Match Preview

Miserable Sunday evenings.  Drizzling, dark November nights stood watching the station clock tick around the 30 times needed before my train arrives to carry me back away from the Beloved Blues.

Parents, Dog and Football firmly left behind, I glance at the crock of humanity traipsing around, trying to keep warm and dry but having to avoid the one waiting room as the local tramp has decided to move in — Liverpool scarf and all — and the smell, whilst reminiscent of an Anfield derby, is enough to make the smoke filled, polluted, wet air outside mildly appetising.

[Villa, Tottenham, Arsenal, Wimbledon(!), Chelsea, United] (fill in as required) gather in groups celebrating.  Other long-distance Blues appear to have evaporated.  I wish I could.

Good memories of Crewe?  Not many.  Those that I have are based at the local stock-car ground a mere 10 minutes from the station — Now those guys are nutters!!

Will I have good memories of Crewe at 3.30pm on Sunday?  I pray to God that I do — after all we've delayed the game for him!

Following the Arsenal game came the typical incantation of the Blue optimist: "We played so much better than we have for weeks"; " The new signings show loads of promise"; "That was a blatant penalty"; " What a damn lucky goal"; "Ref was crap"...

Probably more than usual, most of the clichés have a grounding.  Ginola for 45 minutes was glorious and served to remind us of just what we have been missing.

My Uncle John — a true Blue in every way — once told me that he cringed when he saw Kanchelskis play because it just made him realise how damn poor the rest of the team were.  I think I understood that more in the first half on Sunday than I ever had before.  Kanchelskis however would have carried on for 90 minutes (and then buggered off to Italy — after gifting Chris Waddle one last swansong!  Thanks for the memories though, KanKan).  Daveed gave us about as much as we have a right to expect — we just have to ensure that we do something when he is on fire.  Perhaps a couple of people for him to hit with his crosses would help?  

Looking at the match reports from Everton fans a few people seem to have criticised Peter Clarke.  They must be blind.  He did everything and far far more than we had a right to expect.  Played out of position, he came up against the most graceful, beautiful and downright lethal player in the Premiership at the moment — and he gave him next to nothing.  He was outstanding and is a superb prospect.

Blomqvist gave us a further reason for hope.  I thought he had his best game considering the opposition and again with a few alternatives ahead of him may have made something happen.

Enough of my quasi-review; back to (dreary) Crewe.

First things first — Welcome one of the great unsung hero's of Football Management: Dario Grady.  If Crewe hadn't sold out to the Reds a few years ago, I would definitely follow them, if just for this guy.  His loyalty has been incredible and the amount of quality youngsters he has continually churned out has been awesome.  David Platt of one generation, Danny Murphy of this and... well lets choose Dean Ashton for the next. 

I believe he has brought on something like 30 Premiership players through his tutelage.  I'm afraid I can't come close to listing them but just seeing Crewe where they are — no money; no crowds; no real place in the world of football to speak of — they proudly fight for the 2nd consecutive year in the 1st Division whilst the likes of Bristol City and Rovers, Cardiff and other proud cities with huge potential and followings, languish below them.

He has also done it playing football — the only way to bring the kids through.

In fact, whisper it quietly, but a fortnight ago I may have suspected that they would play more football than us.

Maybe they still will, but I'm not convinced now.  At last we have a midfielder and ego in Ginola who will demand the ball.  With Blomqvist on the other flank, there is now a reason to go through the midfield.

It will be interesting to see who Smith picks to replace the cup-tied Carsley: Gemmill or Gazza?  I'm assuming that, even with an apology, it won't be Gravesen, although his return to the fold would be a real fillip.

If it's Gazza then that midfield will demand the ball and now has enough quality to keep it.  Ginola, Linderoth, Gazza, Blomqvist.  All are footballers.  A far cry from the Unsworth / Joe-Max Moore axis that we had a few short weeks ago !

As we struggle for strikers again (a state of affairs that cannot be allowed to continue — bye Dunc, I loved you but its over...) Smith may well elect to play Ginola upfront.  That would leave Naysmith — the most committed player I have seen in Blue for some time — at left mid or if Alex returns at right mid then Blomqvist switching to the left.

This I think would be a mistake.

I know that Ginola will never track back but I don't want him to.  Naysmith will just have to take on all comers, but leave Ginola on the right wing.  We must play two centre forwards.  Who?

Campbell, even as poorly as he is playing, goes straight in and will (and should) do for the rest of the season.  Alongside him... Rooney?  "How ridiculous!  He's only a kid.  Hardly played for the reserves.  Could ruin him..."  Bollocks!  We are playing Crewe for God's sake!  A team of footballers.  If this was a 1st Division side likely to kick lumps out of us then I'd say keep him hidden — but it ain't.  And they are crap.  Chuck him on for 60 mins and then let JMM play the final 30.

If nothing else, the adrenaline of the occasion will carry him through and he will give us a huge improvement on the movement upfront.

He's only days younger than Jeffers, Owen and Royle were. There is nothing to lose.  The crowd will love and support him no matter what he does.

Will he play?  Not damn likely!  Ginola will probably be upfront but I can dream of Walter surprising us all!  He did after all throw Jeffers in against Derby and Coventry when we didn't expect it and Hibbert was given his debut before most of us had even heard of him (although he was then left in the reserves for a year).

Surely we will batter them!

Dean Ashton looks quality and carries their one true threat.  Weir and Stubbs will comfortably deal with him.  I wouldn't be surprised if he gets one spectacular goal though, but that won't matter: we should get at least 3.

Ginola and Blomqvist have far too much for Crewe and Campbell will benefit from the extra space.  If Gazza plays then you can expect a re-run of Orient (just not the England claims again please!).

