Boss wants his players to take pressure off of defence
Steve Davis wants his front players to retain possession more effectively and relieve some of the pressure on the back four. The Crewe Alexandra felt his back four were overworked against Oldham Athletic on Tuesday evening and we had goalkeeper Alan Martin to thank for a string of fine saves to keep us in the match. The Railwaymen were very much in the match before a defensive mistake from Gregor Robertson allowed Matt Derbyshire to seal the points with a second goal with 11 minutes remaining.
Davis felt his defenders, especially his centre-halves were overworked by a hard working Oldham side and he wants his forward players to become much better at holding the play up further up the pitch.
Davis told crewealex.net: “I did think our defence was overworked on Tuesday because we couldn’t keep the ball. I thought the centre-halves were stead and Alan (Martin) was fine, but they were allowed to create far too many chances on the night.
“We were under constant pressure, especially in the first half because we struggled to get hold of the ball up the pitch. The forward players didn’t retain possession well enough and that is something we will need to improve upon.
“The players know they have to do better than they did on Tuesday evening and they will stand up and be counted on Saturday.”