Critch’s Love Child

I think players alter their efforts slightly when they know they’ve got back to back games. If we’ve won on a Tuesday, undefeated on a Saturday I’d say it’s a decent return.

Also fitness, in terms of legging it about for the full 90 mins at league one level, is nowhere near the super-athleticism that you see in Champions League level players.
 
td53 said:
I disagree. He's a talented player who is in a slump of confidence.

He absolutely tracks. He's not great in the tackle no, but there's a difference between not tracking and pressing and not being strong in the tackle.

He's had the most shots (and shots on target) of anyone bar the strikers and hit woodwork and forced wonder saves this year. He's only started about half the games too. His passing is as accurate as anyone and no, he's not always ambitious with it but that's partly a symptom of confidence and partly I think by design.

I'm not so certain about anything as to say he's definitely going to be a wonderful footballer who will light up Europe (to counter your Kings Lynn viewpoint) but aside from Dembele he's probably the most technically able player we have and I will keep backing him till he's gone, whenever and however that is because as CJ shows, a player can play a lot of the game in their head and it makes a fuck load of difference.

CJ is older and uglier that Carey too and I'm fed up of seeing 'Carey is shit' trotted out as if that's going to inspire the lad to reach his potential.

Give it a few rough games and Dembele will be 'too lightweight, a luxury player, selfish' etc as fans always seem to turn on players with talent first.

Carey isn't at his best no, but he's not 'useless' as being part of several good team performances shows and I'd struggle to say when he's cost us a game or shown a lack of application (he's just shit at tackling) or shown greed or selfishness or whatever. If anything, I wish he'd be a bit less team orientated and follow the Critch mantra with slightly less devotion.
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I agree entirely about slavishly following the Critchley mantra, to quote Monsieur Poirot “ If the little grey cells are not excercised, they grow the rust”. That may be his problem, instead of following instructions to the letter, he should occasionally trust his instincts and do something unexpected.
 
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Albert Ross said:
I agree entirely about slavishly following the Critchley mantra, to quote Monsieur Poirot “ If the little grey cells are not excercised, they grow the rust”. That may be his problem, instead of following instructions to the letter, he should occasionally trust his instincts and do something unexpected.
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This I agree with. Carey looks a tiny little bit like Bowler playing in midfield under mad Mick.
 
NewburyOne said:
Carey got a few complaints but was head and shoulders above Weir. Some of his first touches were scary and his passing was loose to say the least. We need to get Virtue fit.
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I don’t know whats happened to Weir, 10 goals and almost as many assists in a relegated Accy team. Yet here he looks like he has never played before, puzzling.
 
I think there’s only so long you can keep blaming the manager (and not playing them as they’re ‘supposed’ to be played) for a particular player.

Carey is regularly involved in ‘our best goal scoring opportunities’ and he keeps missing them… Whether that’s regularly blasting them over the bar or failing to make contact, he’s the polar opposite of Jordan Rhodes in the goal scoring stakes.

He does obviously ‘have potential’, but at some point we need to see that potential translate into regular competent performances.
 
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was hoping for big things for Carey this year. Maybe he just needs a little bit of luck and he will turn into "The Ghost" for us. Desperately want him to succeed and taking into consideration he is still very young.
 
Shouldn't be playing left wing back or LCB, he's just not comfortable there. I have no problem with Connolly as back up at RWB or on the right in the back three, he's a good player.
 
BFC_BFC_BFC said:
I think there’s only so long you can keep blaming the manager (and not playing them as they’re ‘supposed’ to be played) for a particular player.

Carey is regularly involved in ‘our best goal scoring opportunities’ and he keeps missing them… Whether that’s regularly blasting them over the bar or failing to make contact, he’s the polar opposite of Jordan Rhodes in the goal scoring stakes.

He does obviously ‘have potential’, but at some point we need to see that potential translate into regular competent performances.
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I think you should judge a player by his actions and he's not regularly blasting them over the bar, but drawing saves, hitting woodwork and at times, like anyone, also missing the target. He's had no luck at all this year.

