Alex Morris says Crewe Alexandra’s management and analysis staff have been looking closely at an apparent change in style adopted by Saturday’s opponents Crawley Town.

He revealed that Lead Analyst John Dillon and the rest of his backroom team have identified differences in the way Kevin Betsy’s side have operated lately, compared to the opening few fixtures of the season.

Now Morris is preparing his men for a tough challenge from the in-form visitors, as The Railwaymen seek all three points at home.

He explained: “They were heavily possession-based in the first few games, but that didn’t generate the results or perhaps opportunities in front of goal that I'm sure they’d have wanted.

“Looking at their games since, and the statistics from those games, it looks like they’ve compromised playing as much build-up, and focused more on getting the ball into dangerous areas.

“Obviously that’s had an impact for them. They are five games unbeaten in all competitions and they will be confident, especially after beating Stockport 3-2 the other night.”

Betsy, like Morris, is only a few months into his first job in the hot seat.

But the Crewe boss says Crawley will be well-organised by a management staff with plenty of pedigree.

He added: “Kevin Betsy and Dan Micciche have come from environments at top clubs and have worked for England at younger age levels, so we expect a team which will be well set-up, tactically astute and pose us problems when they’ve got the ball. 

“We have to be better at our final pass through and better at getting more bodies into the box when we are about to cross the ball. We are placing a lot of emphasis on that.”  

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