Derby County v Blackpool Official Matchday Thread 29.03.24

Adams Kebab said:
Help if he started wouldn’t it and we played him to get the most out of him.

Of course he needs to score more but at least he gets in the positions.

All the attributes are there but our Head Coach has failed to get the most out of him.
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Yep he’s a good player but zero confidence at the moment.
Whole team looks flat.
 
Insider said:
I've watched us against Lincoln both home and away and I honestly thought, even after the away defeat, that they weren't a very good team. Their current form is unbelievable and all credit to them for playing winning football even though they play 3-5-2.
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That's how easy this division is if you get it right and attack rather than bigging up the opposition, playing possession football and going several games without a shot on target.
 
A_Tense_Grin said:
Because we are predictable rubbish and the disconnect between the club and fans is growing every week. It's all very pointless until change is made.
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I get what you are saying but don’t agree about the pointless bit. I’m still excited at the prospect of 3 winnable home games n only 4 points behind. That said we need Lincoln’s bubble to burst and soon!
Maybe we win 3 on the bounce for first time this season and who knows where that would place us with 3 games left. Won’t be pointless then eh?
 
Adams Kebab said:
I’ve watched him set-up numerous goals and chances that none of our other forwards can.

I’ve watched him change the game v Forest at home.

There is undoubtedly a quality forward in there who we aren’t using effectively or well enough in a shit boring system.

2 goals isn’t anywhere near good enough but if you think he’s useless you know fuck all about football 👍🏼
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Change numerous to a few. Failed at Swansea and with a career to date goalscoring ratio of 1 in 6
I doubt you've played at the level I did so I'll treat your last sentence with the contempt it deserves...imbecile.
 
65 & Counting said:
Change numerous to a few. Failed at Swansea and with a career to date goalscoring ratio of 1 in 6
I doubt you've played at the level I did so I'll treat your last sentence with the contempt it deserves...imbecile.
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Ha ha 🤪

Just think, you could have played higher if you understood what happened in the game you daft bastard 😂👍🏼
 
Marcusbeansontoast said:
Won’t score if we play till midnight. Doomed to continually play into other teams’ game plan. Can’t break a team a team down and refuse to attempt anything other than repeating what’s not worked before
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... Is that not one of the classic signs of madness? Engaging in repetitive patterns of behaviour whilst expecting to see a different outcome?

Maybe that's what's at the core of our continuing problems. The players are all suffering some form of - as yet - undiagnosed psychiatric condition, whereby they are all destined to continue to engage in repetitive forms of behaviour behaviour, in the vain hope they'll (eventually) get to see an altered end-result?

I mean, how else do you logically explain the 'fayre' we've all been exposed to, ad nauseum, throughout the course of this campaign?
 
Lincoln are winning in a 3-5-2 formation. All this talk about formations and tactics. Have we stopped to think that the players aren’t actually good enough
 
bleed_the_freak said:
Because he keeps dropping players.

Like I posted earlier, Dale and Koussa scored on their debuts, both got MOM and both were immediately benched

The same with Dembele, as soon as he found form and looked a cut above, Critch put him back on the bench

Critch wouldn't know a winning team if it leapt on his face and wriggled
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That was before Christmas, move on he isn't going anywhere just accept it.
 
no9 said:
What I don’t get is why he doesn’t change the formation - what’s he got to lose🤷🏿‍♂️
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And therein lies the problem with Citch.

Put him through a word-association test, present him with the word 'formation', ask him what immediately spings to mind,
and, rather than answering with something football-related, I think he'd probably come up with: 'dancing' ...

I mean, speaking personally, I just think the bloke is on a completely different planet to the rest of us ...
 
