David Artell used our free weekend to take his Crewe squad to train with Liverpool Under-23s again. The Crewe Alexandra boss is keen to continue to build a relationship with the Premier League side and says that we can only benefit from experiencing a different coaching environment.

Crewe didn’t have a league fixture due to Mansfield Town having three players called up for International duty.

Crewe trained with Neil Critchley’s Under-23 squad, who also had the Serbian International Lazar Markovic working with them.

David told the club’s official website: “Without a game at the weekend we used the time to take them to Liverpool on Friday. They trained with Critch’s Under-23s and played a game behind closed doors.

“It was another really good day and there are lot of reasons why we do it. It gives us a chance to have a look at their younger players. The change of environment is good for our players and they get to test themselves up against quality players.

“They respect where they are, having the chance to train for the day at Liverpool and they respect the players they are up against.

The boss added: “They are usually younger but they also had Markovic with them and he was a class above. It was a great experience for them again and the players can really see the benefit of it.”