Come on Critch, take the shackles off now

Junior_BentsPlatformShoes

Junior_BentsPlatformShoes

Well-known member
Having now guaranteed we're staying in the division this season with 9 games left to go, I'd really like to see us play with less constrictions and really go at teams.
While I can understand playing defensively against certain teams whilst we still needed the points for survival, we're now at a point where that isn't necessary.

For the last 9 games it would be great if we set up how we want to play rather than looking at the opposition and worrying about how they go about things.
We've nothing to lose now - let's go for it, relax and play some real attacking football rather than containing teams.

There's no better time and opportunity for Critchley to show the passing attacking football he wants us to play. Let's take some risks now and see where it takes us.
 
Probably not what a lot of people want but it isn't how we play. He looks at the opposition and deploys our players in the best way possible to take points. We aren't going to see a Holloway style approach.
If we changed and lost 5 or 6 of the last games and had a slow start to next season people would be calling for him to be sacked.
I think he should keep doing what he's doing, if and when an all out assault on the opposition is needed in a game he will do it until then I think we will continue to be quite cagey in our approach.
 
I think Critchley will always play the way in which he believes will most likely get us 3 points. The game against Swansea was the prime example, he played a way in which he knew wouldn't be very pleasing to watch as a fan but it was the most effective way to win that game. So I can't see him completely unshackling us now, I still think he'll look to finish on the highest points tally possibly and that'll mean analysing each game and going with what he thinks most likely wins that game - even if its a defensive set up.

He went for it against Forest towards the end, so we might see more of that - bit more risk taking if we aren't already ahead.
 
I’m not sure there necessarily is a “how we want to play”.

The manager seems to analyse the opposition and seek to identify areas (specific passages of Play even) to target and expose the opposition.

So our style relies on intelligent players and interchangeable systems. I can’t see that changing in favour of some fixed style of play and I’m not sure I’d want to personally.

Stick to what has made us successful for me… 👍

The last thing we need is for the season to crumble now, because we want to revert to some kind of ‘throw caution to the wind approach’… How we end the season will play a big part in teeing up next year…IMHO..
 
I’m not sure if how we started in league 1 with Jerry up top, 2 inverted wingers and Keshi as a 10 was close to his ideal way of playing.

We had then 1 holding midfielder and Robson as the attacking minded midfielder behind the front 3+1
Ball retention and a high press was the style too. We had very strong possession stats in those first ten games.

Problem was, it was all a little bit Swansea City. We seemed to get picked off despite looking pretty. It might have worked in the long run, as the new and better players like Dougall, Ballard, Marv etc settled in but we were pretty but soft.

We then brought in Calderwood under Welsh Phil’s direction and went pragmatic with Big Gaz and Jerry and wingers. A traditional 4-4-2 with a more direct style. That worked. It continues to work now as most of our results come in this formation and playing style

I am sure Critch would like to play the 3+1 approach with high possession and high press, but whenever we do we normally get dismantled by the opposition. So I agree to a point with the o/p. I don’t want that 3 up front we had against Sheff United again (Swansea made sense though) but don’t think I want to watch us get dismantled whilst we pretend to be a team that we aren’t.
 
I don't think I'm saying to change style or to throw caution to the wind. I just think we should be looking to be more on the front foot - there's no pressure on the players now. Rather than starting with 5 at the back and one up front, let's be more on the front foot. We've shown in other games this season we can do that. Looking at the fixtures, Forest and Luton will be tough, but then we've got two teams the last two games who potentially will already be relegated. Then there's the small matter of two derbies bu I'd fancy us with our form to get results.
Positivity, being on the front foot and a belief we can win games plus quicker subs is what I want to see.
 
As much as I like the idea of all-out attacking football in a celebratory end to the season, I wouldn't like the points which we'd lose in going for it. There would be some and we'd nitpick about it on here!

I do hope he gives some of the players who have been waiting patiently on the bench more of a chance, like Oliver Casey, Sonny Carey and Jake Beasley - but not all at once! 😄

Also I'd like to see some from our injury list getting a gentle reintroduction to the game.
 