I'm not 'blaming' Critch for his performances. I'm making the entirely reasonable point that Critchley is using him to do a role in a system that suits the system more than it suits Carey. That's fine, the managers first duty is to 'team'

In a rigid system/style you also need players to improvise and use their abilities and instincts.

Bowler did this, Yates did this. Keshi did this.

What I'm saying is Carey is low in confidence and is desperately trying to do the instructions and I wish he could find the confidence to risk a bit more instead of thinking 'passing drill, don't lose it'

I'm genuinely not blaming Critchley for that. He's risked a lot taking Carey from non league and trusting him in the Championship first season up. I'm saying, imho there's more to it than he's shit/good binary viewpoint.
 
td53 said:
I think you should judge a player by his actions and he's not regularly blasting them over the bar, but drawing saves, hitting woodwork and at times, like anyone, also missing the target. He's had no luck at all this year.

I'm not 'blaming' Critch for his performances. I'm making the entirely reasonable point that Critchley is using him to do a role in a system that suits the system more than it suits Carey. That's fine, the managers first duty is to 'team'

In a rigid system/style you also need players to improvise and use their abilities and instincts.

Bowler did this, Yates did this. Keshi did this.

What I'm saying is Carey is low in confidence and is desperately trying to do the instructions and I wish he could find the confidence to risk a bit more instead of thinking 'passing drill, don't lose it'

I'm genuinely not blaming Critchley for that. He's risked a lot taking Carey from non league and trusting him in the Championship first season up. I'm saying, imho there's more to it than he's shit/good binary viewpoint.
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I’m less convinced than you are… I’m not entirely convinced that Carey is restricted to the extent you suggest either…

I’d be interested to see where he’s forced a decent save from the keeper, because from what I’ve seen he rarely hits the target.

Maybe he’s low on confidence, maybe his ability off the field just doesn’t translate into performances on it (he wouldn’t be the first) …. We need to see more from him though, because what we’ve seen so far isn’t good enough.
 
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I think non of the players are useless to be honest, they are all good players at this level, i think unless you have played the game yourself you wont realise how decent they all are.
My opinion that's all
 
BFC_BFC_BFC said:
I’m less convinced than you are… I’m not entirely convinced that Carey is restricted to the extent you suggest either…

I’d be interested to see where he’s forced a decent save from the keeper, because from what I’ve seen he rarely hits the target.

Maybe he’s low on confidence, maybe his ability off the field just doesn’t translate into performances on it (he wouldn’t be the first) …. We need to see more from him though, because what we’ve seen so far isn’t good enough.
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I know for a stone cold fact (cos I do) Sonny isn't being told 'go and create, don't worry about defending' and that's fine. It's perfectly within Critch's gift to use a player as he sees fit and overall Critch is doing more right than wrong.

What irks me though is then how people complain he's not 'doing the role of a 10' as he's 100% not being asked to play that role.

I'm not 'convinced' at all by Sonny's success. I'm convinced of his underlying ability and I'll back him as I want us to bring on players like this and I recognise how he's desperately trying to be a more all round player.

It's the way of it. I feel like now everyone is asking him for more risk and if he starts spraying it about and trying cute through balls and losing it, then everyone will be on his back for that.

Think there's a chance of a very good player still. As I said above, CJ is reborn at 28. Carey is 22 and lacks the same grounding of some other players his age. He may or may not do it. But I'll try and credit him for what he does instead of just trotting out the 'does nothing' line as others seem to do.

Off the top of my head...

Good low save away at Lincoln.
Ridiculous first time effort away at Wycombe that hit bar.
Hit bar with header in home game I forget where lost .. derby I think.
Near post effort whisker wide in same game (I think)
Thunder bastard that keeper stopped away at Charlton
Effort yesterday that he hit cleanly and looked to be going in and was deflected just over top (which was just about it for us, 2nd half but people seem to say he was the reason we stopped attacking even though he literally had that one effort 🤷)

I'm not claiming he's on top form, just that he really, really needs something to go his way cos, like Marvin too, I think he's a bit scarred by last season and like Marvin, comes from non league and maybe has more questions in his own head about his right to be there than players who've never been let go/rejected/had to go and play outside academy/league football level.
 
