The Crewe Alexandra players returned to full-time training this morning and David Artell is keeping his fingers firmly crossed that his squad is not hampered by untimely injuries like it was last season.
Crewe were without James Jones, George Ray and Jordan Bowery last summer and we then lost Ryan Wintle in September with an ankle problem.
The injuries left us a bit short heading into the busier first part of the season and Artell had to act quickly to bring in youngsters Sam Stubbs and Conor Grant in on loan.
David told crewealex.net: “As a player going through an entire pre-season only benefits you in the long run. It lays the foundation of fitness for you and you don’t want to miss too many weeks. If you can get through it unscathed and without any inquiries then you never lose that base fitness over the season.
“It is important and the aim is to get through it without any injuries. That certainly played a part last season. We didn’t expect to have Jonah and George out for so long and then we lost Ryan Wintle. Daggers missed a part of the season, Ports was out for two months with his operation. I could our on and on but we have learned from the experience.
The boss added: “Hopefully, we can get through the work and through the pre-season games without any injuries and everyone can get that fitness under their belts.”