David Artell says that things that were said in the confines of the Alex dressing room between the group that will remain internal and that ‘he will do everything he can to protect his players’.

The Crewe Alexandra boss and his staff held a post-match discussion with the players following the 4-1 defeat to MK Dons to let everyone air their views and Artell says that it only helps us move forward.

Crewe host fellow strugglers Doncaster Rovers tomorrow evening hoping to get that second league win under our belt and ignite a change of fortune.

After going down to Mo Eisa’s early tap-in on Saturday, the Alex certainly rallied in the early stages of the second half and deservedly drew level through Christopher Long, but that revival was cut short after the visitors capitalised on a mistake to retake the lead just after the hour mark. Crewe never really recovered and went on to concede two more goals in the closing ten minutes of the game.

Artell told the club’s official website: “I won’t come out and talk about individuals. It is easy to come out and say he did this for the first goal and he is responsible for the second one and he didn’t do that for the third goal.

“What was said in the dressing room should remain internal. I won’t stand in front of the media and address the fans and talk about personal individuals. For me it is not the right thing to do, so when I talked about things internally, it was about what was said in thre dressing room. That is the right place for it to be said.

“There were things that needed to be said, on both sides, and it was said.

He added: “After every game we give everyone the opportunity to talk and this was no different. If that needs clarification then I hope it has been. I will protect the players and I will continue to work hard to do that.”