Let Crewe go mad for 20 minutes and then take over.  A goal before halftime and then just let the ball do the work and break them down as the second half goes on.

I'm looking forward to this game... and the draw later in the day

(PS Who are the Reds playing?)

BlueForEver

Lacking Sparkle in Attack

Sunday was one those early spring days where you can't help but think ahead to the Summer — summer holidays, barbecues, Cup Final days out etc.  With yet another favourable home draw that Cup Final optimism doesn't look totally misplaced.  However, considering our current run of form, and our recent history against lower-division opposition, absolutely nothing could be taken for granted.

I was pleased with the team and formation, it seemed to me to have a nice balance to it.  Two proper central midfielders, too natural wide players, both on their natural side, and Gary Naysmith returned to his proper position.  The only two who looked out of place where Clarke at right back and Ginola up front, although both of these selections have been rather forced upon us.

First half

We started off quite well.  Most of the first 10 minutes or so were spent in their half.  We looked mildly threatening and looked capable of controlling the game.  Their noisy and excitable fans had been largely quietened, we just needed to take our game up a notch or two.

That's where we ran into problems as we seemed incapable of raising our game to actually win it.  Despite the presence on the pitch of four attacking players we were still struggling to create chances.  As our attacking play foundered the crowd started to get tetchy, Crewe started to gain in confidence and we began to lose our way.

On balance we edged the first half, we did have the better chances, what few there were, and our defence hadn't really been troubled by Crewe.

Second half

There were no half time changes.  I thought this was right; we hadn't played desperately badly, we just needed to step our game up.  Looking at the players out there, the quality was there to do it.

There was a slight increase in urgency in the early stages of the second half.  Linderoth for one was more noticeable.  However, it wasn't enough, and Crewe continued to enjoy too easy a ride.  We kept our shape and our defensive discipline and Crewe never looked like scoring — the problem was we didn't look like scoring either.

Walter gave the team 20 minutes or so before starting to ring the changes.  First Gascoigne came on for Alexandersson.  As is the way at Goodison these days, plenty found fault in this.  "Why take off a winger when you're trying to win the game?" But Alexandersson had been fairly peripheral, and his return from injury must have been a factor.

Next up was Moore for Blomqvist.  Blomqvist was another who had under-performed; Moore went up front with Ginola going wide.  The guy in front of me thought Smith was a "prick" for doing this, couldn't quite see that myself.

The final throw was Pembridge for the third under-performing Swede — Linderoth.  The net result of all this was bugger all.  All buzzed about a bit without giving the impression they were going to change the face of the game.  In fact it was Crewe who came closest to changing the game, a ball into the box and a snapshot from Hulse hit the face of the bar — a heart-stopping moment.

Summary

The starting eleven we had out there should have beaten Crewe, let's make no bones about that.  We may well have had three quarters of Sweden's World Cup midfield out there on the park — they should have had what it takes to beat Crewe.

It's clear what our current problem is — the creating of chances.  You can't even berate the players for failing to put away the chances, the fact was there wasn't what you would call a proper chance in 90 minutes.

As to why we aren't creating chances.  Well, that's the big question.  The team wasn't defensively minded, we had a sensible balance of defense and attack minded players.  We saw enough of the ball we just didn't use it well enough around their penalty area.  

Everyone seems to have their opinion on what the fix is, a lot of seems to revolve around Kevin Campbell.  Campbell is indeed struggling and not playing well, but the problem is more than that.  For me it is to do with the lack of pace in the side, and the absence of two fit, decent strikers.  It's easy to see things that are wrong, it's harder to fix them with the current squad and our ongoing lack of finances.

By the time we emerged from Goodison, Winter had returned.  The temperature had dropped noticeably, there was a chill wind and rain in the air.  Thoughts of the summer will have to be put back for now, there's still a winter to get through yet.

Ratings

• Simonsen 7  The only work he had was of the routine variety.
• Clarke 6  Defended adequately but his distribution was very poor.  Looks composed, has a reasonable touch and defends well, but there has to be a quantum leap in his use of the ball if he's going to make it.
• Weir 7  Running out of things to say about him.  He was just Weir-like.
• Stubbs 7  Another good display.
• Naysmith 7  Definitely better at left back.
• Alexandersson 6  I hope he gets the run in the side that will allow us to know just how good he is.  Did OK but by no means brilliant.
• Gemmill 6  Saw lots of the ball but couldn't really get things going.
• Linderoth 6  Disappointed in him in the first half but showed a bit more in the second.  Clearly still finding his feet, we could with him finding them quickly.
• Blomqvist 6  Saw quite a bit of the ball and did give them a few problems.  I was frustrated in his reluctance to run into space looking for the ball.  Too often when we were in possession he was looking for possession from behind the man and from a standing start.
• Ginola 7  Gives scant support to Campbell, so I'm not convinced about him as a striker.  However, did look our most dangerous player but this was mostly when he drifted out wide.
• Campbell 5  Having a 'mare.  Obviously struggling for fitness, touch and confidence.  However, this does not justify the stick he is getting from many at Goodison.
• Gascoigne 6  Tried but could ultimately have cost us the game by needlessly giving away possession in a dangerous position, and then later on through a petulant kick at a player in full view of the ref.
• Moore 6  Always looks busy but never delivers much.
• Pembridge 6  Walter talks about Pembo "setting the tempo for the team".  On cameos like this I know where he's coming from as Pembo definitely upped the pace and urgency of the team.

Team 6  Defensively we continue to look solid and reliable, however, lacking sparkle in midfield and attack.

Man of the match Alan Stubbs.