1966_and_all_that said:
He got us promoted from League One with a very tight defence and some good loans. He kept us in the Championship at a canter. There's the answer. However, since he jumped ship he's become Critchley mk2: obstinate, boring and bereft of ideas.
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I’d argue with the kept us in the Championship at a canter bit. There was never any real pressure of going down that season. Derby had points galore deducted, Posh & Barnsley were abysmal & cut off early doors.
Critchley did do well I will admit MK1
MK2 version needs someone like Calderwood/McCall to tell him his “shit stinks” formations & tactics particularly away from home.
 
bleed_the_freak said:
Nonsense

Dale scored on his debut, set up a 2nd and got MOM - Dropped for next game
Koussi scored on his debut, got MOM - Dropped for next game
Dembelle was on fire - Dropped for two games

Can't blame the players when a manager doesn't know how to pick a winning team
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The last 3 managers have all been like that. Weird really n excuse is that it’s tactical. I get that there should be occasional tactical changes but if the team plays well and gets a good win, then surely you start the next game with the same 11.
I’d be well pissed off and banging on his door if MOTM n then not starting.
 
What are Tweedledum and Tweedledee saying to Critchley when it's patently obvious the tactics and formation aren't working when we go 1.0 down?
 
Insider said:
Spot on 👍.
I'm not defending Critch but I don't think the players are beyond criticism, obviously.
I'm sure when the ball came to Dembele/Byers/Carey/Joseph/+13 he didn't say fcuk it up.
We can all have our scapegoats and there will be a wide ranging selection of them tonight.
I listened to the 2 hour Ollie podcast a while back and he explained how simple he made it for his players and let's be honest who thought that we would end up being so competitive for two thirds of the PL season. It was only when he tried to be clever that the players couldn't cope and we just missed out on another season (fortunately????)
What I'm saying is Critch is too clever for his own good and that doesn't work with the current group of players, who aren’t.
Keep it simple and then it won't really matter what formation we adopt. 3 at the back isn't necessarily defensive that's actually one less defender than playing 4 at the back and yes I know that's over-simplyfying it.
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Players can have poor games. We know that, however, like you said with Ollie, you give the players the best chance to succeed - to all be 7/10 players, yet the team performs at a 9/10, that's a manager.

NC has absolutely no idea how to make the team better than the sum of the parts.

Specifically on your post, I don't think he's too clever at all. He's totally non-flexible and won't adapt to the players he has. He no longer plays CC at LWB or in CD, so by my reckoning by 2032 he'll pick a decent team, formation and tactics.

To me, the WB's are rigid wide and that leaves the midfield short of 1 player....who is in the 3 CB's. The 3 CB's don't really work when under sustained pressure anyway.
 
We’ll win a few games from now until the end of the season and we’ll likely finish a few points adrift. Critchley will get another bite of the cherry next season and time will tell whether it’s the correct decision.

We desperately need to improve our attacking talent if we’re going to mount a serious challenge next season. Without Rhodes we’re toothless and we rely on a bit of Dembele magic and he’s become a marked man and was poor today. Beesley is can be a decent target man who’ll get you a few goals but he can’t be our go to striker. Lavery will move on and I can’t say I’ll be too sad to see him go. Joseph works hard and is good with the ball at his feet but his finishing has been atrocious.

Big changes needed and I think it will be the playing staff rather than the manager.
 
Old_Laytonian said:
4 points off the play offs if.only knobhead had been a "tiny" bit more adventurous...
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Are you completely and utterly mad!? The man is pathologically conditioned to remain within his comfort zone. He will never, no matter how great the reward, be tempted to step outside it. Only once, has he previouly been enticed into taking such a bold step - and that was a few years back when he had some bloke with the initials CC to help guide him on that perilous journey, leaving him (NC) to bask in the glow of the plaudits and accolades - which, more by fault than design, somehow, came flooding his way ...
 
tarantula said:
Are you completely and utterly mad!? The man is pathologically conditioned to remain within his comfort zone. He will never, no matter how great the reward, be tempted to step outside it. Only once, has he previouly been enticed into taking such a bold step - and that was a few years back when he had some bloke with the initials CC to help guide him on that perilous journey, leaving him (NC) to bask in the glow of the plaudits and accolades - which, more by fault than design, somehow, came flooding his way ...
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🤣
 
fcblackpool said:
Players can have poor games. We know that, however, like you said with Ollie, you give the players the best chance to succeed - to all be 7/10 players, yet the team performs at a 9/10, that's a manager.