Junior_BentsPlatformShoes said:
Having now guaranteed we're staying in the division this season with 9 games left to go, I'd really like to see us play with less constrictions and really go at teams.
While I can understand playing defensively against certain teams whilst we still needed the points for survival, we're now at a point where that isn't necessary.

For the last 9 games it would be great if we set up how we want to play rather than looking at the opposition and worrying about how they go about things.
We've nothing to lose now - let's go for it, relax and play some real attacking football rather than containing teams.

There's no better time and opportunity for Critchley to show the passing attacking football he wants us to play. Let's take some risks now and see where it takes us.
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Good post Junior 👍
 
I’d love to see us playing full throttle football and demolishing teams, but I would guess that prize money increases with league position, so he’s going to do what’s necessary to get us as high up the table as possible.
 
Matesrates said:
I’d love to see us playing full throttle football and demolishing teams, but I would guess that prize money increases with league position, so he’s going to do what’s necessary to get us as high up the table as possible.
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Not sure if it’s like the Prem as far as prize money is concerned however our league finish position will influence players who we might sign.

If we finish 10th or even maybe 8th, we are more likely to convince that Prem wonder kid to take a risk on us than if we finish 17th and are perceived as potential relegation candidates not promotion candidates next season.
They’re not likely to say, “well they were just experimenting in those final 4 defeats”?

All supposition of course 😁

(Nice debate junior!)
 
Critch has the best win percentage since fat Sam for a permanent manager, and one of the best in the EFL for his relatively short career.

I don't think he will want to undermine that figure as he has a long career to plan for. It can be frustrating to watch a game where we feel an early sub may change it, but the figures speak for themselves. Unlike the premier league, there is no financial incentive to finish in a higher mid table position, but the kudos is there to be gained.

The football is entertaining even when it seems like a chess match, so I think he will take relatively few risks.

As someone above commented, a poor run due to experimentation is not really the best career choice for an up-and-coming managerial star of the future, so although he has room to try out a couple of low risk strategies, I think he will continue to play each match according to the opponents.
 
I do believe we have room to be more positive in our approach, please don’t play 1 striker up front alone. Consider subs earlier, and remember a 1 goal lead is not the time to sit back and hold-on. NC you have done a great job so far but now we can really go for it and play a pressing / attacking game, and if so who knows, and if we lose a few games again so what this is the time to try a few things out.
 
Matesrates said:
I’d love to see us playing full throttle football and demolishing teams, but I would guess that prize money increases with league position, so he’s going to do what’s necessary to get us as high up the table as possible.
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Prize money by position only applies to the EPL, not the EFL.
 
gjr69 said:
Probably not what a lot of people want but it isn't how we play. He looks at the opposition and deploys our players in the best way possible to take points. We aren't going to see a Holloway style approach.
If we changed and lost 5 or 6 of the last games and had a slow start to next season people would be calling for him to be sacked.
I think he should keep doing what he's doing, if and when an all out assault on the opposition is needed in a game he will do it until then I think we will continue to be quite cagey in our approach.
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Exactly yeah. At moments like this the natural reaction is to "go for it" by playing balls to the wall, attacking football. Realistically, we are still going for it, but in a measured manner which counter-intuitively is more likely to bring success. I wouldn't like to see us go all out attack against Forest on Saturday, they're too dangerous going forward and I wouldn't bet on us to outscore them if it became a cricket score type of game.
 
Vitally important that we finish the season positively, in as high a position as possible. Much easier to attract/retain players at a top 10 championship side than a bottom half one. Much easier to motivate and encourage players over the summer if you finish this season on a positive, upward trajectory.
In general, people remember how you finish a season, not how you started it.
 
A financial bonus for the manager that is tied to the final league position or actual points won, would be a sensible imho.
If so, we will carry on to get the best results.
 
Some good replies to me initial OP. Just a few points - I'm not advocating going gung-ho in the last 9 games at all. I'm quite happy for us to be sensible and know where our strengths are.
I think though, as has been proved on a number of occasions this season, we could be quicker changing our shape or making positive substitutions to ensure we have a decent chance to win games. As I said earlier, Wednesday night was a case in point - against a Shef. Utd team carrying a lot of injuries, an unsettled defence, and leaving Billy Sharpe on for the whole game who was clearly knackers, we made substitutions with 10 minutes to go. The game was there to be won earlier than that, 65-70 minutes, at 0-0.
I know we've been stung late on in games by not seeing games out, but surely we've the breathing space now to be a bit more positive rather than setting out to nullify games and then anything else being a bonus?
 
