Critchley got everything wrong last night.

Shiggy

Shiggy

Well-known member
I don't understand the logic in starting the biggest game of the season with a formation we've barely used.

I don't understand why Ethan Robson was able to play a full 90 minutes. I know he's barely played and it's a difficult game to come into but he was completely off it.

I don't understand the Madine sub. Once we take him off and then start playing it long, we have absolutely no outlet.

I don't understand his post-match comments. How can you come away from that game and say we were the better team?

Easily our worst performance of the season. Also the first time I've watched us this season and thought the players could have given more.​
 
I was not in agreement in making wholesale changes to the team on another thread the other day, but after that shit show its time to give some of the fringe players a run out and tell them to play with freedom.
 
Shiggy said:
I don't understand the logic in starting the biggest game of the season with a formation we've barely used.

I don't understand why Ethan Robson was able to play a full 90 minutes. I know he's barely played and it's a difficult game to come into but he was completely off it.

I don't understand the Madine sub. Once we take him off and then start playing it long, we have absolutely no outlet.

I don't understand his post-match comments. How can you come away from that game and say we were the better team?

Easily our worst performance of the season. Also the first time I've watched us this season and thought the players could have given more.​
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Robson was far far more on it than Dougall was. I actually thought considering everything Robson had a decent enough game.

Hamilton was atrocious, along with Dougall. Madine had a poor game and barely won a header. We had a job done on us last night by an average team.

Connolly and Bowler couldn't get anything going as one isn't a right back, this left Bowler with two people on him again.

Archer is a superb player in the making, even if he was a total ** knobhead. Sort of player you'd love at your own club.
 
SeasideKurt said:
Robson was far far more on it than Dougall was. I actually thought considering everything Robson had a decent enough game.

Hamilton was atrocious, along with Dougall. Madine had a poor game and barely won a header. We had a job done on us last night by an average team.

Connolly and Bowler couldn't get anything going as one isn't a right back, this left Bowler with two people on him again.

Archer is a superb player in the making, even if he was a total ** knobhead. Sort of player you'd love at your own club.
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Robson and Dougall were both as bad as each other for me.

Agree about CJ and Madine but even so I think Madine has to stay on for that final period when we start going long more.

Agree about Archer. Blood boiling when he shushes the away fans but if one of ours did that we'd love it. Great finish.
 
Shiggy said:
I don't understand the logic in starting the biggest game of the season with a formation we've barely used.

I don't understand why Ethan Robson was able to play a full 90 minutes. I know he's barely played and it's a difficult game to come into but he was completely off it.

I don't understand the Madine sub. Once we take him off and then start playing it long, we have absolutely no outlet.

I don't understand his post-match comments. How can you come away from that game and say we were the better team?

Easily our worst performance of the season. Also the first time I've watched us this season and thought the players could have given more.​
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I think pretty much the opposite tbh.

Robson only played cis we were so short. I understand why he played.

The Madine sub made sense, we need change, and mobility.

The post match comments were what managers do, speak up and support the players, who did put a shift in.

Not our worst performance of the season, but far from our best.
 
voyeur said:
I think pretty much the opposite tbh.

Robson only played cis we were so short. I understand why he played.

The Madine sub made sense, we need change, and mobility.

The post match comments were what managers do, speak up and support the players, who did put a shift in.

Not our worst performance of the season, but far from our best.
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I understand why Robson started. I don't understand why he played 90 minutes.

If he was going to take Madine off he should have done it earlier. Yates and Lavery were never going to get a sniff that late in the game.

Managers are allowed to come out after the game and admit we were second best. Critchley's comments actually infuriated me last night.

For me it was the worst performance, because of the situation in which it happened. Why did we pick Preston away to look miles off the pace and toothless?
 
Shiggy said:
I understand why Robson started. I don't understand why he played 90 minutes.

If he was going to take Madine off he should have done it earlier. Yates and Lavery were never going to get a sniff that late in the game.

Managers are allowed to come out after the game and admit we were second best. Critchley's comments actually infuriated me last night.

For me it was the worst performance, because of the situation in which it happened. Why did we pick Preston away to look miles off the pace and toothless?
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I didn't feel there was anything between the sides. A mate who supports Bolton texted me on the final whistle with 3 simple words, "Nowt in it". Spot on IMO.
 
SeasideKurt said:
Robson was far far more on it than Dougall was. I actually thought considering everything Robson had a decent enough game.

Hamilton was atrocious, along with Dougall. Madine had a poor game and barely won a header. We had a job done on us last night by an average team.

Connolly and Bowler couldn't get anything going as one isn't a right back, this left Bowler with two people on him again.