NC has absolutely no idea how to make the team better than the sum of the parts.

Specifically on your post, I don't think he's too clever at all. He's totally non-flexible and won't adapt to the players he has. He no longer plays CC at LWB or in CD, so by my reckoning by 2032 he'll pick a decent team, formation and tactics.

To me, the WB's are rigid wide and that leaves the midfield short of 1 player....who is in the 3 CB's. The 3 CB's don't really work when under sustained pressure anyway.
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I think you took the "too clever" too literally or more likely I should have used a better description.
 
Insider said:
Spot on 👍.
I'm not defending Critch but I don't think the players are beyond criticism, obviously.
I'm sure when the ball came to Dembele/Byers/Carey/Joseph/+13 he didn't say fcuk it up.
We can all have our scapegoats and there will be a wide ranging selection of them tonight.
I listened to the 2 hour Ollie podcast a while back and he explained how simple he made it for his players and let's be honest who thought that we would end up being so competitive for two thirds of the PL season. It was only when he tried to be clever that the players couldn't cope and we just missed out on another season (fortunately????)
What I'm saying is Critch is too clever for his own good and that doesn't work with the current group of players, who aren’t.
Keep it simple and then it won't really matter what formation we adopt. 3 at the back isn't necessarily defensive that's actually one less defender than playing 4 at the back and yes I know that's over-simplyfying it.
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Sorry, Insider, but I think you're guilty of crediting Critch with a much greater level of intelligence than he deserves. You almost make him out to be some kind of deity figure, residing on a slightly higher level to that which we mere mortals are forced to occupy ...

How mistaken can you be!?!? The man is a complete and utter fraud. There are only two people I can think of who have fallen for his carefully manufactured schtick: you, and SS.

Show me a list of his achievements, and I'll show you a man still living off the glories of a fellow professional who just quietly went about his business, whilst mentoring his immediate senior who was then still learning 'the ropes' in his first season in charge as manager at a newly promoted Division 1 club.

I would imagine, even now, Cricth is still counting his blessings ...
 
A_Tense_Grin said:
Got to the point where I don't give a shit. Think that sums up the Critchley 2 era.
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It sums it up for you but not for the masses. I still believe we are in with a chance of 6th. It means winning probably 5 or even all remaining games but it’s all to play for. Win Monday first and see if anyone else drops points then onto the next one.
If n when others drop points we could even be in 6th with a couple of games to go and ours to lose.
Of course we have been ** about with possession and not enough attacking intent but at home it’s worked with the backing of those fans who still believe…. Like half the north stand for instance.
This is similar to the perfect ten season where most were negative and I’ll bet you were for sure 😆 but some believed and that number grew with each victory.
It can happen again for sure.
I’ll be singing my head off as always and backing the team.
Do you attend the games then?
 
Notathome said:
At the end of the day, without Rhodes, we have no clinical finisher. They cost money, which the club does not have.
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Swapping Yates for a player and some cash has cost us this season, Joseph is not a natural finisher he has had some good chances but doesn’t score enough for a forward. None of our midfield score enough goals and cant shoot. I thought Byers might be that goal scoring midfielder but he misses some chances too. We are not clinical enough hence why we are struggling.
 
The way I see it you have to break it down. Critchley is a stubborn, boring football coach, he isn’t a manager. There is no denying he was successful when he had Calderwood and McCall by his side, that is never going to happen again, it’s him and the Thomson Twins, he will not accept someone experienced alongside him any more, he is too vain for that. He is trying to make a silk purse out of a sows ear, Ollie was masterful at doing that, Critchley’s silk purse s still a pigs ear, he’s a coach, an under 23’s coach at a top epl side where he has the youngsters to play the way he wants and where it doesn't actually matter, so that is where he belongs.

To play like a Man City or a Liverpool, then you need the players to do so, we have not got those players, we’re league one FFS, so that takes us to the players. Take away the loans and we have a mid to lower table league one side. In fact had we not got Rhodes, Dembele and Coulson then I think we would be scrapping in the bottom half. The squad of our own players has continually weakened and this summer there needs to be a big clear out, The tactics have kicked the stuffing out of them and it shows. Joseph is not a bad player, in fact he here is a lot to like, but when he is getting 20 minutes here, 15 minutes there, the odd 90 minutes and sometimes none how is he ver going to get going? He isn’t.

