure to win will prompt the usual “Warne has to go after this result” comments. We all want a great performance and good win on Wednesday night but the sensible amongst us also know that even if the football is dire and we fail to win, it isn’t the most important game of the week and whatever the result PW isn’t going to get sacked after it.

It's like with straws though, who knows which one will break the camel's back. And it's comments like 'the sensible amongst us' and 'you are being even more silly' - that back up my comments. 

[Jimbo Ram]

10 hours ago, Carl Sagan said:

The issue was we never looked threatening or as if we were going to score. Until a goalkeeping howler on the 88th minute. We brought the ball forward, made sure we worked it out onto the wing rather than (heaven forbid) going through the middle and shooting, and then chipped the ball into the box for Crewe to head away. That was the majority of the game. Eventually we also shot, but really badly, as if we weren't concentrating or interested. Never testing the keeper.

Yes, in many ways it was better because we had a lot of control of the football against a mix of the Crewe reserve and youth teams. But fair criticism of Warne is that he has set us up to play in this toothless fashion, without goalscorers. For instance, what was Korey Smith doing playing in midfield, who I think has scored one goal in the last decade or something? Warne's substitutions, instead of changing it at half-time, weren't until the 70th minute when he brought on two right backs and a central defender, and took one striker off to bring another striker on.

The manager got out of jail at the end. And afterwards said he was delighted with the performance and still would have been if we'd lost 2-0.

It is a bit depressing….not long before the cricket season starts, I am sure that will cheer us all up 😉🏏

[Tamworthram]

22 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

It's like with straws though, who knows which one will break the camel's back. And it's comments like 'the sensible amongst us' and 'you are being even more silly' - that back up my comments. 

Oh dear, this is hard work this morning. Let’s start again.

Did I say people can’t comment on the game as per your first insinuation ? No I didn’t.

Did I say people can only post comments on the game with which I agreed as per your second insinuation? No I didn’t.

All I said is that regardless of the unimportance of the game and the likely changes PW will make, if we fail to win there will no doubt be some making the “PW must go after this” comments.

It seems you have twisted, possibly for the sake of an argument, this fairly simple point I made to mean no one can be critical or disagree with me. 

[ram59]

I think that we need to mix it up a little more in a game like this. Too many times we put in a high cross only for it to be cleared.

We actually scored from a rare pull back, which needs to be tried more often. Also, I can't remember a hard driven low cross, which could have easily been detected in.

Also, several times over the weekend, I've seen simple goals where the ball had been curled into the far corner from outside the box, including from non League players, rather than the wild swing of a leg that we get from our players.

[RoyMac5]

22 minutes ago, Tamworthram said:

Oh dear, this is hard work this morning. Let’s start again.

Did I say people can’t comment on the game as per your first insinuation ? No I didn’t.

Did I say people can only post comments on the game with which I agreed as per your second insinuation? No I didn’t.

All I said is that regardless of the unimportance of the game and the likely changes PW will make, if we fail to win there will no doubt be some making the “PW must go after this” comments.

It seems you have twisted, possibly for the sake of an argument, this fairly simple point I made to mean no one can be critical or disagree with me. 

Don't bother I know exactly what is meant and I disagree with you, but I can't be bothered to tell you why.

Edited November 6, 2023 by RoyMac5

[Comrade 86]

1 minute ago, RoyMac5 said:

Don't bother I know exactly what is meant and I disagree with you, but I can't be arsed to tell you why.

[RoyMac5]

4 minutes ago, Comrade 86 said:

I thought you'd pop up.

[On the Ram Page]

1 hour ago, RoyMac5 said:

Fans who don't rate Warne's tactical ability, the way he sets the team up to play and the mentality he instills in them, they can't comment on the game if they want to?