Archer is a superb player in the making, even if he was a total ** knobhead. Sort of player you'd love at your own club.
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Appreciate you were there but watching it on tv, Robson had a shocker. He just never got involved and the commentator barely mentioned his name at all. Simply because he was never where the ball was. On the other hand Dougall was constantly involved but was very poor. Agree with the rest of your post.
 
voyeur said:
I didn't feel there was anything between the sides. A mate who supports Bolton texted me on the final whistle with 3 simple words, "Nowt in it". Spot on IMO.
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Even so, that doesn't change the fact it was a really poor and underwhelming performance
 
voyeur said:
I think pretty much the opposite tbh.

Robson only played cis we were so short. I understand why he played.

The Madine sub made sense, we need change, and mobility.

The post match comments were what managers do, speak up and support the players, who did put a shift in.

Not our worst performance of the season, but far from our best.
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and I disagree with that. Already pointed out to you the alternatives. Sure we needed change and mobility no problem with the theory. But the reality was we started going even longer with the ball after he'd gone off and there was very little mobility or movement from any of the players up front. Not far off out worst performance of the season, simply because we were no threat whatsoever. Never looked like scoring.
 
agree with o/p with regards to offensively Critch got the team badly wrong. Already been shown that just one man up front doesn't work for us and Keshi ain't no no 10.
 
20togo said:
Appreciate you were there but watching it on tv, Robson had a shocker. He just never got involved and the commentator barely mentioned his name at all. Simply because he was never where the ball was. On the other hand Dougall was constantly involved but was very poor. Agree with the rest of your post.
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Probably need to watch it back then, felt Robson was quite involved. Difficult game to watch really. Cagey and both sides were poor.
 
voyeur said:
I didn't feel there was anything between the sides. A mate who supports Bolton texted me on the final whistle with 3 simple words, "Nowt in it". Spot on IMO.
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There wasn't much between the sides, you are right. But it's still right to say they looked much more of a threat than us and once they'd scored we hadn't a clue how to break them down when they just sat back in the second half.
 
20togo said:
and I disagree with that. Already pointed out to you the alternatives. Sure we needed change and mobility no problem with the theory. But the reality was we started going even longer with the ball after he'd gone off and there was very little mobility or movement from any of the players up front. Not far off out worst performance of the season, simply because we were no threat whatsoever. Never looked like scoring.
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Scant alternatives. We have been set up to play with Madine. We lack midfield craft. We got kicked and pulled all night long. Thugball.
 
Shiggy said:
Robson and Dougall were both as bad as each other for me.

Agree about CJ and Madine but even so I think Madine has to stay on for that final period when we start going long more.

Agree about Archer. Blood boiling when he shushes the away fans but if one of ours did that we'd love it. Great finish.
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I don't know why we have become a team that relies so much on a big centre forward that rarely delivers.
Maybe we shouldn't keep going long and find a way that makes us less predictable, probably need 4 or 5 players of higher quality in the squad to do this.
If that doesn't happen in the summer I think the over reliance on an aging Madine will see us struggle next season.
 
voyeur said:
Scant alternatives. We have been set up to play with Madine. We lack midfield craft. We got kicked and pulled all night long. Thugball.
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but we have to be able to deal with that. Yes we lack midfield craft but that's been the case for most games all season. Our weakness because of the one dimension of how we play got badly exposed last night. By a very poor team. And it's been the same in ac few other games too. Brum and Derby away being examples.
 
gjr69 said:
I don't know why we have become a team that relies so much on a big centre forward that rarely delivers.
Maybe we shouldn't keep going long and find a way that makes us less predictable, probably need 4 or 5 players of higher quality in the squad to do this.
If that doesn't happen in the summer I think the over reliance on an aging Madine will see us struggle next season.
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I think it's made sense this season and Madine has overperformed imo.

However I'd like to see us change things up for next season.
 
gjr69 said:
I don't know why we have become a team that relies so much on a big centre forward that rarely delivers.
Maybe we shouldn't keep going long and find a way that makes us less predictable, probably need 4 or 5 players of higher quality in the squad to do this.
If that doesn't happen in the summer I think the over reliance on an aging Madine will see us struggle next season.
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Madine has done well for us for two seasons now but that assessment is right. We need to find some-one similar but with far more mobility. Maybe Beesley can be the answer.
 
Can't say Robson had a shocker because he never got into the game.
Crazy thing was he blazed two decent chances high and wide, one in each half. Can't think of any other contribution. I'd have been happier if he'd kicked a couple of Nobbers in midfield but wherever the ball was he wasn't, apart from the two chances.
 
