Among the different attempts that Steve Davis is taking to spruce up the performance of his team, he is looking at getting some Academy graduates to join the team.
He might be willing to sacrifice quantity of players if he gets quality ones from the Academy. He is confident that the new Academy graduates at his hand are good for helping him achieve his plans for the upcoming season. He has signed up players like Harry Pickering, Owen Dale and Tom Lowery play as professionals with his club. They would be starting off as pre season players for the team.
Callum Ainley as well as Charlie Kirk was already part of the action as members of the first team. Oli Finney is another player who is set to face bigger action in the upcoming season. Davis released about seven graduates from the Academy last week. Most have signed on professional deals with the club. Davis is certain that this time he has focused on picking up players who have more potential in them rather than simply picking up quantity which will hopefully make up for any deficiency in skills. He stated that he did not mean bad for the players who were let go. But he felt that the ones he shortlisted have potential and will be able to make the first team faster. Continue reading 'Steve Davis To Spruce Up His Team'»
Crewe Alexandra have been in fine form over the last few weeks and this has helped them move closer to safety.
A run of four matches without defeat – this run also included three victories – saw the team move within goal difference of getting out of the drop zone, but a 2-1 defeat against Notts County means that the team need to find winning form once again.
They could achieve history in the process of doing so after they visit Port Vale this weekend with an opportunity to do the double over their opposition for the first time.
Both clubs enjoy fierce rivalry, but Crewe Alexandra have not managed to beat Port Vale twice in a single season in all of their history. The two teams have come up against each other on 65 occasions with Crewe Alexandra winning 15 matches. Continue reading 'Crewe Alexandra in Great Form'»
England appear to be recovering well from the horror showing at the World Cup 2014 in which they were knocked out of the group stages for the first time in more than 30 years. Admittedly, England were given a tough group stage with the likes of Uruguay and Italy as the opposition. Still, they were at least expected to reach the quarter-finals, which appeared to be a norm in recent decades. Their failure to get past the group stages led to speculation about Roy Hodgson’s position in the England team. There have been calls for the former Liverpool boss to be sacked from his role.
Those calls have died down in recent months after having witnessed England on the verge of a renaissance. England are one of the few teams to have a 100% record in the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign until now. They continued to build on this form after a 3-1 defeat against Scotland.
Hodgson admitted that the World Cup 2014 was not a good memory, but he is happy with the progress that the team has been making. The former Liverpool boss has called up a number of young players for the team in order to replace older heads like Gerrard and Lampard, who have departed the scene.
“We were doing a lot of things right leading up to Brazil, but the World Cup was a real cold shower.Supposedly we had to start again, but I don’t think that.
We’d always been working towards where we are today.A lot of players were beginning to emerge and stake their claim just before the World Cup, players who hadn’t necessarily fully succeeded. I’d like to think some of the players we’ve brought in have shown signs they can justify the confidence I’ve shown in them,” said Hodgson.