Boss says emotion won't come into it when he picks his team to face Portsmouth

In the wake of Saturday’s heavy home defeat to Oxford United, David Artell says that changes to his starting XI will only be made on merit.

The Alex boss says it is easy to make wholesale changes to any team when they are beaten 6-0, but he will put emotion aside to pick the team he believes can get a positive result against Portsmouth tomorrow night.

Artell told the club’s official website: “Of course, you have take Saturday into consideration when picking the team.

“You also have to consider the opponent and how to expose them and stop them. You have to take emotion out of it and pick those who deserve an opportunity.

“It is important not to leave players out because they have had a poor game. You want them to give you a reaction after what happened against Oxford.

“You just can’t decide to leave a number of players out because they were off it on Saturday. That is very binary and football doesn’t work like that.

He added: “You have to consider all things and then pick a team to win the game. The emotion comes out of it and you have to be cold and rather heartless when you do that but it is about what is right for the club and picking the best team possible to get a result.”