20togo said:
but we have to be able to deal with that. Yes we lack midfield craft but that's been the case for most games all season. Our weakness because of the one dimension of how we play got badly exposed last night. By a very poor team. And it's been the same in ac few other games too. Brum and Derby away being examples.
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I don't really disagree but I think it's about context and seeing the whole picture, the progress made, where we need to develop, and how much it will cost to do what we would like to do. Local derby, scrappy game, shit dirty opposition, balance not quite right, players missing, midfield and attack need addressing but we have coped ok despite being favourites for the drop.

Perspective. And look I hate losing to Preston. I grew up with Preston fans in my family and went to school in Kirkham. I'm 60 though and a little more philosophical than back then. It's not a crime.
 
20togo said:
Madine has done well for us for two seasons now but that assessment is right. We need to find some-one similar but with far more mobility. Maybe Beesley can be the answer.
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We’ll never know unless he gets a chance. Critchley may finally admit now our season is over, neither up nor down, time to see what the others can do. From what I saw of Beesley at Rochdale he’s a similar type of player to Madine but much quicker and more mobile.
 
Goforgoal said:
We’ll never know unless he gets a chance. Critchley may finally admit now our season is over, neither up nor down, time to see what the others can do. From what I saw of Beesley at Rochdale he’s a similar type of player to Madine but much quicker and more mobile.
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I'd get Blackburn out of the way first but I'd have him on the bench. Bowler, Anderson, Hamilton, Dale and Kirk, that's five players for two positions and way too many. Bowler has to play but leave one or two of the others out of the squad altogether and get Beesley on the bench.
 
20togo said:
I'd get Blackburn out of the way first but I'd have him on the bench. Bowler, Anderson, Hamilton, Dale and Kirk, that's five players for two positions and way too many. Bowler has to play but leave one or two of the others out of the squad altogether and get Beesley on the bench.
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Anderson and Hamilton could be left out, neither did anything last night to justify selection. Try Bowler and Kirk, as I said nothing to lose, we will get nothing at Ewood unless changes are made.
 
What we spent on Dale we should have just used to meet the Brannigan price.

NC got a lot wrong last night, but it was trying to make a cake without half the ingredients. We still could have been set-up far better though.
 
voyeur said:
I don't really disagree but I think it's about context and seeing the whole picture, the progress made, where we need to develop, and how much it will cost to do what we would like to do. Local derby, scrappy game, shit dirty opposition, balance not quite right, players missing, midfield and attack need addressing but we have coped ok despite being favourites for the drop.

Perspective. And look I hate losing to Preston. I grew up with Preston fans in my family and went to school in Kirkham. I'm 60 though and a little more philosophical than back then. It's not a crime.
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The whole picture is that we've exceeded expectations from what was expected at the start of the season. But Critchley will know full well that he can't rest on his laurels and that we need to push on. The squad is nowhere near as strong as we thought and to improve next season needs a lot more quality. And of course quality costs! But this same squad would I fear struggle a lot more next season. Said it a few days back, we are in for an interesting summer with the ins and outs.
 
Critch did get it wrong from selection, set up to post match interview. You can’t keep saying you were the better side. I’m all for not getting into the players but take some responsibility and just admit the performance was below par and you got it wrong. I’d have far more respect for that than the tripe he came out with last night.
 
What was most depressing to watch last night was are propensity with just lobbing it up to the front men which came straight back as we never won any balls or second balls. I kept looking to see if we had gnando on the pitch.
That has got to be be the worst performance since Harrogate.
 
Shiggy said:
I don't understand the logic in starting the biggest game of the season with a formation we've barely used.

I don't understand why Ethan Robson was able to play a full 90 minutes. I know he's barely played and it's a difficult game to come into but he was completely off it.

I don't understand the Madine sub. Once we take him off and then start playing it long, we have absolutely no outlet.

I don't understand his post-match comments. How can you come away from that game and say we were the better team?

Easily our worst performance of the season. Also the first time I've watched us this season and thought the players could have given more.​
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Be careful mate, you can’t question Critchley on here without getting pelters
 
Last night Preston had done their homework on us, & I do think we really should have gone for shit or bust, but the team set up was wrong for me & we lost without even a whimper. On what could have been a bore draw, or even a tight win. They weren't really very good either, but not as bad as we were. Injuries didn't help us again, but Critch should have played 2 up front with Kirk for CJ & much that I like Anderson, he's someway off being back to his best.
Compared with the last Championship campaign, I always hated it when Big Ben played (not that I disliked him) but because we always went long. The difference now is we haven't yet become the footballing side we were then & have still managed quite comfortably to consolidate our place in the Championship. These issues have been mentioned many times this season on here, but Rome wasn't built in a day. For the remaining games I'd like to see a few changes, not wholesale as that would be counter productive & any understandings between players would be lost, gradual changes & in the way we play. Next season we will definitely need a few players with some extra quality, not again wholesale change, but the odd one or two. Just cast your minds back & when Charlie Adam was missing, the spark had gone, if memory serves me right we had a 0-0 with the Knobber's on one such occasion.
 
