A former Crawley Town boss believes Reds will ‘find a way to stay up’ despite their poor start to the season.
Dean Saunders was interim boss of the Reds in December 2014 when they were in League One after John Gregory stepped down due to health problems and managed them until the end of 2014/15 season.
The former Liverpool and Oxford United striker still keeps an eye on what Crawley Town are doing and spoke about them when interview for betpack.com.
Reds are bottom in the League Two table after winning just one of their first seven league games – and are on a losing streak of four games – including their defeat to MK Dons in the Jersey Mikes Trophy.
Dean Saunders was interim boss of Crawley Town in the 2014/15 season. (Photo by Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images)placeholder image
Dean Saunders was interim boss of Crawley Town in the 2014/15 season. (Photo by Charlie Crowhurst/Getty Images)
Fans are fearing another relegation battle but Saunders believes they will avoid the drop despite their on-pitch struggles.
“I think Crawley have been a little bit unlucky to start the season,” he said. “They’re obviously struggling, and their budget is one of the lowest in the league, so that’s to be expected. However, they aren’t getting battered every game.
“They’ve lost by just one goal a few times this season, and those are the kind of results that can go either way. Next thing Crawley knows, they’ll have won a few of those tight contests and they will have picked up some points. Season after season Crawley seem to find a way to stay up, and I imagine this season will be no different.”
Reds have the joint worst defensive record in League, conceding 13 goals in seven games, as well as shipping four against MK Dons this week.
Saunders said: “They have to improve defensively, of course, that goes without saying. Their squad should be more than capable of tightening up at the back, and that’s half the battle. I also think set pieces could be a huge aspect of their season. If they can defend set pieces well and make theirs count up the other end, that would be a huge boost for them. You can’t just look at strikers and wingers to score goals in League Two, defenders have to be chipping in with a handful between them from set pieces.”
Reds had another squad overhaul in the summer and Saunders believes that is another factor to their poor start. “They also brought in quite a few players in the summer. So they could just need some time to gel,” he said.
“The young lads they have on loan may also just need some time to adapt to playing first team football. I can see Crawley improving as the season goes on, they just can’t lose touch with those above them in the meantime.”
Reds are next in League Two action when they host Chesterfield at the Broadfield Stadium on October 10.