Crewe vs Swindon, League Two, 24 August Match Report
An on the whistle look. An early relegation six pointer?
Why this game?
Having been at Crewe’s demolition at the hands of Chesterfield, seeing what the follow up would be was a pretty obvious thing to do. What had Alex done in a week to shore up the ship?
The story of the game
Crewe weren’t radically different from last week - the side that was out was broadly similar to the side that finished the game last week, which meant a start for Jamie Knight-Lebell (who had looked competent in his time on the pitch) and Shilow Tracey alongside Kane Hemmings - a move I liked as Hemmings tends to work best with a tricky player doing running around him and allowing him to focus on getting into positions for goals. There was also a return for Lewis Billington, which many Crewe fans had been after. For Swindon, a side looking over their shoulder already, this was a chance to get off the mark properly and take advantage of a side out of form.
It was Swindon who had the first real half chance - a ball poorly dealt with at the backline, partly cleared out and Jeff King was able to fire a shot just wide from the edge of the box, swiftly followed by similar from Harry Smith. Swindon would get the first massive chance - Smith broke into behind space behind Zac Williams, laid back to King who swung in a perfect ball for Ollie Clarke running on to it six yards out. His contact was scuffed and the ball bobbled wide but it was the first moment of real quality in the match about twenty minutes in. It was also the last time Swindon were seen as an attacking force for ten minutes as Crewe were able to get their foot on the ball and get a bit of fluency going for the first time.
Swindon clawed their way back on top - a Freckleton header from a corner was blocked by a congested far post area. They would have a goal disallowed shortly after as a cross from the right was headed in by Smith, but the two hands shoving Demetriou in the back made the referee’s decision easy. Demtriou soon came to the referee’s attention with a strong tackle on the halfway line to earn a booking - it was on the boundary between yellow and red and only the distance from goal saved him.
Crewe’s first shot came in first half injury time as a clearance from a corner was laid back to Tabiner who hit a powerful left footed strike into a sea of bodies that would deflect over.
The second half was a slow burner, broken up by periods of treatment on the pitch, and took 15 minutes for the first real chance - a low dagger of a long throw from Demetriou was not dealt with and Max Sanders was able to take a shot that was slammed into a Swindon leg and deflected wide likely saving a certain goal.
It took 15 minutes more for the next one - Jeff King, having swapped to the left, cuttting in and shooting on his right and forcing a regulation save from Marschall.
Tunmise Sobowale had come on at RB to allow King’s move and, where Swindon’s targeting of Crewe’s left hadn’t worked in the second half, Sobowale made it work through willingness, more than anything. He had created one good cross already before firing a low cross in that had to be dealt with to prevent Aaron Drinan tapping it in.
Crewe had one big hance at the very end - a Swindon break was stopped and, while they were caught out of shape, Long slipped through for a one on one and blasted the well wide of the near post.
Swindon were the better side and had the better chances but this was not the most exciting of 0-0 draws and, in truth, probably the result the match deserved.
Standout players
If you read last week’s piece, youl’ll know the areas where Crewe were weak against Chesterfield and, therefore, there was a lot of talk around Zac Williams as the LCB covering an area where he was exploited last week. It was pretty clear that that’s where Swindon wanted to test Crewe also. Swindon consistently wanted to run into that space and it resulted in a booking for Demetriou late in the first half for a cynical prevention of exactly that sort of break.
Crewe’s consistent issue here was two fold - balls in behind consistently dragging Williams wide was one issue, but the more dangerous problem was that Sanders and, particularly, Conway, who should have been rushing back to cover, often weren’t there, meaning Swindon were able to consistently lay the ball back to the onrushing RB Jeff King to supply crosses in. King’s own first half chance came from exactly that scenario, as did Smith’s disallowed goal. Crewe got control of this for much of the second half and ift made Swindon shift. This wasn’t the thorough exam of Williams and Conway that suggests this area is sorted, but they did what they needed.
I’ve already noted Sobowale’s performance but it is worth mentioning again - as cameos go, he wanted to get forward and smack crosses in and that was about it. But, as an attacking wing back, that’s a pretty good thing to want to do and his physicality caused Crewe problems and gave Crewe an issue on their left when they thought they’d put the fire there out. Miguel Freckleton is clearly a raw CB for Swindon but, save for one silly foul on Tabiner, he did what he needed to well - he’ll surely come on as the season progresses.
Analysis
One of the interesting notes from the Chesterfield game was that they were able to exploit Crewe on crossing and set pieces to the near post. It was particularly interesting given Swindon really only focused their crossing on the far post when in these situations, coming closest in the first half with Freckleton’s corner and Smith’s disallowed goal. But given this was their tactic, what resulted was very much a game in the margins and, when I get to see the pass maps from X analyst Ben Griffis, I’d be surprised if most of the volume wasn’t wide and, if I was to face either of these sides next, I’d be focusing on attempting to dictate the centre of the game to them and to have the midfield scanning for options for diagonals rather than attempting to compete in wide areas.
From an attacking sense, Crewe were very static. A good example came around the forty minute mark when Shilow Tracey got a fortunate bounce to go through on goal with only one defender - he had to slow things down and even then, didn’t have options to make a pass and instead was forced to shoot from an unfavourable angle with his marker right in front of him. While Crewe had opportunities to break, it felt that much of their swarming forward was going sideways and either taking so long that Swindon were able to get back or not having enough players forward to give options when they did get Swindon unbalanced.
When Crewe did go sideways, they also did so riskily - Swindon weren’t overly interested in breaking a defensive line to attempt to intercept a ball played across their midfield but a side that wanted to push out and press a little higher up than Swindon did would, you expect, get joy on the break from Crewe as their hunting for passing angles does just seem to be reflective of a lack of confidence.
One oddity that was notable but I’m not sure if it was intentional - whenever Crewe had a set piece, they took a good while over taking it. Throw-ins needed reminders by the referee to go back to where they were taken from, goal kicks took a little longer than normal, free kicks had dummy runs, decisions from the referee often had a bit of a discussion or concessions had a bit of afters. Crewe seemed to want to slow the game down where they could, albeit not in an egregiously obvious way - testing patience without necessarily trying it and, when tied to the prior “Crewe being static” note, perhaps a result of Crewe’s deficiencies rather than a purposeful tactic.
Signs for the Season
As a side I’ve now seen twice this season, it’s still probably a little early to be writing Crewe as in deep trouble yet.
Yet.
But this was still a bad performance. Bad in the sense of dull stodge rather than the spectacular implosion of the Chesterfield game yet good in the same way that having a slice of toast after a fit of vomiting is good. It’s bad, but compared to the alternative, it’s still a nice relief. From an attacking sense, they only really threatened from long throws which is a bit problematic but you get the impression Lee Bell was mainly concerned with there being a clean sheet rather than a clean win.
By the same token, Swindon aren’t likely to be overly happy. In a way, both sides have some with a similar result for differing reasons - Crewe look like they haven’t gelled, like they aren’t confident and like they have improvements in them. Swindon, on the other hand, executed a game plan reasonably well but didn’t have the goals in them to actually do much and didn’t have the composure in the centre of the pitch to really dictate the game to Crewe. They’re a central midfielder short of being a decent side and the end of the window will be important for them.
Where either side get goals from is somewhat unclear right now.