As bad as we were, I believe we’d have won the match had Critch not started Gaz up front, alone. With Keshi in the no.10 role, we needed a mobile link player up front. Keshi would then have been more effective, and our wide players would have carried more threat.

Let’s face it, we were beaten by a very poor Preston. There for the taking and we started with negative intent.

I fail to understand why Critch has such a focus on playing with a big man up front, particularly in isolation. It just doesn’t fit with his coaching background. We have clever and mobile players who can and do cause problems.

If we do the right business, 3-5-2 is my wish for next season. We do though need to keep Marv, he’s been exceptional. Bowler will go, so no point discussing that.

We do have most of the players we need, so I’m not giving up on any of them. The impact of a negative approach is more evident in the performances of talented offensive players, so let’s see if Critch can find the right and consistent balance.
 
20togo said:
The whole picture is that we've exceeded expectations from what was expected at the start of the season. But Critchley will know full well that he can't rest on his laurels and that we need to push on. The squad is nowhere near as strong as we thought and to improve next season needs a lot more quality. And of course quality costs! But this same squad would I fear struggle a lot more next season. Said it a few days back, we are in for an interesting summer with the ins and outs.
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No quarrel with that.
 
20togo said:
There wasn't much between the sides, you are right. But it's still right to say they looked much more of a threat than us and once they'd scored we hadn't a clue how to break them down when they just sat back in the second half.
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Other than one team rattled the bar twice , put the ball in the net and had a couple of half chances to add to their tally …… and the other had zero efforts on target and never once threatened the opponents goal.
 
For me, the negative mentality of passing sideways and backwards has to be sorted out. There were many occasions where players had 10 or 20 yards to run in to, but instead chose to just stand there looking for a pass which, when it came, ended up being backwards because there was no movement up ahead. Why is no one willing to move with the ball into the space? This drags a defender out to them and opens up space for someone else. Defending against static players is the easiest job on the pitch.
And if Bowler has two or three people on him, then there must be space elsewhere. Use it!
 
The pre match rhetoric of ‘play the game, not the occasion’ set the tone for me. Preston played the occasion. Potts flew into a challenge on Husband in the very first minute. Can’t remember one tackle that a Blackpool player fully committed to.
 
voyeur said:
I didn't feel there was anything between the sides. A mate who supports Bolton texted me on the final whistle with 3 simple words, "Nowt in it". Spot on IMO.
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I think you mate is being very generous.

We didn’t hit the bar twice in fact we didn’t have a single shot on target.
We were completely overrun in midfield and simply couldn’t put over a simple free kick/corner.
On Saturday we were beaten by a very good team Tuesday night we were beaten by a poor team as bad as us.
We can argue all day till the cows come home about who should and shouldn’t have played but at the end of the day we were crap worst we’ve played all season.
 
Ya it looked like knob end were set to do a number on us they were really set up with the mind set to play the man not just the ball , I reckon this came from their manager that arse hole Archer was pretty reckless ad should of a straight red bad refereeing obviously
 
doolan_legend said:
The pre match rhetoric of ‘play the game, not the occasion’ set the tone for me. Preston played the occasion. Potts flew into a challenge on Husband in the very first minute. Can’t remember one tackle that a Blackpool player fully committed to.
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Agreed. This mentality worked at our place because we were the stronger of the two sides at the time and had home advantage.

But in a game where they set the tone and went hard into challenges we needed to match that energy.
 
SeasideKurt said:
Robson was far far more on it than Dougall was. I actually thought considering everything Robson had a decent enough game.

Hamilton was atrocious, along with Dougall. Madine had a poor game and barely won a header. We had a job done on us last night by an average team.

Connolly and Bowler couldn't get anything going as one isn't a right back, this left Bowler with two people on him again.

Archer is a superb player in the making, even if he was a total ** knobhead. Sort of player you'd love at your own club.
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Agree on Robson
Tried to play forward passes so do not understand the flack he has been getting.
Presume it was his wayward shooting but at least he had a go rather than pass back to a defender.
Dougall needs resting and start with Connolly and Robson and bring on Virtue for game time. Connolly, Virtue and Robson are more likely to shoot at goal than either Stewart or Dougall
 
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