Breaking point

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Sadly he will be going nowhere . We were pushing for the play offs and we got to the semi finals of a cup . We could lose every game till the end of the season[and might] ,but we are stuck with him
 
ElBurroSinNombre said:
Compared to a lot of stuff I have watched over the years am I alone in thinking it's actually okay most of the time? We score plenty of goals and it's actually exciting at times. Some games are shit but that is football, it has always been like that. The quality of the players is better these days and the game is a lot faster.
We lack consistency that's all. Critchley is doing okay but there have been some poor performances at times. However he has at least til Xmas if not beyond. If you are a fan of the club you should get behind the team and manager. We still have a chance of making the playoffs FFS yet some are talking about boycotts and throwing the towel in. Support your team, that's what it is about. Some on here should support Man City, but they still would find something to moan about.
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There have been far more poor performances than good ones. Considerably more. I think you understate or don't recognise that.
 
65 & Counting said:
I dislike the guy intensely but I shall take on board what you've said.
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You're not Radster are you? There is a whiff of him in your posting style?

Some of your posts have been disgusting you should be ashamed of them, as for Lytham, I have been chewing the fat with him on here for years and we generally agree on most things, but not on everything, particularly at the moment but you will never see us behaving like you have and never will, we all let ourselves down on here sometimes but you have gone way over the mark and Lyth, surprisingly has bitten.
 
20togo said:
There have been far more poor performances than good ones. Considerably more. I think you understate or don't recognise that.
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It's been very poor at times, I agree. Even when it is is poor I prefer the way we play to say Appleton.
At times it's been excellent as well and very exciting. We currently lack consistency and the injury to Rhodes is a big loss. Losing Dougal has also impacted negatively in recent weeks.

However let's look at what we have had previously in recent years;
McPhillips - Critchley a better coach undoubtedly
Grayson - was out of ideas in his second spell, seemingly dubious transfer dealings (Nuttall), Critchley is a better bet
Appleton - Critchley far, far better - Appleton plays boring, negative football and has no personality
McCarthy - I am amazed this guy ever achieved anything at all given the madness in his time at Blackpool - he seemed to know very little
Dobbie - did OK under the circumstances, little or no pressure on him at the time

In short, I would prefer Critchley to all of the above.
There is no magic wand to wave, he's doing what he can with our squad.
We should back him.
 
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hertfordseasider said:
You're not Radster are you? There is a whiff of him in your posting style?

Some of your posts have been disgusting you should be ashamed of them, as for Lytham, I have been chewing the fat with him on here for years and we generally agree on most things, but not on everything, particularly at the moment but you will never see us behaving like you have and never will, we all let ourselves down on here sometimes but you have gone way over the mark and Lyth, surprisingly has bitten.
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I care not what you think so find somebody who is interested in your opinion.
 
There are opinions, there are differences of opinion, but this is just ridiculous, if the. moderators are looking in can't we get rid of this person, he isn't adding anything to the board and give Lytham a bollocking for reacting to the idiot. What are you doing Lyth? Just ignore him.
 
hertfordseasider said:
That describes Critchley to a tee, glad you have recognised it!

I would prefer someone else than all the ones you listed, including Critchley. In fact Sadller should never have employed 4 of them and that includes Critchley this time round.
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I would like Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp.
But we have to be realistic about who we could attract. Critchley is better than most of the alternatives, as you can see from the list.
 
ElBurroSinNombre said:
I would like Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp.
But we have to be realistic about who we could attract. Critchley is better than most of the alternatives, as you can see from the list.
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He is, but that is a very very very low bar, don't give me the Clop. Pep (I can't spell Guardiola) nonsense. We could have had Evatt, Rosenior, Edwards and Wellens but we went for the 4 we did, that to me is a true sign of concern.

There are plenty of good managers at this level better than Critchley so it can be done. It won't, but it can.
 
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ElBurroSinNombre said:
It's been very poor at times, I agree. Even when it is is poor I prefer the way we play to say Appleton.
At times it's been excellent as well and very exciting. We currently lack consistency and the injury to Rhodes is a big loss. Losing Dougal has also impacted negatively in recent weeks.

