This weeks Opposite Corner is from Crewe’s manager, Dario Gradi.
Beaten At Home!
A bit of a rare thing, losing at home for Crewe, Gradi said “I thought we`d win the game after we equalised, especially after they had a man sent off. We couldn`t produce the quality up front.”
The Crewe manager showing a bit of complacency assuming his side would win after Gillett got sent off. Maybe that view filtered through to the players?
Up Front The Problem?
When asked about the game as a whole, Gradi replied angrily “None of the front three did well and we didn`t really create a chance. We weren`t firing on all cylinders up front.”
Seems Dario wasn`t impressed with the front three of Rodney Jack, Nicky Maynard and Luke Varney. I thought Jack play too wide, and hugged the touchline, instead of drifting in and creating problems that way.
A Fight Back
Dario Gradi stated that “We fought our way back into the game with a good spirit and bustled the ball into the net by pressurising their penalty area and getting bodies in there. From then on I thought we would go on and win, and whilst we looked better when we went to 4-4-2, we still didn’t produce the quality.’
His Fault?
‘I was slow to spot free kick,’ Dario admitted.
‘It should’ve been treated as a corner. To be fair Ben Rix spotted it and suggested we defend it like a corner, but I should have been shouting instructions. If we’d have done that there would have been a player on the post who would have headed it off line and there wouldn’t have been a problem. But you live and learn and I’ve learned a lesson there.
It`s refreshing to see a manager taking the blame for silly mistakes, doesn`t always happen!
Andy Taylor
Speaking of Pool’s former Left back and also drawing on the positives, Dario said he was pleased with loan signing Andy Taylor, whom was thrust into the team for his full debuts having joined the club on Friday.
‘I only met Andy (Taylor) just before kick off and I thought he was quite rightly named Man-of-the-Match, because I thought he was excellent. I’ve never seen him play before, but he looked a bright player with good techniques.”
