Crewe Alexandra v Aston Villa post-match thread

[mr underhill]

What is the update on Targett's injury? Also is Chester still injured? I'm fearful he won't play again !

[kieron]

AVFC extended highlights.

[RussellC]

Loved Smith's post-matched interview, especially where he said he wasn't happy with the "distances" in the team, and how that allowed Crewe to make so many chances. I think a lot of that was down to playing 2 attacking midfielders in Lansbury and Hourihane and then one naturally holding midfielder in Marvelous. Against a better side you'd want the 3 of them playing much closer together.

I also thought the attitude of the whole team was excellent. They harried and hustled Crewe when out of possession and everyone put a shift-in, on and off the ball. Again, Smith has to take credit for this.

Was delighted for Davis to get a goal too. His ability with his back to goal is nothing short of excellent, so if he can start chipping-in with a few goals too we could have a real player on our hands. The great thing with him too, is that he's very similar to Wesley in that regard, so makes an ideal understudy that we can bring-in without having to change the whole system.

[mattjpa]

Lansbury was great again today. I think he can count himself really unlucky to be behind the most naturally gifted player we have produced for a generation and also the most complete midfielder we have bought for a generation.

[Dogtanian]

I enjoyed last night, Crewe had some really good chances and played well, they could have scored a couple more if they had taken their chances.  To be honest, it is easy to think that over many seasons in the last few years we could easily have lost this fixture.

I like how seriously we are taking the cups and I like how we can field a strong team due to our strength in depth.  It was obvious Smith wants to progress in this competition and I'm all for that.  I think that if a club has ambitions of being in the top half of the Premier league then they should also be aiming to be regular quarter-finalists at least in the cup competitions.

[Drummond]

Not done that in a cup for so many years. We'd have been televised as potential shock material under previous managers.

It was still a decent strength side unde the circumstances, which is nice. Thought it took a while to settle but we were calm and composed.

They had a couple of decent players I thought. The left back was handy.

[brontebilly]

Loved Smith's post-matched interview, especially where he said he wasn't happy with the "distances" in the team, and how that allowed Crewe to make so many chances. I think a lot of that was down to playing 2 attacking midfielders in Lansbury and Hourihane and then one naturally holding midfielder in Marvelous. Against a better side you'd want the 3 of them playing much closer together.

I think we had a different problem playing with "2 x No.8s" as Smith calls it v Everton too. When Sigurdsson pushed onto Luiz we couldnt get the ball into McGinn and Grealish from the back as they were too far forward. Not that it mattered v Crewe but my preference would be to drop one of the midfielders back next to the holding player. A bit more tactical fluidity is required from our midfield three both with and without the ball.

[RussellC]

Lansbury was great again today. I think he can count himself really unlucky to be behind the most naturally gifted player we have produced for a generation and also the most complete midfielder we have bought for a generation.

It was the hardest I've seen Lansbury work, since he signed. Hopefully the penny's dropped that if he wants to establish himself in this squad, and have any chance of getting another contract, he need to earn it. In terms of ability he's up there with the best in our squad - showed by a couple of fantastic touches; the assist for Hourihane for one, and also a 'flicked' headed pass in the second-half, and was also unlucky not to score when closing their keeper down.

He's been in every squad so far this season, so Smith obviously likes him as a player. Lets hope he keeps it up.

[RussellC]

Loved Smith's post-matched interview, especially where he said he wasn't happy with the "distances" in the team, and how that allowed Crewe to make so many chances. I think a lot of that was down to playing 2 attacking midfielders in Lansbury and Hourihane and then one naturally holding midfielder in Marvelous. Against a better side you'd want the 3 of them playing much closer together.

I think we had a different problem playing with "2 x No.8s" as Smith calls it v Everton too. When Sigurdsson pushed onto Luiz we couldnt get the ball into McGinn and Grealish from the back as they were too far forward. Not that it mattered v Crewe but my preference would be to drop one of the midfielders back next to the holding player. A bit more tactical fluidity is required from our midfield three both with and without the ball.

Agree with that. As much as we all love both Grealish and McGinn they are both naturally attacking midfielders. McGinn's work-rate often covers for the fact that he's caught-out up-field quite often, and obviously Smith has recognised the need to play a more defensive holding midfielder than Hourihane in the majority of matches.  I always thin back to Townsed, Taylor and Draper as being the perfect mix for a midfield 3. They could all do a bit of everything, but had very defined roles within the team. Both Luiz and Marvelous (albeit in briefly) have shown that they're capable of doing more than just anchoring the midfield, so hopefully we'll see that midfield dynamic evolve as the season goes on.

[Diablo]

Lansbury was great again today. I think he can count himself really unlucky to be behind the most naturally gifted player we have produced for a generation and also the most complete midfielder we have bought for a generation.

It was the hardest I've seen Lansbury work, since he signed. Hopefully the penny's dropped that if he wants to establish himself in this squad, and have any chance of getting another contract, he need to earn it. In terms of ability he's up there with the best in our squad - showed by a couple of fantastic touches; the assist for Hourihane for one, and also a 'flicked' headed pass in the second-half, and was also unlucky not to score when closing their keeper down.

He's been in every squad so far this season, so Smith obviously likes him as a player. Lets hope he keeps it up.

His back heal for Jack's goal was great too. As you say hopefully he can keep it up.

[in exile]

What is the update on Targett's injury? Also is Chester still injured? I'm fearful he won't play again !

Not sure about Targett but Chester is recovering from a hamstring injury.
As for the game, I was pleased with the performance but Jota was poor, especially given the quality of the opposition. Just my opinion of course 

[Toronto Villa]

What last night also did was send a clear message out to the other players that the back ups aren’t just there to make up the numbers. And that’s how it should be. I didn’t think he would make 10 changes so I was a bit concerned. And at times early on it showed as the chemistry wasn’t quite right. But once we settled down a bit and scored you could see it coming together. Crewe had a very good 15 min spell in the first but once we decided to step up a gear there was only we’ve going to be one winner. The goal we conceded was disappointing so I’m sure that will be reviewed internally but all in all a thoroughly solid display.

Ratings

Steer - 7
Elmo - 6
Targett - 6
Konsa - 7
Hause - 7
Marvelous - 8
Lansbury - 8
Hourihane - 8
Davis - 8
AEG - 6
Jota - 6
Jack - 7
Freddie - 7
Cam - a well deserved 10

[themossman]

Yeah Lansbury looked like motm in the highlights judging by his involvement in the goals, although hard to tell without being there.

It's another great sign that the fringe players are being kept sharp and interested meaning we have a functioning squad. One of our biggest problems of recent years and under various managers including MON has been a clique/bomb squad mentality with in and out players leading to a total lack of options beyond the first team. We're being run by grown ups now and the players appear to be responding accordingly.

[levico]

I’m hoping for Bury in the next round.

Sorry, too soon?

[Drummond]

I’m hoping for Bury in the next round.

Sorry, too soon?

No, just poor taste.