Chesterfield 5-1 Crewe Alex 26-27 Review - Genius

Wow. Just wow. I'm that angry at what I've just seen and that livid that such an avoidable situation was allowed to develop, I'm struggling to put it into coherent thoughts. Look, we've seen some real high points tactically from Lee Bell and his 4 years as Crewe manager. Some games where they totally outclassed the opposition and ran rings around them.

However, if we are to acknowledge the good, we need to acknowledge the bad. And there have been some shockers. Some games where you'd be convinced Bell had suffered a blow to the head or had been replaced by a Sunday league manager. Today wasn't just one of those days.

Today I would argue was one of the lowest points of Bell's entire tenure at the club. A day where he and his coaching staff made some of the worst decisions I've ever seen. And compounded them with more. I try to break down some of the decisions made today and why they were always going to lead to utter failure:

Experiment

The Alex decided to experiment today. They had played a back 5 maybe 30 minutes across the first 12 games of the season. They hadn't started a game with it in what, 6 months? So why on earth did they decide to do it now? Why now? I just don't get it. What did they think they were going to achieve? Oh, I know. It's because they did it back in 24-25 and it worked. They went to Chesterfield, switched to a back 5 out of nowhere and they won 3-1 and could have won by more.

But guess what? That was a different Chesterfield team and this is definitely a different Crewe team. What worked 2 years ago probably won't work now. And if it was such a smart thing to do, why is this the first game we've seen them do it in? Baffling logic.

Deja Vu

Remember the last time the Alex got mullered and were 4(or 5 in this case) goals down at half time? Oh yeah, it was against Chesterfield in the 24-25 season. If there is one team I would never look to experiment against, it's Chesterfield. They, like a couple of other teams at this level, can punish you. Surely, if you were looking to try the back 5, do it at Exeter. They aren't the sort of side to open you up and score a hat full, so if it goes wrong, you can still salvage things. But no, you do it against a team with a talented Chesterfield side, who can and duly did hammer you. Again, I don't get it.

Confused

There is some argument that the players need to take some blame for today. After all, Bell isn't telling them to not stop crosses, not track runners and pass straight to the opposition. All of that is fair and true. But to me, it all traces back to the tactical decisions. Why did Chesterfield have all the time to find crosses and free space? Why were players not able to get into the positions they needed to be to stop these attacks from happening?

Because. Of. The. Tactics. There really isn't any need to overthink things or over analyse each goal and what could have been done better. Sometimes football can be as simple as "the set up was wrong". Because that is definitely the case today.

Short Preparation

Another reason it made no sense was because of the short prep time. Had they had a free week, with no Tuesday game, I'd almost understand it because they would have several days to put it into practice. But they did it after a long trip to Exeter. Did they even come in on Wednesday, other than to maybe do a light session in the afternoon? So maybe they did some work on this system on Thursday and a small amount on Friday, assuming they didn't travel and stay overnight.

I worried about lethargy after their long trip to Devon and to a certain extent, I think that was true. Because they looked several yards short to everything and it was only when Chesterfield sat off in the 2nd half that they were finally able to play. Again, just a baffling decision.

Compounded it

If you go 2 down after 5 minutes and you can see your side are getting hammered tactically, do you A, keep it the same, or B, hold your hands up, admit your mistake and make some rapid changes to try and rectify things? The smart manager does B. Lee Bell did A. He kept the same back 5 system and simply tried re-arranging players around to hope that would work. It didn't. Things stayed the same and 3 more goals flew in.

They could have easily have told them to go to a back 4. The players they started with suited that system more than a back 5. But no, they kept at the back 5 and that in itself is almost worse than them starting with it.

No Positives

Look, I get some might look for positives, such as them not conceding in the 2nd half or their slightly improved showing and them getting a goal back. But in my opinion, there were no positives. Put everything about it in the bin. Everything from the 2nd half is absolutely meaningless because the result has already long gone. Showing fighting spirit is pointless when you're 5-0 down. Maybe show some when the result is still there for the taking.

It's doubly pointless because Chesterfield knew the game was won and eased off significantly. So again, how can you honestly judge anything that happened? This is a game where there were zero positives. None.

Opposition Analysis

Excellent, but then they didn't need to try that hard to do so. Cook gave Lee Bell a footballing lesson, for the 2nd time in 5 match ups. It's hard to understand why they've been struggling for wins up until today when they put on that sort of display.

Referee Assessment

Poor on a few occasions. Once again, the bar for what is a foul varied wildly. Holicek bundled over outside the box, nothing. Other players breathed on, foul. 2 shirt pulls on Alex players, no penalty. Pond shanks a clearance for a corner, goal kick according to the ref. Poor.

Management Assessment

The whole review has been one long criticism of the management. Unacceptable. It's that simple.

Player Assessments

Tom Booth

Horrendous. His poor pass set up the 4th and he misread the 5th. He probably gets dropped next week.

Calum Agius

Not at it in any of the 3-4 positions they played him in. A dreadful game and I wouldn't be in a rush to start him again any time soon.

Lewis Billington

Dreadful at RCB, better at RB. Still horrendous.

Luke Offord

His worst performance since his return. I trust him to bounce back next week.

Josh Stephenson

His worst performance by far. I trust him to bounce back also.

Reece Hutchinson

Not seen many worse performances from him either. I'm seeing a trend.

Matus Holicek

Back to a position he struggles in and surprise surprise, he struggled. Got given the run around by Chesterfield's midfield.

Conor Thomas

On the pitch for 45 minutes apparently. Who's bright idea was it to start him in a midfield 2 for the first time this season?

Joel Tabiner

His heat match is really quite funny if you care to look it up. 20 touches and I think 6 of them were kick-offs. Was his HT sub because of a poor performance or to protect him?

Jordan Gibson MOTM

The best Alex player by a long stretch. The only one who can emerge with even a modicum of credit. An assist on McNeill's goal doesn't change much, but he can hold his head up high.

Josh March

Looks knackered. Who wouldn't after being run into the ground every week without much of a break. It was correct to take him off in the first half. Does McNeill's goal give Bell food for thought about maybe dropping March for a game?

Subs:

Charlie McNeill

I won't get too carried away, but at least another striker has a goal. It was a well taken finish.

Owen Lunt

I do understand why he didn't start, but they badly missed him. Back in next week I have no doubt.

Kyle Ure

Hard to remember anything he did good or bad.

Adrien Thibaut

Whilst he's impressed in the cups, his league form remains poor. Today he wasted a few good moments and his inability to send the ball to a wide open McNeill late on stuck with me. That being said, he still should have won a penalty.

Joe White

Hopefully him being dropped is a wake up call. Hopefully.

Overall Verdict

A disaster. The only saving grace I choose to take from it is that they seemingly didn't pick up any injuries, assuming Tabiner and Thomas' withdrawals weren't for that reason. Let's try and end with something positive. Today was atrocious, no doubt. But it's been one truly bad performance(from management and players) out of 13 and we all know why.

So, I'm really hoping the fix for next week will be a simple one. Whether it sees them get a result against a strong Barnet side, I don't know. But we really, really need to see a response. Because they don't want to go into the cup break with 3 straight defeats. Over to the management and players. Let's see how they bounce back.