Thordarson makes case for defence

Thordarson has previously managed Stoke City, Barnsley and Notts County

New Crewe Alexandra manager Gudjon Thordarson has said his first job will be to improve the defence of the League One strugglers.

Thordarson takes charge of the Alex for the first time in Saturday's FA Cup third round tie away at Millwall.

He told BBC Radio Stoke: "Make no mistake, we have decent footballers but we have conceded too many goals.

"If you are conceding two or three gaols, particularly in away games, you won't win many matches."

The Alex currently lie bottom of League One, seven points from safety and Thordarson said a key factor in improving results will be raising the morale of the dressing room.

"I've always said you are defeated until you accept the defeat," said the Icelander.

"The main thing to bring to the players is to make sure they they have faith and they believe in themselves."

Thordarson also said that the South Cheshire side can take great heart from the performance in last weekend's 4-1 win away at Hartlepool.

"If that doesn't give them confidence then nothing will," said the former Stoke boss.

"It was a good performance and if the players can take forward then we will improve and we need improve greatly because we are bottom of the table," he added.