Respected puts down his Panettone and looks at the tactics employed by Crewe manager Dario Gradi in their 5-1 win over Bradford City.

A free Saturday afternoon, spent at a meaningless League Two encounter on the last day of the season that seemed to be shaping up as a dour 4-4-2 v 4-4-2 affair at Valley Parade. Not the most inspiring of places to be, yet this game – and the afternoon – were livened up, first by the company of Andrew Gibney and secondly by the intriguing deployment of Byron Moore by Crewe Alexandra coach Dario Gradi.

Despite the two sides lining up in English footballs default formation, Bradford were the only team to actually play that way, and the positioning, impact and intelligence of the 22 year old winger was the major factor in the Railwaymen’s comfortable victory.

While the home side stuck steadfastly to the old favourite, Gradi gave the Stoke native an interesting role and one which he performed with much aplomb. Whenever Crewe gained possession Moore was given license to roam infield, giving his team a numerical advantage in the key central area.

Able to make neat passing triangles with both the two central midfielders and strikers, City made no attempt to counter the tactic in the first half as the visitors made light work of a team eight places and thirteen points below them in the table.

Despite this seemingly ‘free’ role however, Moore quickly resumed his nominal position at right midfield whenever his side lost the ball. He never shirked his defensive duties and ensured Gradi’s team maintained a shape, balance and solidity that was clearly at odds with their poor defensive record this season.

After Jake Speight’s penalty cancelled out Shaun Miller’s opener, Moore’s influence came to the fore throughout a thirteen minute spell, during which he had a hand in three goals which effectively ended the game as a contest before the break .

The second goal came from a Bradford corner as – for the third time in the match – Crewe broke quickly after finding themselves defending a set-piece. Moore’s incisive pass allowed Miller to add his second all-too-easy goal of the afternoon as City failed to defend the counter, with right back Lewis Hunt largely at fault.

A third came just two minutes later, Moore linking up with Miller to create two chances which Bradford failed to clear and Clayton Donaldson, playing against his home-town club, span on the edge of the box to notch his 28th goal of the season.

Moore continued to pop up between City’s defence and midfield, neither taking the responsibility of tracking him, and poor communication from the home side meant he was always tantalisingly out of reach of both lines. The fourth goal soon followed as Danny Shelley collected Moore’s pass and his shot seemingly went straight through Scottish ‘keeper Jon McLaughlin.

The youngster was chosen over former Chelsea man Lenny Pidgely and, despite leaping well a few minutes earlier to tip over a 30-yard effort from Shelley, he suffered a torrid first half. The crowd however were more annoyed with the players in front of him, and it was the defenders who felt the full wrath of the home fans as they trooped off at the break.

At half time City introduced Luke O’Brien in midfield, seemingly with responsibility to shadow the runs of Moore but, being a natural left back, he was reluctant to drift too far infield. This would surely have been exploited far more had Crewe not already secured all three points before the break. In both halves the home defence was further hindered by the sheer ineptitude of Hunt, a player who comparatively makes Marco Motta look as imperious a defender as Lilian Thuram.

The second half saw the game fade away – Shelley adding a fifth for Crewe after missing two previous attempts – and City were reduced to launching aimless balls forward despite the switch to just one striker, leaving Speight increasingly isolated and frustrated in attack.

But this game clearly belonged to Moore, tempering his clever exploitation of space against a defensive and tactical discipline that clearly set him apart from the other players on show.

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