The traditional fixture pile up in the first few days of the league. The fairly pointless Carling/League Cup.

 

 

Crewe Alexandra v Derby County

Gresty Rd, Crewe

Carling Cup first round

10th August 2010 - 7:45pm

 

Crewe v Derby – Historical:

P 7 W 3 D 1 L 3 F 12 A 10

Last game at Gresty Rd - Sun 11 Sep 2005:

Crewe 1 - 1 Derby County (Bisgaard)

Form:

Crewe:

21/24    P 1 W 0 D 0 L 1 F 0 A 1

Derby:

9/24    P 1 W 1 D 0 L 0 F 2 A 1

Leading scorers:

Hulse (1), Commons (1)

The Teams:

The Rams:

A good pre-season translates into a winning start – the first defeat at home on the opening day for Leeds for 21 years. And we thoroughly deserved our victory.

The victory was made all the sweeter by the build up to the game which was basically a Leeds United love in. Even BBC Radio Derby’s commentary team got swept up in the euphoria of their promotion. Leeds are a big team I will admit that – but the Leeds on display on Saturday were no better than other teams coming up from the third and they will have to work for promotion. The Leeds fans seem to realise this as 26,761 were all that were there to see it.

The new formation worked well although defensively we looked a little shaky. It was good to see Barker on for Anderson. Anderson did nothing wrong but Dean Leacock looks much more reassured alongside Barker than he does Anderson.

Cywka caught the eye as a player who likes to get involved. I thought it was a clear penalty though no doubt I’d be saying he got the ball if it was the other way round.

Clough was pleased with the performance- especially after Leeds got all petty with him and didn’t allow him to take his son on the pitch and banned him from the boardroom because of his tracksuit. After the game he said;

“It would be fair to say that I did get extra pleasure from that win because of what happened before the match.”

Anderson probably will not be risked in this game and Dean Leacock may be rested as well. Paul Green is away on international duty.

Probable Team:

Bywater

Brayford Barker Buxton Roberts

Bailey Savage

Cywka Pringle Commons

Porter

Subs – Deeney, Moxey, Leacock, Hulse, Martin, Varney, Porter

Current Squad:

1     KEEPER        Stephen Bywater

2     DEFENDER    John Brayford

3     DEFENDER    Gareth Roberts

4     MIDFIELD     Paul Green  - INTERNATIONAL DUTY

5     DEFENDER    Shaun Barker (Vice-captain)       

6     DEFENDER    Dean Leacock

7     STRIKER      Steve Davies - INJURED

8     MIDFIELD     Robbie Savage (Captain)

9     STRIKER      Rob Hulse

10   MIDFIELD     Kris Commons

11   MIDFIELD     Stephen Pearson - INJURED

12   STRIKER      Chris Porter

13   KEEPER        Saul Deeney

14   DEFENDER    Russell Anderson - INJURED       

15   MIDFIELD     David Martin

16   MIDFIELD     James Bailey

17   DEFENDER     Jake Buxton

18   MIDFIELD     Ben Pringle

19   STRIKER      Tomasz Cywka

20   DEFENDER     Miles Addison - INJURED

21   DEFENDER     Dean Moxey

22   STRIKER      Luke Varney

23   MIDFIELD     Conor Doyle

31   KEEPER        Ross Atkins

32   KEEPER        James Severn

33   MIDFIELD     Arnaud Mendy

35   MIDFIELD     Jeff Hendrick

36   DEFENDER     Kallum Keane

37   MIDFIELD     Ryan Connolly

38   DEFENDER     Mitchell Hanson

39   MIDFIELD     Medi Abalimba

Crewe Alexandra:

Crewe Alex full-back Danny Blanchett told BBC Radio Stoke:

"We watched Derby's game against Leeds on Saturday night and we know we will have to be ready for a quicker tempo.

"We're not afraid to be playing a Championship side as we played two Premier League clubs in the pre-season and did well against them.

"It's a good test for us all and hopefully the experience we gained against West Brom and Blackpool will help us."

Crewe lost their opening day fixture at home to Hereford by the odd goal. Crewe are currently managed by Dario Gradi. He thinks the game will have extra spice because of the five ex railwaymen in the Rams squad.

From the official Crewe site;

"The tie with Derby is interesting because of the number of our former players potentially coming back here. It has added an extra spice to it and I am sure everyone is looking forward to seeing them.

"I saw them play at Leeds on the television and I thought James and John did well on their competitive debuts for Derby. I expected them to because they are good players.

"Rob Hulse is also a good player and has become prolific with his goalscoring. Robbie Savage is a character and is bound to have something to say. I'm sure he will enjoy coming back and seeing some old faces.

"Luke Varney has been out of favour and I hope that remains the case on Tuesday. It is bad enough having to face Rob Hulse without Varney running at you as well."

I think his tongue may have been firmly in cheek with that last one.

Current Squad:

No.        Position       Player

1         KEEPER        Steve Phillips

2         DEFENDER    Matthew Tootle

3         DEFENDER    Danny Blanchett

4         MIDFIELD     Ashley Westwood

5         DEFENDER    David Artell

6         DEFENDER    Patrick Ada

7         STRIKER      Clayton Donaldson

8         MIDFIELD     Luke Murphy

9         STRIKER      Calvin Zola

10       STRIKER      Shaun Miller

11       MIDFIELD     Joel Grant

12       MIDFIELD     Lee Bell

13       KEEPER        Rhys Taylor (on loan from Chelsea)

14       STRIKER      Byron Moore

15       DEFENDER    Mat Mitchel-King - Captain

16       STRIKER      Jordan Connerton

17       MIDFIELD     Danny Shelley

18       STRIKER       AJ Leitch-Smith

19       DEFENDER     Kelvin Mellor

20       DEFENDER     Carl Martin

21       MIDFIELD      Antoni Sarcevic

22       DEFENDER     Harry Davis

23       DEFENDER     Adam Dugdale

24       KEEPER         Bartek Fogler - Unavailable

What the bookies think:

Derby are favourites for this at 11/10 on while you can get      

9/5 on Crewe and 12/5 for the draw.

Favourite to score is Rob Hulse at 5/1 while Calvin Zola is at 6/1. If Dario fancies a punt on Varney, he is at 6/1.

Information for travelling fans:

Driving -

Take the A50 to Stoke then head north on the M6 to Junction 16.

Take the A5020 into Crewe. At the roundabout junction with Nantwich Road, turn left. Gresty Road is past the Railway Station on the left

Parking -

There is on street parking by the Volkswagen dealership on the way into Crewe. Follow the signs. It takes 10-15 minutes to walk to the ground from there.  You can park at the ground if you get there early enough but it’s the usual queue to get out at the end.

Drinking -

There’s quite a few pubs within easy distance of the ground. Usual behaviour rules apply. The Royal on Nantwich Rd is recommended.

Mick's prediction:

A good result against Leeds and to be honest, not one I was expecting. I went with 0-0 thinking that we might end up playing ten behind the ball to prevent an overexcited Leeds giving us a trouncing.

Without Schmiechel, it might have been Leeds who got the pasting.

This one is likely to see a change in the team both enforced and injury wise. It maybe that Clough rests a few for the leagues as well.

I’m going for a 2-0 win for the Rams but wouldn’t be surprised at any other result.

Photo: Action Images

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