CALLUM McFadzean says Crewe's players need to put "things rights" when promotion-chasing Sunderland visit the Mornflake Stadium tomorrow night (K.O 7.45pm).

The versatile defender was drafted into the fold for Crewe's last two games, including the weekend's lame defeat (0-3) at Fleetwood, and admits only an "A-game" will do against Lee Johnson's side.

The Sheffield-born footballer spent last season with the Wearsiders, where he appeared 25 times in League One including February's 2-2 draw at Crewe where the visitors grabbed an unlikely point with a stoppage-time leveller.

"My focus is on Crewe now and Sunderland are just another team for me," stressed McFadzean, who joined Crewe in the summer after his release by Plymouth.

"They [Sunderland] are going to be up there come the end of the season, but we are capable of beating these teams.

"But we will need to bring our A-game on Tuesday night.

"It is down to us as a group to put things right. There was some tough talking after Saturday's game, but it was not personal and we all want to get better.

"We're a new team and we are getting to understand each others' strengths. But we can't keep saying that and we need to show it in the performances in the games. We've got to go out on match days and show the fans."

The fourth-placed Black Cats arrive in South Cheshire having lost just once in their 11 opening games - albeit a heavy loss (0-4) at Portsmouth earlier this month.

Crewe, in contrast, have won only once in the league to date and are rooted in the bottom four.

Alex boss Dave Artell admitted: "We weren't good enough for how we wanted to play on Saturday. We had too many players who had a bad day.

"But that's chip shop paper now and we've got a point to prove to ourselves and everyone else. We've got big boys coming to town, but that should not make any difference really. We need to have professional standards and we fell short of them on Saturday."

And he added: "You find out about people in adversity as it focuses the mind - you find out who is down in the trenches with you, we will find that out tomorrow night."