@td53, the post is not on target… A shot needs to go in the big hole between the posts to score a goal.

Too many wasted opportunities for me and whilst I get where you are coming from with regard to the whole “He’s ** useless” nonsense, I also think we can’t attribute everything to “how he’s being asked to play”.

He’s not the only player who’s not quite reaching their potential this season. I think generally speaking we’ve struggled in the central midfield to find a consistently effective formula.
 
BFC_BFC_BFC said:
@td53, the post is not on target… A shot needs to go in the big hole between the posts to score a goal.

Too many wasted opportunities for me and whilst I get where you are coming from with regard to the whole “He’s ** useless” nonsense, I also think we can’t attribute everything to “how he’s being asked to play”.

He’s not the only player who’s not quite reaching their potential this season. I think generally speaking we’ve struggled in the central midfield to find a consistently effective formula.
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By far the best our midfield has played was Norburn Dougall and Virtue. It is typical of Virtue's complete lack of any luck at all that he establishes himself with an excellent performance and then breaks.

I think the point is (and I agree it's not just 'Nasty Mr Critchley won't let Sonny play playground football', and I think I included quite a lot about how it's in Sonny's mind as much as anything) that if Virtue is the player who has excelled in a role that Morgan, Weir and Carey have all tried to fill, it's probably true that they're not being asked to do the classic '10' role as Virtue is absolutely not that player.

Fair play to Critch for me for giving Dembele the free reign to play last night and fair play to him for taking that chance and also, fair play to Sonny to coming on and doing perfectly fine 🤣
 
I continue to watch Carey and look forward to him having an average game.
Possibly on a winning side cos with him in it we don't often win.Home or away
 
doolan_legend said:
Fair play, I was watching on the tele and the camera angle wasn’t wide enough. Chizzy was adamant he was well off which I obviously didn’t trust one bit.
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I sit looking down the 18 yard box and he was a yard offside the whole time. Even though we were all waving at the linesman he didn't feel like raising his flag. Crap officials once again.
 
Interesting when he talked about him in his interview
'Great at this level and can play much higher'
Clearly a fan!
 
td53 said:
So what did he do wrong last night?

"Waste of space" doesn't explain anything.

I saw him basically play a bit like Grant Ward last night and come as close as anyone to scoring. He was sent on to do what Dembele wasn't doing (track/press the deep midfielder) which he did, retain the ball (he did) and to offer a bit of threat when apt (shot from edge of box deflected just over)

Could you explain what he actually did wrong?
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Retain the ball? When? At what point did he tackle anybody and I agree he had a shot. It was just like many he has had handsome and high . How many goals has he scored? He passes backwards and runs away from the action. That's what he does wrong . Watch him tomorrow if he plays
 
Chesterbfc said:
Connolly and Morgan passable in emergencies .Weir doesn't look great but the gold medal for utter tripe must go to Carey.!!
It doesn't matter whether he starts or comes on as a sub. He s BLOODY USELESS. Runs away from the ball, can't tackle ,only passes backwards ,constantly waving his arms about pointing (looking busy?) Gets a chance to shoot and 9times out of 10 misses. He wouldn't get in B/pool Mecs at present.
Please Mr C get someone else to polish your boots @@
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Please don’t disrespect Blackpool Mechanics I used to play for them in Walter Jepson’s day 😂
 
Chesterbfc said:
Retain the ball? When? At what point did he tackle anybody and I agree he had a shot. It was just like many he has had handsome and high . How many goals has he scored? He passes backwards and runs away from the action. That's what he does wrong . Watch him tomorrow if he plays
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'Retain' means keep. 'Retrieve' means get back. His short was deflected over for a corner.

I'll try watching him aye. I'd never thought of doing that.
 
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