However let's look at what we have had previously in recent years;
McPhillips - Critchley a better coach undoubtedly
Grayson - was out of ideas in his second spell, seemingly dubious transfer dealings (Nuttall), Critchley is a better bet
Appleton - Critchley far, far better - boring, negative football and no personality
McCarthy - I am amazed this guy ever achieved anything at all given the madness in his time at Blackpool - he seemed to know very little
Dobbie - did OK under the circumstances, little or no pressure on him at the time

In short, I would prefer Critchley to all of the above.
There is no magic wand to wave, he's doing what he can with our squad.
We should back him.
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yes agree with a lot of that but i will say what i said to another poster who made a similar sort of comment. All bar i think two of tuesday nights squad were Critchley signings. So no, i don't really buy into the statement he's doing what he can with our squad. They are his players, his signings. He should be doing so much better than what he is doing both results and performance wise. He talks of possession football but eally that's a bit of a myth. This so called possession football is pretty much restricted to playing square passes back and forth along the back line and then more often than not ends up with a long hoofball from one them up the field. it's predictable, slow and laboured and painful to watch. His failure to adapt and make any changes until at least an hour has gone shows he has no plan B and how limited his current thought process is to adapt to whats happening before his very eyes. Let's face it we were getting battered on tuesday and he did nothing about it until 62 minutes. Why so long? And it's pretty much the same in most other games too. In my view maybe he's just about still got the majority of fans onside but many are starting to turn against him and these continued poor performances and results then it won't be a trickle turning on him but a river. He needs to learn and adapt fast because what is happening on social media will start to happen in a much more vitriolic way inside the ground. and then he's got real problems. As will Sadler have too.
 
20togo said:
yes agree with a lot of that but i will say what i said to another poster who made a similar sort of comment. All bar i think two of tuesday nights squad were Critchley signings. So no, i don't really buy into the statement he's doing what he can with our squad. They are his players, his signings. He should be doing so much better than what he is doing both results and performance wise. He talks of possession football but eally that's a bit of a myth. This so called possession football is pretty much restricted to playing square passes back and forth along the back line and then more often than not ends up with a long hoofball from one them up the field. it's predictable, slow and laboured and painful to watch. His failure to adapt and make any changes until at least an hour has gone shows he has no plan B and how limited his current thought process is to adapt to whats happening before his very eyes. Let's face it we were getting battered on tuesday and he did nothing about it until 62 minutes. Why so long? And it's pretty much the same in most other games too. In my view maybe he's just about still got the majority of fans onside but many are starting to turn against him and these continued poor performances and results then it won't be a trickle turning on him but a river. He needs to learn and adapt fast because what is happening on social media will start to happen in a much more vitriolic way inside the ground. and then he's got real problems. As will Sadler have too.
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I agree with a lot of that, but presumably he has a game plan in his mind. No doubt we are better now than we were in August.
However, Critchley is capable of better as we saw in his first spell.
Managers who are given a fair chance are much more likely to succeed in the long term. It is madness to think that we should replace the manager every time we have a bad spell. We are doing OK, there have been a few highs this season and we are still in the race. If we fail we fail and we then plan for next season. If after two seasons it isn't working then maybe we should press the eject button but not now.
A problem that we have I think is a lack of leadership on the field. We lack big personalities who will drive the other players forward when it gets tough.
 
ElBurroSinNombre said:
I agree with a lot of that, but presumably he has a game plan in his mind. No doubt we are better now than we were in August.
However, Critchley is capable of better as we saw in his first spell.
Managers who are given a fair chance are much more likely to succeed in the long term. It is madness to think that we should replace the manager every time we have a bad spell. We are doing OK, there have been a few highs this season and we are still in the race. If we fail we fail and we then plan for next season. If after two seasons it isn't working then maybe we should press the eject button but not now.
A problem that we have I think is a lack of leadership on the field. We lack big personalities who will drive the other players forward when it gets tough.
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And I think that is what will happen and I agree that we need some personalities and leaders in the dressing room, he had several of those first time round and I can't think of anyone now apart from maybe O'Donnell and Hubby.
 
ElBurroSinNombre said:
I agree with a lot of that, but presumably he has a game plan in his mind. No doubt we are better now than we were in August.
However, Critchley is capable of better as we saw in his first spell.
Managers who are given a fair chance are much more likely to succeed in the long term. It is madness to think that we should replace the manager every time we have a bad spell. We are doing OK, there have been a few highs this season and we are still in the race. If we fail we fail and we then plan for next season. If after two seasons it isn't working then maybe we should press the eject button but not now.
A problem that we have I think is a lack of leadership on the field. We lack big personalities who will drive the other players forward when it gets tough.
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He also had Colin Calderwood and I think an experienced assistant has been sadly lacking this season.
 
