Jo Potter has said she and her England team-mates “know we have the right morals” as the fallout from the Eni Aluko affair continues. The squad have been criticised in the wake of Aluko’s complaint that, bar those playing alongside her at Chelsea, she has received no support from her former international team-mates.

“We can’t control other people’s perceptions but we know we have the right morals,” said Potter as the Reading midfielder prepared for Friday night’s World Cup qualifier against Bosnia at Walsall. “We have real togetherness but we’re all independent individuals with different emotions and ideas. We’re a very strong group.”

Last month Aluko, who has not played for England since May 2016, received an apology from the Football Association after Mark Sampson, the former national coach, was found to have used racially discriminatory language towards the striker and her Chelsea team-mate Drew Spence.

By then Sampson had been sacked for an unrelated matter, connected to a previous job. The departure of a much-liked coach who led England to two major semi-finals has distressed several senior players and led to the squad’s ongoing discussions with the Professional Footballers’ Association regarding their concerns over the chain of events leading to Sampson’s dismissal and Aluko’s subsequent behaviour.

Potter described the PFA talks as “private and confidential” but there has been anger about Aluko’s criticism of the players’ mass embrace of Sampson after the opening goal of a 6-0 win over Russia in September and her recent suggestions they could do with diversity training and might have been more sympathetic had the comments been homophobic.

The FA has confirmed it is aware of the existence of recent correspondence between past and present squad members, understood to include Aluko, via text message. In a statement it said “no formal complaint” had been made.

Potter acknowledged that a team now under the interim charge of Mo Marley had gone through a “big upheaval” but maintains their collective bond can carry them through to the World Cup in France in 2019..

“We’ve worked so hard and created something really special during the past few years and we’re determined to build on it,” she said. “Our togetherness really helps. We know how genuinely together we are and we’re confident we can keep improving.”

With formal interviews for the vacancy created by Sampson’s departure scheduled for early December, the qualifiers against Bosnia and Kazakhstan at Colchester on Tuesday night can serve as an ideal audition for the short-listed Marley. A widely admired former England youth coach, she would be a popular choice.

“We can do all we can to help Mo carry on by playing well in the next two games,” Potter said. “It’s been a difficult time but since coming into camp we’ve been fully focused on the qualifiers, on things we can control. It won’t be easy against Bosnia; we know they’ll make it difficult for us to create chances.”

Marley trusts the visitors will ultimately be passed into submission. Potter said: “We’ve been working on a passing game with Mo but the beauty of us is that we can mix things up and switch systems. I don’t think many national sides are as adaptable.”

Potter showed off her own versatility by slotting seamlessly into an unfamiliar sweeping role as Sampson showcased a back three en route to beating Germany and winning the bronze medal at the 2015 World Cup in Canada.

Her performance that afternoon in Edmonton was rightly lauded by Tony Leighton. A regular contributor to the Guardian, Leighton is beginning a well-deserved retirement after many years at the vanguard of women’s football reporting.

Along the way he did much to raise the game’s profile to its current level. “Tony’s been absolutely amazing,” said Potter. “His knowledge is vast and his reporting has been absolutely brilliant. Tony’s done a very, very good job for women’s football; we’re going to miss him.”