Crewe's recent poor run 'can't continue' - Dicker

Ryan Dicker was made assistant manager to boss Lee Bell (left) in August 2023

Crewe Alexandra assistant coach Ryan Dicker said the club's recent poor run of results "can't continue" and everyone is working hard trying to get back to their early season performances.

The Alex won their first four matches of the League Two season before narrowly losing to a late goal against Gillingham in their fifth.

Since then, they have lost 3-0 at home to Swindon Town, and blown leads in a 1-1 draw at Colchester United and last Saturday's 2-1 home defeat by Barnet - a game in which they missed twice from the penalty spot.

Ahead of the weekend's trip to Barrow, Dicker said he and manager Lee Bell have been analysing recent matches and trying to figure out what has been different.

"It highlighted what was working so well at the start of the season and trying to understand what changed," Dicker told BBC Radio Stoke.

"It's not necessarily anything we're doing differently with the players, we want performances to look exactly like they were in the first five games."

The Railwaymen's mini slump has seen then slip from the top of the table to eighth after eight games.

Although they were beaten by the Gills, Crewe hit the woodwork three times and were only denied a point by an 89th-minute winner.

"Yes, we lost the Gillingham game but we felt the performance was there," Dicker said.

"We had lots of opportunities and moments that, on another day, could've gone for us.

"If performances are like that, we fully believe we'll win more games than we'll lose.

"The disappointing thing is the three games that followed - that can't continue.

"That's a really poor trend and we've got to iron out and find out why, and what are the differences, to make sure we get back to what we want to look like."

Crewe 'just need small tweaks'

Crewe are without the suspended Owen Lunt for the weekend, but do have influential midfielder Jack Lankester back available for the first time since April following his recovery from knee surgery.

Dicker welcomed Lankester's return, calling him a "big-game player", but said they will not make a lot of alterations to the team on Saturday.

"Change is sometimes necessary but it's not big changes," he said.

"In the eight games so far, five have been very good and two certainty have been very disappointing, in terms of Swindon and Colchester.

"Barnet was also disappointing, but not on the level of Swindon and Colchester.

"It's just small tweaks you might need to make to make sure those performances don't happen again.

"We just need to pick the right solutions at the right time to make sure we're on the right end of results."