Critchley style of play

Tangerine_Dream

Tangerine_Dream

Well-known member
Just having a thought on Critchley style of play, whether he will try and copy the Klopp/Liverpool u23's style.

If he does go down this route then I wonder who of our current crop would fit into this high tempo pressing style.

Feeney probably keeps his role as RWB (similar to trent) bombing forward.
Maxwell could well be offered a longer term deal as he's impressed me and also plays more of a 'sweeper' role.
We don't really have any out and out wingers do we? Maybe Delfouneso can do a job on the left wing.

I don't see Gnando signing a new deal and it's maybe a blessing in disguise we haven't tied him down to a bigger contract as i'm not sure I see him fitting into that style of play.

This being said, he may have his own ideas how football should be played and go down a completely different route.
 
Players at league 1 level would need to up their fitness levels to make "Der gegenpresse" work. Still, would be good to watch if they did go that way and would give a few League 1 teams a shock if we did start to play that way.
 
He said in his interview he wants to play attacking high intensity football so it will be interesting to see who makes the cut
 
So for a bit of silly fun who would our best Liverpool XI equivalents be?

Alison =

Alex-Arnold =
Robertson =
Gomez =
Virgil =

Henderson =
Fabinho=
Wijnaldum=

Firmino=
Salah=
Mane=

off you go!
 
TangerineDream said:
Players at league 1 level would need to up their fitness levels to make "Der gegenpresse" work. Still, would be good to watch if they did go that way and would give a few League 1 teams a shock if we did start to play that way.
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It's a bit like the 6 second rule Evatt is doing from a pep style.

Any players can do it with right coaching, just wont do it as well as better players.

If conference players can do it....
 
The current midfield 3 would fit pretty seamlessly into Klopp's formation, the rest, I'm not so sure.

McDonald maybe, and Kaikai if his work rate significantly improved.
 
Wizaard said:
So after 12 games with a back four when we failed to win and back to back games with a back 3 resulting in wins, you'd change? Early this season we went well with 3 at the back. Grayson changed to 4 and the wheels came off. Just saying...
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Until he's had the opportunity to work with the players for a decent length of time, certainly not 4 1/2 days before the Fleetwood game, I can't see him changing to 4 at the back (if he plans to at all) due to the reasons you mention.
 
If he's got anything about him as a coach, he should be looking at the BLACKPOOL squad and working out what system gets the most out of it. That could be 4-3-3, 3-5-2, 4-1-4-1 or something totally new. As Wiz says, in the short-term, there's no obvious reason to change the current situation.
 
Wizaard said:
So after 12 games with a back four when we failed to win and back to back games with a back 3 resulting in wins, you'd change? Early this season we went well with 3 at the back. Grayson changed to 4 and the wheels came off. Just saying...
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Maybe not this season but maybe next when he has chance to recruit his own players. 433 is a high pressing formation (which he described he wishes to play during his interview). Under Holloway, high pressing, attacking football, 433!!

We rode our luck at the start of the season, evidently.
 
Pool_Attendant said:
So for a bit of silly fun who would our best Liverpool XI equivalents be?

Alison = Maxwell

Alex-Arnold = Feeney
Robertson = MacDonald
Gomez = Heneghan
Virgil =Moore

Henderson = Spearing
Fabinho = Dewsbury-Hall
Wijnaldum= Ronan

Firmino= Nuttall
Salah=Kaikai
Mane=Delfouneso

off you go!
Click to expand...

Safe to say we would need to buy (or loan) a fair few players in summer if that's the route he wants to go down, plenty of square pegs in round holes there.
 
straightatthewall said:
If he's got anything about him as a coach, he should be looking at the BLACKPOOL squad and working out what system gets the most out of it. That could be 4-3-3, 3-5-2, 4-1-4-1 or something totally new. As Wiz says, in the short-term, there's no obvious reason to change the current situation.
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No no no, couldn't disagree more. That is the old fashioned and outdated way of thinking. Modern progressive managers have a cast iron philosophy and stick to it. Get the culture you want running through the club from day one. Players who cant adapt to the new identity of the team should be discarded.

He has a honeymoon period now to implement his plan regardless of a short termist focus on results and he should use the time to imbed his philosophies into the players and not go altering his beliefs to suit the squad. He can use the remainder of the season to asses who will fit his system and work on finding replacements for those who don't in the summer.
 
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Pool_Attendant said:
So for a bit of silly fun who would our best Liverpool XI equivalents be?

Alison = Maxwell

Alex-Arnold = Feeney
Robertson = MacDonald
Gomez = Heneghan ?
Virgil = Taylor Moore

Henderson = Virtue
Fabinho= Spearing
Wijnaldum= KDH

Firmino= Madine (links the play well?)
Salah= KaiKai?
Mane= Ronan

off you go!
Click to expand...
 
