Lessons learned from formation switch - Bell

Lee Bell said he has seen his side serve up "a bit of everything" so far this season

Crewe boss Lee Bell has said lessons have been learned from the defeat by Bromley, in which the Alex switched formation and played with three central defenders.

After back-to-back victories in League Two, Crewe changed from their usual 4-2-3-1 to a 3-4-3 but were beaten 1-0 at home on 11 October.

Despite having more possession than their opponents, Crewe had fewer touches in Bromley's box and could only muster one shot on target.

But Bell told BBC Radio Stoke he did not believe his team's lack of cutting edge was down to formation.

"You don't want to disrupt what you're doing higher up the pitch and I don't think we did that," he said.

"What we didn't do is get one of the outside centre halves high enough up the pitch.

"It's looked at as defensive - call it a three or five [at the back] - we tried to play a 3-4-3 and we still had the players on the pitch who we thought would get us the point we wanted."

Bell added that he understood the nature of the result threw the spotlight on his decision to tweak things.

"You look at most teams now at the top end of most divisions and a lot are playing three or five at the back," he said.

"We had a go at it last year and it's something a lot of managers are trying to do.

"On paper you've got more attacking players on the pitch but it depends on what you do with them.

"When you lose and you've changed formation, rightly so it's highlighted, but we move on and lessons [have been] learned."

Crewe have shown Bell 'a bit of everything'

Crewe will try to bounce back at MK Dons on Saturday after a confident win over Liverpool's under-21 side in the Vertu Trophy on Tuesday.

A seventh league win could lift them back into the top seven and leapfrog the Dons in the process.

Bell has been calling for his side to show more consistency after six wins, five defeats and one draw so far this season.

"I think we've seen the best, the worst and a little bit in between," he said.

"When you've got young players, consistency is harder to get at times but I think there's more goals in the team that we've been showing in the past few games.

"We've seen a bit of everything and it's about us being nearer the top end of the scale in the majority of games than the lower end.

"I think we've been above the medium standard more often than not.

"We should have won more games but 'could've, would've, should've' doesn't get you more points. It's ultimately about winning games."