Although I respect that you should be able to voice your opinion, even if I don’t agree with quite a lot you say, what I do not agree with are phrases and comments like “the mentality he installs in them”. You are are not at the training ground or in the dressing room prior to a game. You cannot possibly know what is said to them. I have never heard Warne say after a game where we haven’t played well, that that was how he told them to play. I have never heard a player say “that was how we were told to play”. Quite the contrary he appears to say he wants them to play like Man City, Liverpool play I.e. high energy and press to get the ball back) which can’t be a bad philosophy, even if we haven’t got the skill levels to attain that yet. Every one say he won’t cope in the Championship, but with better players he might.

It is just your supposition which backs up your wish for Warne to leave. Give me actual facts etc to back up your argument and I will agree with you on those, but not guesswork.

 

[RoyMac5]

7 minutes ago, On the Ram Page said:

It is just your supposition which backs up your wish for Warne to leave. Give me actual facts etc to back up your argument and I will agree with you on those, but not guesswork.

You see the results of the players mentality out on the pitch - if that is not deliberately instilled by Warne, who has often said the old 'that's not how I want them to play' line, then he's not doing his job. I did not say what mentality Warne was instilling did I?

Edited November 6, 2023 by RoyMac5

[Tamworthram]

29 minutes ago, RoyMac5 said:

Don't bother I know exactly what is meant and I disagree with you, but I can't be bothered to tell you why.

That is often code for I can’t tell you why. 😀. It’s not like you to not have a riposte.

[RoyMac5]

3 minutes ago, Tamworthram said:

That is often code for I can’t tell you why. 😀. It’s not like you to not have a riposte.

True mate, the football is ordinary and so is my wit. Can't be bothered to talk either up. #COYR

Edited November 6, 2023 by RoyMac5

[Ian Buxton's Bat]

Thought we deserved a draw at least from that game and credit to the team for not letting their heads drop.

Lots of comments about quality of crossing in this thread - which I agree with to some extent.

However I think the issue is more to do with crossing into a completely packed area without a tall, aggressive striker in the squad.

Low balls get blocked, high balls get won by big defenders and then there are some wayward crosses that are unwinnable.

If we don't score early, opposition teams can camp in their box and it seems that we could have Beckham on the right and Giggs on the left and still not score.

That said, if NML scores that header at 0-1 and it's a different game.......there were some decent crosses!

We sometimes don't help ourselves by taking an extra touch or safely passing A to B to C rather than as slightly riskier A to C ......and, in that time, 3 more players can get back to defend.

Once we're ahead we can be dynamite like the Barks to NML goal on Tuesday.

[Foreveram]

18 hours ago, oodledoodle said:

You're right. Apart from attacking, or defending, we did ok.

That was nowhere near good enough against Crewe reserves. It's a meaningless game, but we were just doing the same thing again and again and again. Rubbish.

Since when did the FA cup become meaningless.

[RodleyRam]

I thought Crewe played very well for the kind of performance they set out to deliver. They were hard to break down and made their limited possession count. They made it very difficult for us to convert our possession into clear cut chances, it was a classic cup performance, fair play to them.

However, no-one can say that we didn't dominate the game and deserved at least a draw.

I can see signs that our play is adapting and we are improving but the overall performances need to be more consistent and we need to make sure that we utilise the better players in the squad to best effect. Lots of us have been saying this for some time so hopefully it's starting to click.

I agree with the comments on crosses, they have a role in our game but the movement in the front players needs to create gaps to play the ball through the middle or round the sides as well as crossing from deeper. I assume that Warne likes crosses for percentage purposes with the intention that more players are in the box for knock downs and second balls. I can see the merit but it leaves a lot to chance and I would personally rather we were more creative (which I have seen more of in the last few matches to be fair)

Overall, it was a decent performance and anyone suggesting different want watching the same game that I was. We did not deserve to lose. Hopefully the spirit we showed at the end can propel us forwards.

[Foreveram]

18 hours ago, TheTinMan said:

Sorry but that game doesn't end 2-2 if their keeper didnt spill Nats daisy cutter. Their heads and legs went after that. We lose that 2-0 and you can forget your 32 shots which probably had a collective XG of 2 goals

If we scored from all of our shots we would have won 32- 2 🤷🏻‍♂️

[May Contain Nuts]

Looking at the game in isolation you can put forward a case for it being an OK to decent performance. Heck if you ignore their goals it could even be described as good. High possession, lots of shots, good drive to play to the end and turn it around.