20togo said:
yes agree with a lot of that but i will say what i said to another poster who made a similar sort of comment. All bar i think two of tuesday nights squad were Critchley signings. So no, i don't really buy into the statement he's doing what he can with our squad. They are his players, his signings. He should be doing so much better than what he is doing both results and performance wise. He talks of possession football but eally that's a bit of a myth. This so called possession football is pretty much restricted to playing square passes back and forth along the back line and then more often than not ends up with a long hoofball from one them up the field. it's predictable, slow and laboured and painful to watch. His failure to adapt and make any changes until at least an hour has gone shows he has no plan B and how limited his current thought process is to adapt to whats happening before his very eyes. Let's face it we were getting battered on tuesday and he did nothing about it until 62 minutes. Why so long? And it's pretty much the same in most other games too. In my view maybe he's just about still got the majority of fans onside but many are starting to turn against him and these continued poor performances and results then it won't be a trickle turning on him but a river. He needs to learn and adapt fast because what is happening on social media will start to happen in a much more vitriolic way inside the ground. and then he's got real problems. As will Sadler have too.
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I didn't see the game on Tuesday, it sounds very poor. Peterborough are a very good team, IMO the best I have seen us play this season - I am generally watching online these days through TTV.
However, we beat Posh in a much more important game away from home a few days before when we played our first team against their first team. Tuesday was used to give a few squad players a run out so I don't read too much into it although I wanted us to win.
One thing that has crossed my mind is that losing could (ironically) distract Peterborough and may actually help us in our playoff push. We now have no distractions from the main task and no extra games.
 
ElBurroSinNombre said:
I agree with a lot of that, but presumably he has a game plan in his mind. No doubt we are better now than we were in August.
However, Critchley is capable of better as we saw in his first spell.
Managers who are given a fair chance are much more likely to succeed in the long term. It is madness to think that we should replace the manager every time we have a bad spell. We are doing OK, there have been a few highs this season and we are still in the race. If we fail we fail and we then plan for next season. If after two seasons it isn't working then maybe we should press the eject button but not now.
A problem that we have I think is a lack of leadership on the field. We lack big personalities who will drive the other players forward when it gets tough.
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sorry to be repeating myself but i issued a stat recently. Before last saturday we'd played 32 league games.
In games 1-8 we got 12 pts.
In games 9-16 we got 12 pts
In games 17-24 we got 12 pts.
In games 25-32 we got 11pts.

That pretty much tells me that no, we are not better off than we were in august. That's based on actual results. Now if you want to relate it to better off performance wise then i'll say that in the last lot of those 8 games, it included Cheltenham, Stevenage and Port Vale where the performances were as abject and much worse than anything we saw earlier in the season. So sorry, i don't buy into this we are better now than we were. Far from it.

Yep, that's me being negative at the moment but i've backed it up with facts. And as i said earlier plenty of other fans are starting to feel the same. There's a whole lack of positivity about anything BFC at the moment.
 
20togo said:
sorry to be repeating myself but i issued a stat recently. Before last saturday we'd played 32 league games.
In games 1-8 we got 12 pts.
In games 9-16 we got 12 pts
In games 17-24 we got 12 pts.
In games 25-32 we got 11pts.

That pretty much tells me that no, we are not better off than we were in august. That's based on actual results. Now if you want to relate it to better off performance wise then i'll say that in the last lot of those 8 games, it included Cheltenham, Stevenage and Port Vale where the performances were as abject and much worse than anything we saw earlier in the season. So sorry, i don't buy into this we are better now than we were. Far from it.

Yep, that's me being negative at the moment but i've backed it up with facts. And as i said earlier plenty of other fans are starting to feel the same. There's a whole lack of positivity about anything BFC at the moment.
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I said some time ago, we are a 1.5 points a game side which would give us 69 points at the end of the season and I think that is where we all end up, it's all a bit meh like everything about the club at the moment.
 
Theoneandonly said:
Looking at games I’d be a bit reticent backing this manager in the transfer market. Has he got the best from the players he does have? I’d say a resounding no and I also see no improvement in players and feel he’s reduced the value of players like Lyons.
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With all these people working on computers how much say does he actually have, I have no idea, in the old days the manager did the searching with the aid of scouts but now I'm not so sure
 
I think we're all realising that we're OK as a team/squad. We're solid at home. We're generally poor away. The issue is simple: Is it the coach that is not getting enough from the squad or is he actually getting as much from it as their collective ability will allow? Seems to me that the general consensus is that he's not getting enough. None of us really know if that's true, but that's where we're at. The football is uninspiring, it's definitely insipid at times and the side lacks collective balls, spite and leadership. When we do play on the front foot and get the ball moving quickly, we look much better and have beaten teams at the top of the league. But it doesn't happen often enough and when we have to knuckle down and grind 'lesser' teams down, we have no ideas how to do it and we've dropped a lot of points.

The flip side of this, is that whichever way you want to spin it, we sit in 8th position. 6 points off the play off places with enough games left to realistically feel that if we get into a run of consistently stronger performances we'll catch those above us. We've also done OK in the cup competitions. Just because we wanted better for the season, it's hardly a stretch to think that senior management with an eye on the 'bigger picture' might believe that while the results are not perfect, they are also not a disaster.

Some things bother me now and they bothered me last season too.

