David Artell admits that his Crewe Alexandra side are struggling to find that real consistency again. The Alex started the new season with an unbeaten run of four games, but have strangely struggled to follow up one good result with another since.
The Railwaymen knocked League One side Rotherham out of the FA Cup at the weekend but were slow out of the blocks at Vale Park last night and were eventually beaten 4-2 in our final Checkatrade Trophy group game.
Crewe have been striving to find those real consistent levels again and the Crewe Alexandra boss says he is struggling to put his finger on it.
He admits: “When we are good, we are very good. We seem to raise our game and play well against the better teams if you like. We played well to beat Notts County and we did the same in the second half to knock Rotherham out of the FA Cup.
“When we are playing top of the league or a club from a higher league, we seem to lift ourselves to that level but when the mind-set is not on it and there is something not quite right, we struggle.
“Maybe it is those little things that are affecting us and preventing us from becoming consistent but we cannot afford to keep on winning one and then losing the next one.
“The key is for us to be at it every game. We have got to treat every game and every opponent as if it is a cup tie or that we are facing the team at the top of the league.
The boss added: “It is up me and the staff to make sure that the players believe that they can reach those levels of performance time and again. They have shown it but we can’t quite achieve it on a consistent basis.”