Crewe form 'not acceptable and has to change' - Bell

Lee Bell has been in charge of Crewe since November 2022

Crewe Alexandra boss Lee Bell says performances during their current run of poor form have not been acceptable.

After an excellent start to the League Two campaign, the Alex are on a five-game winless run, taking only one point from a possible 15 with a 1-1 draw at Colchester.

They lost their second game in a row at Barrow on Saturday - a result Bell described as "terrible".

"I'm not impressed with the performance at all," he told BBC Radio Stoke.

"We're unable to defend balls into the box, making daft decisions, and the players need to take more responsibility.

"I will take responsibility too - I always look at what I do and what I ask the players to do but there's so much more to show in terms of attacking intent."

Crewe were top of the table after winning their first four matches of the season but have since slipped to 12th place during this poor run.

"That's what happens when you don't put in good performances and you don't create chances," Bell added.

"You're going to start sliding down the table and we've got to put a stop to that.

"What we've seen in the last three or four games is not acceptable and it has to change pretty quickly.

"We should be doing better than we're doing."

Six of Crewe's starting XI against Barrow were aged 21 or under but Bell, who highlighted the talent of the club's youngsters after their 7-1 win over Chesterfield in the Vertu Trophy, said that was no excuse.

"They're not young players any more. Some of them should be at the point now where they're 21 and looking to really establish themselves in the team," he said.

"It's like taking an under-21 game at times - you have to make decisions for them on the pitch, unable to execute simple things, making really poor decisions and we've got to stop it."

Crewe take on Notts County at the Mornflake Stadium on Saturday (12:30 BST).