1) We're in the final third of the season and the players look no more comfortable with the system than the first game. We lack cohesion going forward, we regularly go through periods of games where the midfield opens up, we lose second balls regularly and we can't get any sort of foothold to reestablish ourselves and impose our game on the opposition.

2) The constant chopping and changing of players cannot be seen as positive thing as we aren't winning enough games to suggest it 'works' as a means of always allowing us to get the maximum from the squad in every game. Beyond reacting to injuries and suspensions, to my mind the changes can only reflect certain things; either the coach doesn't know his best team and is trying to stumble upon the right formula through trial and error, the coach is desperately trying to make a system work and is blind to its failings or the coach has to rotate because of contractual stipulations that force him to make changes.

3) The lack of character in the squad overall. As Adams_Kebab said on another thread, we're weak in terms of mindset and general character in the squad. It's a world away from the 2020/2021 side, where there were plenty of strong and experienced players willing to stand up and be counted. This squad - on the face of it - lacks that.

4) We still suffer from too many 'soft tissue' injuries. There's a point where that can't be called bad luck.
 
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Just in regard to the above, it is very sad to see such vitriol between posters. I think the ignore button should be deployed if you find yourself reading stuff that’s just plain out of order and forgetting about it. And moderation ought to be better around this.

On the issue about the players being Critchley players, I am no defender of the coaching charlaton but I do wonder if these are committee signings rather than Critchley players. I get he’s on the committee himself but he has in the past been a reasonable judge of younger players and now looks like he couldn’t spot a footballer in the 66 World Cup winning squad. I do wonder if these players have been pushed onto Critchley because they are at the cheaper end of the spectrum and available.
 
20togo said:
sorry to be repeating myself but i issued a stat recently. Before last saturday we'd played 32 league games.
In games 1-8 we got 12 pts.
In games 9-16 we got 12 pts
In games 17-24 we got 12 pts.
In games 25-32 we got 11pts.

That pretty much tells me that no, we are not better off than we were in august. That's based on actual results. Now if you want to relate it to better off performance wise then i'll say that in the last lot of those 8 games, it included Cheltenham, Stevenage and Port Vale where the performances were as abject and much worse than anything we saw earlier in the season. So sorry, i don't buy into this we are better now than we were. Far from it.

Yep, that's me being negative at the moment but i've backed it up with facts. And as i said earlier plenty of other fans are starting to feel the same. There's a whole lack of positivity about anything BFC at the moment.
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If anything we are deteriorating performance wise. Which has to be a big worry.
 
20togo said:
sorry to be repeating myself but i issued a stat recently. Before last saturday we'd played 32 league games.
In games 1-8 we got 12 pts.
In games 9-16 we got 12 pts
In games 17-24 we got 12 pts.
In games 25-32 we got 11pts.

That pretty much tells me that no, we are not better off than we were in august. That's based on actual results. Now if you want to relate it to better off performance wise then i'll say that in the last lot of those 8 games, it included Cheltenham, Stevenage and Port Vale where the performances were as abject and much worse than anything we saw earlier in the season. So sorry, i don't buy into this we are better now than we were. Far from it.

Yep, that's me being negative at the moment but i've backed it up with facts. And as i said earlier plenty of other fans are starting to feel the same. There's a whole lack of positivity about anything BFC at the moment.
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I'd add that there was a clear 'deterioration' between games 28-32. That came at a time when an acceleration of performance and points scoring was needed. The opportunity was there for us to step up and start a run and last Saturday aside, we've failed pretty abjectly.
 
Burnnazzer said:
He won’t resign. Who would. Has bills to pay and he needs to turn it round for his own future.
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Yeah. There's no reason he should resign. For all we know, the club has told him it's a rebuilding period where the aim is to get as high as possible in the league (without any hint of relegation obviously) and to bed in some new players that form the spine of the team in the next couple of seasons. Problem with that scenario for supporters is it's boring and uninspiring. Which is how NC comes across these days.
 
straightatthewall said:
Yeah. There's no reason he should resign. For all we know, the club has told him it's a rebuilding period where the aim is to get as high as possible in the league (without any hint of relegation obviously) and to bed in some new players that form the spine of the team in the next couple of seasons. Problem with that scenario for supporters is it's boring and uninspiring. Which is how NC comes across these days.
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I suspect that’s very close to the truth.
 
straightatthewall said:
Yeah. There's no reason he should resign. For all we know, the club has told him it's a rebuilding period where the aim is to get as high as possible in the league (without any hint of relegation obviously) and to bed in some new players that form the spine of the team in the next couple of seasons. Problem with that scenario for supporters is it's boring and uninspiring. Which is how NC comes across these days.
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i thought that the interview with both critchley and Sadler at the start of the season it came across that Sadler had a bit more ambition than just a rebuilding job.
 
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