It will be interesting what he makes of Kai Kai. If he can develop his intensity over 90 mins
we'll have a very good player who should be in the first eleven given this where to happen.
 
StanleySeasider said:
Alison = Maxwell

Alex-Arnold = Feeney
Robertson = MacDonald
Gomez = Heneghan ?
Virgil = Taylor Moore

Henderson = Virtue
Fabinho= Spearing
Wijnaldum= KDH

Firmino= Madine (links the play well?)
Salah= KaiKai?
Mane= Ronan
Click to expand...
Yeah i'd pretty much go with that for now...Someone in the Firmino role though is I think is the toughest position to fill in L1. Maybe there's someone in Liverpools U23 we could pinch on loan next season.
 
He has been chosen for the managers job by the Board based on the style of play he instilled at Liverpool's U23 level, so I wouldn't expect to him deviate too much from that other than a few tweaks based on the standard and quality of players available to him here. However, he will no doubt be assessing the players to the end of the season and bring in some new blood in the summer. Could be exciting times ahead, but for those players who can't pass the ball, trap it or shin it out of play then they may be on their way out!
 
TangerineDream said:
and yet... when they put the Lpool kids in against Shrewsbury they didn't exactly overrun them did they?
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So whats your point??? Because Liverpools kids didnt wipe the floor with Shrewsbury what?? Somehow that devalues his tactical setup?? Really not getting your point?
 
Pool_Attendant said:
No no no, couldn't disagree more. That is the old fashioned and outdated way of thinking. Modern progressive managers have a cast iron philosophy and stick to it. Get the culture you want running through the club from day one. Players who cant adapt to the new identity of the team should be discarded.

He has a honeymoon period now to implement his plan regardless of a short termist focus on results and he should use the time to imbed his philosophies into the players and not go altering his beliefs to suit the squad. He can use the remainder of the season to asses who will fit his system and work on finding replacements for those who don't in the summer.
Click to expand...

We'll have to disagree on this one attendant. It's ok having a philosophy, but you also have to be pragmatic about the situation around you. Pep has a philosophy. He's also had access to a bevy of world class players everywhere he's played to put that philosophy across. If he tried it with us - or someone tried to copy his philosophy with us, it would fail because you'd never get the quality you needed to make it work.

Critchley is coming from a set up that has the pick of the crop year after year and can afford to play to a consistent approach set by the first team manager because results have only ever mattered in terms of getting talent through to the first team or getting revenue from farming them out to other EPL or Championship clubs who can't afford to outright buy them.

If Critchley wants to impose a cast-iron philosophy through the club then he also need to control all recruitment too. And that isn't going to happen for a number of reasons; not least because we'll always be constrained on budget.
 
Good coaching can transform a player. Vaughan, Adam, GTF & Ormerod began in teams that usually played 442, but adapted brilliantly to a bold 433.
We may be pleasantly surprised at how some of our current crop can change their roles and become better, more effective footballers.
 
Have we currently got a striker who could up our goals tally?
No one, except Gnando is scoring on a regular basis. If Gnando doesn't sign a new contract soon we will need someone who
can turn chances into goals.
 
When i look at Ollie's teams, i see an approach that got the best out of what he had, whilst keeping a general style of play in mind.

The promotion team was driven by Charlie and everything we did was set up to get the most out of him. In terms of players like GTF and Brett, both had been around plenty long enough to understand the finer points of the game and were also willing to work really hard for the team.

When we lost Charlie and David Vaughan, Ollie changed things a little with the emphasis away from playing through one specific playmaker and towards a more fluid style that got the front 4 (Ince, Matt Phillips, GTF and Dobbie) interchanging and creating different problems.
 
straightatthewall said:
We'll have to disagree on this one attendant. It's ok having a philosophy, but you also have to be pragmatic about the situation around you. Pep has a philosophy. He's also had access to a bevy of world class players everywhere he's played to put that philosophy across. If he tried it with us - or someone tried to copy his philosophy with us, it would fail because you'd never get the quality you needed to make it work.

Critchley is coming from a set up that has the pick of the crop year after year and can afford to play to a consistent approach set by the first team manager because results have only ever mattered in terms of getting talent through to the first team or getting revenue from farming them out to other EPL or Championship clubs who can't afford to outright buy them.

If Critchley wants to impose a cast-iron philosophy through the club then he also need to control all recruitment too. And that isn't going to happen for a number of reasons; not least because we'll always be constrained on budget.
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I absolutely take your point about pragmatism I think this debate is one of the hottest in football coaching circles right now. Neville and Carragher are forever arguing about it, and for all the success stories of Pep and Klopp etc there are failures also like Emery, who weren't able to impose their philosophies successfully.

I think however that we shouldn't constrain ourselves into thinking that it's simply a luxury for the Elite and richest clubs, just because we are a L1 team with L1 players they can still be coached up to play a certain way. I know this isn't the day to bring them into the conversation but that's exactly what Evo is doing at Barrow, Nathan Jones also did it at Luton and I'm sure there are probably other lower league managers who have had success doing it also.