Most teams in this league have on paper at least far better players than us on far more money, so going gung ho could be dangerous, Critch sets us up to win every game taking into account the strength of the opposition.
 
Very negative OP.
We have never needed points for survival.
Also, I have said it before NC does not need any help from anyone on this board.
 
The_Busted_Flush said:
Exactly yeah. At moments like this the natural reaction is to "go for it" by playing balls to the wall, attacking football. Realistically, we are still going for it, but in a measured manner which counter-intuitively is more likely to bring success. I wouldn't like to see us go all out attack against Forest on Saturday, they're too dangerous going forward and I wouldn't bet on us to outscore them if it became a cricket score type of game.
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If we went all out attack on Saturday, we would be bound to win. We would be the only team on the pitch.🤣
 
Junior_BentsPlatformShoes said:
Some good replies to me initial OP. Just a few points - I'm not advocating going gung-ho in the last 9 games at all. I'm quite happy for us to be sensible and know where our strengths are.
I think though, as has been proved on a number of occasions this season, we could be quicker changing our shape or making positive substitutions to ensure we have a decent chance to win games. As I said earlier, Wednesday night was a case in point - against a Shef. Utd team carrying a lot of injuries, an unsettled defence, and leaving Billy Sharpe on for the whole game who was clearly knackers, we made substitutions with 10 minutes to go. The game was there to be won earlier than that, 65-70 minutes, at 0-0.
I know we've been stung late on in games by not seeing games out, but surely we've the breathing space now to be a bit more positive rather than setting out to nullify games and then anything else being a bonus?
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Agreed (although i've been posting that we're safe since late January 😁). We could make earlier substitutions, certainly earlier than the last 10 minutes or so like the Sheffield game. It would also give the new players an opportunity for more competitive game time prior to next season. If we lose any of our regular starters (not just Josh, but maybe Marv or Keshi) in the summer, we need to know if the newly signed players could do a job (doubt the players I mentioned could be directly replaced without a significant fee)


I go on about this a lot in my posts, but I struggle to understand why we don't keep a man up on the half way line when the opposition has a set piece. We have pacy forwards who would tie up a CB, and perhaps provide an outlet from a clearance. I'd like to see that relatively small tweak in the last 9 matches. As for taking the shackles off, we're about 4th or 5th in the form table, so very likely we'll continue as we are which is ok.
 
Keep the status quo for me not interested in blooding youth or players who've had little game time and tweeking the system just because it could slightly be more entertaining.

I want us to win games it's very easy with the better quality of players a lot of teams have in this league if we do any of the above we could get spanked.
 
Chunkylad said:
Not sure if it’s like the Prem as far as prize money is concerned however our league finish position will influence players who we might sign.

If we finish 10th or even maybe 8th, we are more likely to convince that Prem wonder kid to take a risk on us than if we finish 17th and are perceived as potential relegation candidates not promotion candidates next season.
They’re not likely to say, “well they were just experimenting in those final 4 defeats”?

All supposition of course 😁

(Nice debate junior!)
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Finishing 8th to 10th would mean consolidation and looking good for next season but a poor end would do our confidence no good going into the next campaign. So keep going the way we are and pick up points without going gung ho!
I also think that Critch will give more game time to some of the lads who haven’t been given a chance so far to give them Championship experience and to have a good look at them.
 
I think we will see more of Kirk, Dale and Beasley towards the end of the season. I thought Forest looked decent against a strong Liverpool side yesterday so don't expect too many changes from Sheff Utd.
 
Let's see what happens against Forest and then he'll know how important the PNE game is to us.
Happy to take the shackles off when we can't get in the Play Offs but not before.
 
One thing we could do is to not sit so deep and play a high line, high press game, putting the opposition under pressure, and trying to win the ball and play in their half. That would be positive in my view, as I feel we often sit very deep and play a containing game that gives the opponents lots of possession.
 
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