Apter Returns

I was really beginning to believe in reports from Twitter and other social media.

First Rhodes was recalled to Huddersfield for New Year’s Day fixture at Leicester.
An offer of 250K plus large sell on clause for Apter was offered and accepted from Tranmere.

What next?
 
GrahamwantshisOates said:
I was really beginning to believe in reports from Twitter and other social media.

First Rhodes was recalled to Huddersfield for New Year’s Day fixture at Leicester.
An offer of 250K plus large sell on clause for Apter was offered and accepted from Tranmere.

What next?
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Well according to Twatter, we will be announcing Thomas from Charlton in the next couple of days. The account that said that had 23 followers so its defo legit 🙃
 
It has to be said though, he absolutely excelled and this loan was exactly what he needed. He's developed incredibly quickly.

He would be a fantastic option initially off the bench, also to switch for CJ or even on the other side if things aren't quite working or we have many games in a week.

If he wasn't our player we'd be buzzing about signing one of the hottest properties in league 2.
 
Maybe we are at a bit of a January cross roads. We've limped to the half way point of the season with a team that is functioning in some areas but not in others. Critchley needs to show he has the courage and the football intelligence to change stuff. We are too easily attacked down the wings, and we don't create much from wide areas. If you took Dembele out we'd be pretty hopeless going forward. Critch needs to show he understands what's wrong and how to fix it, cos he must realise it's not a fully functional team, it is inconsistent and lacking fluency.

Let's also acknowledge that losing Dougall hasn't helped, just as we were starting to click, really. As well as Lavery, Beesley and Kouassi.
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
So with Apter that's 3 left footed forward players who all play best in a system that we don't play
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I'd definitely prefer to see Rob job share with Kaddy rather than CJ. He has that same creative spark, he's confident enough to take players on and will have a shot. Not sure if the defensive responsibilities that CJ has is the best use of his ability but who knows how Critch sees it.
I'm going to try and get those photos off Connolly and give them Rob.
 
Tango1953 said:
I’d love to see him and Dembele behind roads in a 3-4-2-1 sort of shape.

Coventry played it against us in our first Championship season and absolutely took us apart, with Callum O’Hare playing on the left of the 2, where I think Apter would excel.
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Roads? Are we thinking Back Henry Street?

I'd like to see us try 4 at the back. Should help us defensively. And we would be able to play proper wingers, let them loose. Not this schizophrenic thing.
 
Best signing we could make in Jan is a decent coach / tactician to work with the players.
Crich seems bang average in that dept.
Aside from when Dembele's involved, our creativity is woeful.
 
Seasider1953 said:
Everybody is saying play CJ down the left , but personally I think Dale does a good job there, when selected.
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Yeah but he’s still on his weaker foot and has to cut back. What about they swap sides Ollie style now & then. I can’t understand why you wouldn’t encourage that as a manager. It certainly would keep the opposition guessing.
Oh & leave someone like Dembele on the halfway line at corners.
 
Tango1953 said:
I’d love to see him and Dembele behind roads in a 3-4-2-1 sort of shape.

Coventry played it against us in our first Championship season and absolutely took us apart, with Callum O’Hare playing on the left of the 2, where I think Apter would excel.
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That's the formation we kind of switched to with the subs on Monday and it seemed to work.
 
Tango1953 said:
I’d love to see him and Dembele behind roads in a 3-4-2-1 sort of shape.

Coventry played it against us in our first Championship season and absolutely took us apart, with Callum O’Hare playing on the left of the 2, where I think Apter would excel.
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Which roads would you like to see them behind? A1, A6, M6, M55?
 
He’s shone in an ale house league in a poor Tranmere team. I can’t see him performing in lg1 in a completely different formation
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
It should be Thompson
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I think Dom Thompson sort of personifies what I don't like about football fans and also what increasingly does my head in about Critch. He's an imperfect player, but so are all our other players, but he gets singled out for the ultimate criticism like "he's not a footballer." And he gets left out by Critch because he doesn't fit the control freak football model. The problem with this model is that it is both dull and predictable. Decent teams contain it comfortably, and exploit the weaknesses. Especially when it is full of self doubt.

Critch has said in the past that he wants 9 players maintaining control and a couple of mavericks to pick the lock. Or words to that effect. I think he sees Dembele and CJ in those roles maybe?

To my mind, control should come largely from players being comfortable on the ball, rather than from carefully rehearsed passing routines that turn players into remote control humanoids. Can anyone categorically deny that Critch has a device in his hand on the touchline? Have the players been chipped? Do we have a hardware development team?

Dom Thom is the proof that we don't, probably. Unless he's the the one that has the oldest chip set and needs updating. Android 1.0.

Maybe if we stick with Critch we will get to a version that means we destroy teams home and away game after game. Including Man City, Madrid and Estudiantes.

In the meantime, we have to work with what we've got. DomT has strength and energy, and is unpredictable. In a forward sense that can be useful. He also misfunctions far less frequently than CJ, who plays every game regardless of whether the software has crashed. CJ is like the app that's super useful when it's working.

I'm sure I could rewrite a much better version of this post, but it'll have to do as a prototype. I think the point I'm making is that Critch feels pretty insecure second time round, wanting total control, but inevitably not getting it. And missing out on the advantages of trusting his players, giving them more freedom, and doing things in a more logical way, like Manning the flanks more effectively. We neither attack nor defend well in wide areas.
 
voyeur said:
I think Dom Thompson sort of personifies what I don't like about football fans and also what increasingly does my head in about Critch. He's an imperfect player, but so are all our other players, but he gets singled out for the ultimate criticism like "he's not a footballer." And he gets left out by Critch because he doesn't fit the control freak football model. The problem with this model is that it is both dull and predictable. Decent teams contain it comfortably, and exploit the weaknesses. Especially when it is full of self doubt.

Critch has said in the past that he wants 9 players maintaining control and a couple of mavericks to pick the lock. Or words to that effect. I think he sees Dembele and CJ in those roles maybe?

To my mind, control should come largely from players being comfortable on the ball, rather than from carefully rehearsed passing routines that turn players into remote control humanoids. Can anyone categorically deny that Critch has a device in his hand on the touchline? Have the players been chipped? Do we have a hardware development team?

Dom Thom is the proof that we don't, probably. Unless he's the the one that has the oldest chip set and needs updating. Android 1.0.

Maybe if we stick with Critch we will get to a version that means we destroy teams home and away game after game. Including Man City, Madrid and Estudiantes.

In the meantime, we have to work with what we've got. DomT has strength and energy, and is unpredictable. In a forward sense that can be useful. He also misfunctions far less frequently than CJ, who plays every game regardless of whether the software has crashed. CJ is like the app that's super useful when it's working.

I'm sure I could rewrite a much better version of this post, but it'll have to do as a prototype. I think the point I'm making is that Critch feels pretty insecure second time round, wanting total control, but inevitably not getting it. And missing out on the advantages of trusting his players, giving them more freedom, and doing things in a more logical way, like Manning the flanks more effectively. We neither attack nor defend well in wide areas.
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Yep that's a good post and I actually agree with you

Our fans are part to blame as well as Thompson appears to have been last seasons scapegoat and people find it hard to forgive and support our players

I think he made 3 mistakes in home games so is now shite in the view of most of our fans

He's still young and raw and when played correctly he can provide some much needed balance and defensive cover
 
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