Similarities aplenty between Crewe Alexandra and MK Dons of a year ago

“We have to make sure we don’t dismiss MK Dons but we have got to make sure we’re still developing”
Crewe boss David Artell’s pre-match press conference ahead of their game with MK Dons sounded very familiarCrewe boss David Artell’s pre-match press conference ahead of their game with MK Dons sounded very familiar
Crewe boss David Artell’s pre-match press conference ahead of their game with MK Dons sounded very familiar

David Artell’s pre-match press conference on Thursday ahead of MK Dons’ trip to his Crewe Alexandra had echoes of years gone by at Stadium MK.

The Alex sit bottom of League One, winning just one of their 14 outings thus far. Points have been hard to come by for the Railwaymen, but their manager believes they are building to something, and very much still learning a style of football he feels will see them climb the table.

Rewind the clocks 12 months, and it was a similar story Dons fans were hearing from then boss Russell Martin, who watched his side hit the bottom of the pile in late October following defeats to Oxford United and Blackpool.

Approaching Halloween too, the similarities become even spookier.

“We scored a goal with about 27 passes, there aren’t many teams who can do that,” said Artell of his side’s goal in their 2-1 defeat to Wycombe.

Much like Liam Manning’s approach, Artell says his side have been focusing on themselves in training this week rather than looking at how to stop Dons, looking at the longer-term view.

He said: “You can’t focus too much on the opposition. We’re developing our own team and our own way. We have to make sure we concentrate on us. That’s not being disrespectful to them, in the same way we weren’t disrespectful to Wycombe last week, but our priority is ourselves.

“We have to make sure we don’t dismiss MK Dons but we have got to make sure we’re still developing and that’s important. We’ll work on them, but the emphasis will still be on us.

“We have to take a two-pronged approach to this season – maintaining our development and progression as well as doing enough work for what’s coming up next. We’re getting there but we have to maintain that.

“I have the belief in the players that they can do it. We’ve improved, we’ve got a long way to go but we’re getting there.”