ARTELL: NO ALEX SHIFT IN MISSION TO REVIVE LEAGUE ONE FORTUNES
CREWE Alex manager Dave Artell says his team have to stick to their footballing principles as they try to get out of relegation trouble. Saturday’s 4-1 defeat at home to MK Dons left the Alex bottom of League One ahead of tonight’s home game against second-frombottom Doncaster Rovers. The Alex are seven points adrift of safety, but Artell, below, says the team have to keep trying to play the way that helped the club win promotion two seasons ago.
He said: “That is always a core principle of ours. In the last 15 minutes of the (MK Dons) game, it didn’t look like us, whether that is because some subs have come on or you are becoming a bit disjointed or there was a lack of belief in what they were trying to do. “Whatever the reason, that wasn’t us. You have to stick to your principles. It is easy to stick to them when you are winning games because they are providing success. You have to do the same when you are losing.
“That doesn’t mean you accept losing, that’s a completely different thing. We are best when we play football and we have to try to play football, at all times.”
The MK Dons defeat was Crewe’s fourth successive loss in the league. Mo Eisa’s 12th-minute opener was cancelled out by Chris Long on 52 minutes, but Matt O’riley restored the visitors’ lead on 64 before an own goal by Donervon Daniels, on 82, and an injury-time strike from Max Watters wrapped up victory for Dons who had Eisa’s spot-kick saved by Will Jaaskelainen on 68 minutes.
Artell added: “There’s not much in the game for 60 or 70 minutes and then suddenly you lose 4-1. It probably wasn’t a 4-1 game, but then it didn’t surprise me it ended that way. That can’t happen, that is just too easy, it is just succumbing to your own head if you like. “The opposite, believe it or not, is just as easy to achieve. We went 10 unbeaten last year. So, it is not insurmountable but there has to be a shift in your brain first, that’s important.”
The manager says just getting a win helps that mentality. He said: “You can talk about belief or confidence, whatever you want to call it. The best way of doing that is by winning games of football. “You look at Plymouth. They are top of the league. Are they the best team we have played? No, they are not, but they have that belief that they will win games.
“I spoke to someone earlier in the week who said they are not the best team they have seen. I am sure Lowey (manager Ryan Lowe) would say the same but they are at the minute because they are top of the pile. It is mainly to do with application and belief and that drive to succeed. “That is what we have to get and winning games helps in that.”
In the meantime, Artell is adamant his players are capable at this level. He said: “We’ve got good players, capable of playing in League One, week in, week out.
“At the minute they are not showing that. They have to show it, so we have to continue to try to give them that belief and resilience so they do believe they can perform.”