It's inarguable that we did mix our play up at times during the match and it wasn't purely knock it wide, cross it in. It was a tiny fraction of our play, but still, the point cannot be defeated.  They were happy to sit in for the most part and playing expansive football against such opposition is difficult (not impossible, but...)

You can also point to the the fact that it was in a competition where we often (not that often, really) see 'cupsets' and say it was just one of those days. Plenty of teams find games like this difficult and we haven't suffered the same fate as some. All valid points.

Viewed out of isolation though...

The lack of inventiveness when any team presents even the smallest amount of defensive solidarity against us. The inability to create enough clear-cut chances or finish some of those we do. The lack of care afforded to countering the danger opposition teams pose on the threat. The slow midfield. Players on the pitch not really suited to the role they're being asked to play - nullifying their impact - while others sit on the bench when they could make a difference in their place. Bizarre tactical ideas like chucking high crosses into short strikers. The almost random substitutions and positional shifts (it worked yesterday but was it judgement of luck?). All common themes and all very nearly contributed to us being victim to one of the aforementioned cupsets against a heavily weakened team from the league below us.

We've had a couple of good results in the league, particularly the most recent game where we blitzed Northampton inside half an hour, and I'm encouraged that we have actually tried to take the blueprint from the Exeter & Northampton games (playing so many players in forward positions, forcing them back) and use that - after all, I did call for it - but it still needs quite a lot of tweaking if it's going to work against anyone half decent.

Essentially we've come out unscathed and it's another game to learn important lessons from - as long as we do -  with some good stuff and some bad, but we won't improve by glossing over the poorer aspects and/or simply saying there's nothing we can do about them until we sign more/better players.

It's a wider point, but finding solutions from within the squad and extracting the maximum possible out of every player is something all managers have to do, it can't be that our only path to success (promotion) is purely having better players than everyone else.

Edited November 6, 2023 by May Contain Nuts

[Foreveram]

18 hours ago, Nuwtfly said:

Didn’t get a chance to watch or listen to the game…

Can anyone briefly summarise it, with the emotion taken out of it? 

Because the stats suggest we dominated etc but everyone online seems to be fuming. 

Which really tells you something 🤔

[StaffsRam]

The stats from yesterday’s match tell you everything you need to know about where are frailties lie. 32 shots, 2 goals, 7 shots conceded, 2 goals. 

We’re nowhere near clinical enough in the final third, and simultaneously we’re too porous in defence.

The tactic for getting the ball to NML so that he can pump near-endless balls into the box doesn’t work because we don’t have the brute of a centre forward that we need on the end of them. If we had Steve Howard, or a striker of that ilk then we’d be fine, but this tactic doesn’t seem to benefit Collins, Washington or Waghorn. We also need to up out shooting practice, the number of scuffed/weak shots we unleashed yesterday…

Defensively, I don’t think I’d play Bradley ever again. We expected a bedrock, instead he just seems to be an agent of chaos, sewing seeds of doubt and sapping confidence from those around him. It’s disappointing that the defence was the priority in the summer and the area that got most attention and yet no one really seems to know what system we should be playing or the personnel we should be using there.

With a few players likely to leave in January, and even more being out of contract in the summer than this summer is looking like another major rebuild. If that’s the case then we’re near enough back to square one, meaning we’ve effectively just wasted a couple of seasons. In that scenario I’m not sure what the value is of giving Warne even more time.

[Mucker1884]

17 hours ago, rammieib said:

Today more than any other game was our inability to finish. Some of the attempts were pathetic.

 

 

17 hours ago, Mucker1884 said:

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

 

14 hours ago, rammieib said:

And in what other game have we had 32 attempts?

 

[Foreveram]

17 hours ago, RoyMac5 said:

Wow, what kind of a bad boy is May?

The kind that wanted a three year contract on high wages for a 30 year old with no resale value at the end of his contract.