I think this is exactly why the board have appointed him because we want that identity, we want to play a certain way, we want to be a progressive forward-thinking club, and if everything is run correctly and joined up as it should be behind the scenes then Tommy Johnson and his recruitment staff will all be on board with that way of thinking and pulling in the same direction recruitment wise.

I just think we are trying to apply and use the modern football club template and all at the club should be congratulated for that and as such we should be all in on that approach and not fall into the trap of fudging our (hopefully) new found beliefs for short term results. Of course, it could all go horribly horribly wrong and you may well be correct that we should adopt a more pragmatic approach but personally i say lets got for it
 
JJpool said:
It's a bit like the 6 second rule Evatt is doing from a pep style.

Any players can do it with right coaching, just wont do it as well as better players.

If conference players can do it....
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Oxford seemed to do that to us in the home this season. Whener we have the ball they seems to have 2 or 3 players snapping at our heels and possession was turned over.
 
I agree we should be brave and work towards playing the Liverpool way but Critchley may be in for a steep learning curve. We played a high pressing game against Bolton and were exhausted in second half. It is vital that we as fans are patient while Critchley builds the team to capable of playing his way.
 
I can't see Gnando, Madine, Turton, Husband and a few others fitting in to his ethos. Expect big changes in the summer.
 
Ghosts of Electricity said:
Oxford seemed to do that to us in the home this season. Whener we have the ball they seems to have 2 or 3 players snapping at our heels and possession was turned over.
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Yeah and although we beat them, that kind of game and chances would probably result in an oxford win most the time. If we were doing it, add in a few Sadler gems up front and if we convert a few chances you win most games. Easy isnt it this football lark...
 
Coincidentally I was saying to friend a while back that of all the top teams in Europe that Liverpool's style is the one that could translate to lower league football. As others have mentioned in this thread I think if we were trying to emulate let's say Man City or Barca's style with L1 players then that really would be an unrealistic proposition, even tho Evo seems to be doing ok trying it.

Liverpool's philosophy is as much to do with hard work and mental application as it is to do with skill. The high press can be trained into any pro if you can get their fitness levels and their mental attitude right. Then it's all about the system, The two fullbacks who essentially play as wingbacks supplying the crosses. Two solid centre-halves protected by three primarily defensive-minded midfielders whose main attacking responsibility is to provide simple balls into the front three rather than try to unlock defences and create chances themselves. That defensive discipline provides the foundation to allow the wingbacks to push up and provide the width and from there it's all about the pace and skill of the forward wide players and the clever creative link-up play of the false 9.

So why can't we try and reproduce a "lite" version of that?

Obviously, it's not quite that simple, we are never going to have the world-class players Liverpool have but finding 2 solid centre-halves and 3 disciplined centre mids isn't that hard at our level, were not far off that now with what we already have, pacey winger/forwards we're lacking but again they've never been that hard to find, we've had a few in our time, and wingbacks that can cross surely not impossible to find, again Feeney and MacDonald may even be up to it, I think the toughest position to replicate is that false 9 role.

Dunno maybe I'm getting a bit giddy with optimism but I cant wait to see us try!!

UTMP!!
 
If we want to play the Liverpool way, there will plenty of changes in the summer.

A strong midfield and a quick powerful front three. Can’t think of many in the squad that fit into that, maybe Vertue and KaiKai. Fitness is a massive thing as well. Nothing good coaching can’t solve.

Liking forward to it.
 
One E in Evatt said:
I agree we should be brave and work towards playing the Liverpool way but Critchley may be in for a steep learning curve. We played a high pressing game against Bolton and were exhausted in second half. It is vital that we as fans are patient while Critchley builds the team to capable of playing his way.
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I agree, he needs time and the players need to gradually improve, if they start charging round they’ll run out of steam or get injured.
 
Personally, I think Hardie will fit in well. Next season I’d expect big things from him.
 
Davepick said:
Have we currently got a striker who could up our goals tally?
No one, except Gnando is scoring on a regular basis. If Gnando doesn't sign a new contract soon we will need someone who
can turn chances into goals.
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I would say that has to be the first thing that he looks at and it's not hard looking at the goals we've scored column. Entertaining football is great but only if you have someone who can put the ball in the net.
 
Cable Cat said:
I would say that has to be the first thing that he looks at and it's not hard looking at the goals we've scored column. Entertaining football is great but only if you have someone who can put the ball in the net.
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I think entertaining football and goals kind of go hand in hand.

We've struggled to play entertaining football this season, with the exception of P'boro and Fleetwood for example, and they're near enough the only games we've scored more than 2 in.

IMO Nuttall, Madine and Hardie (when back) will thrive in a team creating chances and we will be just fine without Gnando (as shown in the last 3 matches).
 
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