DAVE Artell believes it may be counterproductive if he makes wholesale changes after Crewe suffered their worst home defeat in more than 47 years.

The Alex boss is mulling over his team sheet for tomorrow's re-arranged visit from Portsmouth (K.O 6pm), but will give careful consideration to each player's merits before making selection decisions.

Crewe's 6-0 weekend humbling at the hands of Karl Robinson's Oxford was their worst reverse at home since September 1973 (1-8 versus Rotherham) and the first time the Railwaymen had conceded six at home in a league game since February 2002 (a 1-6 reverse against Coventry City).

The Alex back four will, no doubt, be under scrutiny, but Artell explained: "The default with a performance like Saturday's is to say "he can't play, he can't play" when you actually might say those players are the ones you need to keep in to get a reaction from.

"It's easy to become emotionally invested in picking a team when it is important you don't have any emotion."

Nevertheless, Artell was making sure his players sat through the "DVD nasty" of the Oxford thrashing and insists they will need to take some harsh lessons on board.

"We will need to make sure we are on the same page even before we prepare for another game," added the manager.

"You hope the players accept where we're coming from and that we are trying to help them. But they are welcome to express their opinions. It is not just them. I think it would be a miracle if a team lost 6-0 and the manager didn't make mistakes.

"There's always the thought 'should I have done that? Or was I explicit with the information I gave to each player?'. But it is important that each player is honest in their own reflections."

Pompey travel to Cheshire after suffering a surprise home loss (1-2) at the hands of Burton, but under new boss Danny Cowley they had previously reignited their play-off hopes.

And Artell admitted: "Portsmouth were in the play-offs last season. These are not easy games and on Saturday we've got Wigan who were in the Championship last year.

"But we've got to go back to doing the basics properly and see where it gets us. If you're not on it in this league you get found out."