Crewe Alexandra v The Gas, Jesters Official matchday thread

Someone set the alarm early! fair play Jester, hope the team is as determined as you! Hard to call this one so i closed my eyes and all i could see was Paul Miller scoring the winner , 2-1 Rovers !!

I like Oztumer, and I'm glad he'll be back in the team, but he's not done enough in a Rovers shirt to warrant the title 'The Turkish Messi'. Isn't he from Cyprus anyway?

Hoping for a more attacking performance tonight, but Crewe are a good side, unbeaten in 8 league games. I think a draw would be a good result.

One plus is that their Captain Perry Ng has agreed to join Cardiff so probably won't play tonight

Turkish Cypriot born in the UK - His parents are probably from Northern Cyprus then (best not get into this one) 

Sorry Jester but I think we might get soundly beaten tonight ... and probably the next two as well which will be six in a row.

Crewe are a very decent side in good form ... 2-0 / 3-0 Crewe ... Would desperately want it to be different and will be on phone updates only.

Without Nicholson we have very little threat other than set pieces.

Can predict he will start Upson again so we are down to 10 men for 90 minutes. I would have Ogogo in the mix somewhere ... not sure who PT would drop though as he clearly has his favourite line up.

What to expect from Crewe and what would you do?

So far Crewe have played 433 in all their league matches and look a very settled side.  The goals have been shared evenly Mandron CFWD 6ft 3, Finney LCM 5ft 6 and Dale RFWD 5ft 7 all boasting 6 in the league so far.

Mandron and Finney both on 1.9 take the most Shots per game
Gas comparison: Nicholson 2.0 and Hanlan 1.9
Key passes per game for them is Harry Pickering 2.5 and Charlie Kirk 2.0 (I am expecting to see some diagonal passes up to the big man and into the channels)
Gas comparison: Westbrooke 1.8 & Josh Hare 1.4
Winning the ball back are Omar Beckles 1.7 and Owen Dale/Luke Offord 1.5 Tackles per game (Previously Perry Ng had 2.7 but he's now with Cardiff)
Gas comparison: Harries 2.0, Little 2.0, Grant 1.9, Tutonda 1.7 (only one of these now seem make the starting XI so Kilgour 1.7 and Baldwin 1.4) *Crying out for someone to tackle right?
Clearances per game wise they have 3 defenders Beckles 4, Offord 3.3 and Lancashire 3.1
Gas comparison: Jack Baldwin 5.6, Cian Harries 5.5, Max Ehmer 4.5 and Luke Leahy 3.4

*Please note - League stats only

+ Strengths
Shooting from direct free kicks -Strong
Counter attacks -Strong
Attacking down the wings -Strong
Creating chances using through balls -Strong
Coming back from losing positions -Strong


- Weaknesses
Stopping opponents from creating chances -Weak
Aerial duels -Weak

Crewe's Style of Play
Possession football
Attempt through balls often
Short passes
Attacking down the left
Opponents play aggressively against them
Non-aggressive

Playing in their own half

So Crewe are a very settled side with the main core of the team having playing the majority of minutes.  It looks like a young team so we might be able to impose ourselves on them and use a more experienced line up to add pressure.  They have just sold their captain leader legend Perry Ng to Cardiff and as we know, when you sell your talisman that can have a negative impact.  Golden opportunity to hit them hard!!!  The are an adequate possession based team so pressure and a bit of rough certainly can make a difference here (see us attempting to deal with that under BG).  In the last match Plymouth created a high number of chances and the GK on the night for Crewe was excellent (made team of the week).  I think it will be too soon for Nicholson to return but we will have the option of Oztumer and we will need him to be creative and to stay on his feet as the weather is going to be poor.  I think (while I don't like it) we might be seeing a lot of long balls from us again upto Ayunga and Hanlan (not his strongest part of the game) If this is the tactic then we might see Harries back in the team like we did on Saturday.  But I think the starting line up will revert back to our more successful teams.

What I think might work:

-------------------------Day----------------------------
---Ehmer---- Kilgour ------- Baldwin ------Leahy----
----- McCormick ------ Ogogo -------Westbrooke----
---------------------Oztumer--------------------------
---------------Hanlan--------Ayunga------------------

With Ogogo in the middle over Upson I think the gains in this match will outweigh the losses.  We know the strengths and weaknesses of both players.  With Ogogo, he will not give them an inch of room to play in and will clatter around a bit making them younger players a bit nervy.  Like some have said, he loves an offload does Ogogo when in possession so having the options of Lukey, Westy and Ozzy all willing and creative I think that could strike a nice balance.  I have put Lukey on Ehmers side to offer some energy and cover for Ehmer playing out of position.  I think with Leahy and Ehmer we should win majority of the Ariel duals.  With my team we will be a threat on set pieces and we will need to make that count if we are to win this one.

Going all out for a 2-0 Gas win on a cold, rainy Tuesday under the lights!

What do you think? What would you do?

Im going for a Marshy special 3.1 gas.

I think he was born in the UK WHG, but he started his career in Turkey and was nicknamed 'The Turkish Messi' by the Walsall fans. I heard it when he had some great performances against us in 2017/18 and scored quite a few goals, which is why I remember it. Has shown that form in glimpses so far (Wombles away!) and am hoping he can get back to that sort of form consistently. If that happens, we could have competition if we want him from Charlton at the end of the season. 

No loss in 9 (all comps) but no win in 3 either, they haven’t won a game yet this year. They’re doing better than us so far but they’re far from anything special, we could win but maybe we’ll lose.. maybe we’ll draw.. it’s not gonna be as bad as people are making out on here today tho lol