This takes me onto the recruitment team. Loans have been decent this season but our actual signing of players has been poor and getting worse as the last 3 seasons have gone. Missing out on the likes of Brannigan and Bishop were nforgivanle, good finds mind you so why have we failed with sgning players like this? That takes me onto point 3.

Sadler. For all the good he has done and is doing we can only be thankful but at the end of the day he can’t take all the plaudits for all the great stuff he has done and then hide behind it and not expect criticism when there are obvious mistakes being made in regards the football side, particularly recruitment of players, managers and support staff. I give you: Grayson, Critchley (Calderwood/McCall), Appleton, McSaurus, Dobbie and the Critchley mk2, that is as boring a set of managers as we could have had Sadler admitted from day one he had no experience re football other than being a supporter but it is also known that he will want total control and the fact we have had such a high turnover at director and high level appointments that it is his way or the highway.

So taking those points into consideration I believe we have a poor coach for league 1 who is also a really poor manager, the squad of players are not as good as they were in 2020 although they are made worse by Critchley’s tactics. The recruitment team haven’t earned their corn yet but how much of that is financial restraint (Branagan/Bishop) and lastly are we being hampered by the man who oversees it all because of his lack of experience coupled with his intransigence, something that can be levelled at Critchley too.

We won’t make the play offs, we don’t deserve to, even though it is still possible. It’s been a poor 2 and a half seasons and our trajectory is down I’m afraid. Keep Critchley for next season and I predict a bottom half of league 1 finish. Things need to liven up, the football needs to be entertaining to watch and we need a manager who can bring that. Sadly we know it will be Critchley or bust next season.
 
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I could never bet against my team but if this season anyone bet for the opposition to score first and win one nil they would have coined it in. Once Derby scored you knew the end result 🤷🏽‍♂️ stop blaming the player critch
 
65 & Counting said:
Another yellow bellied keyboard warrior who'd shit himself in the real world. Coward.
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Are you a parody account? Must have missed it.

You’ve said Kyle Joseph was useless?

I said he isn’t and you don’t understand football.

You said I’ve not played at the level you have & I’m an imbecile?

I’ve said you could have played higher if you understand football you daft bastard.

If that makes someone yellow bellied and a coward then Kyle Joseph would think the same about you wouldn’t he. Big lad.
 
maxnix said:
And now Carey. Had a decent ish game and then he does that. Pathetic the lot of them
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He has had a good game. Showed great energy throughout. It was a tired shot.
He was in great form up until the Christmas break then Critchley hardly played him over the Christmas period. He then drifted out of the pic. I don't understand why. He was just getting better and better. His pass today that set up our best chance was superb.
 
NewburyOne said:
He's not the only one but yet again today he's missed a glorious chance. The rest cost bobbins but this lad cost the club close on £1M. That's why I'm more critical of him.
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I thought their goalie made a good save. Sometimes you just need that bit of luck
 
20togo said:
Critch will say we dominated possession.
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We, are easy to play against, teams happily allow us to have possession as our build up is so slow and predictable it inevitably runs out of steam and we lose our way.
We have few players willing to take a chance and commit defenders, nearly always take the safe option.
 
Adams Kebab said:
Are you a parody account? Must have missed it.

You’ve said Kyle Joseph was useless?

I said he isn’t and you don’t understand football.

You said I’ve not played at the level you have & I’m an imbecile?

I’ve said you could have played higher if you understand football you daft bastard.

If that makes someone yellow bellied and a coward then Kyle Joseph would think the same about you wouldn’t he. Big lad.
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Your family may put up with your stupidity but I won't. Joseph is crap, that's why he's left out of the side. You need to watch, listen and learn from those who have been involved in the game.
 
Sven said:
We’ll win a few games from now until the end of the season and we’ll likely finish a few points adrift. Critchley will get another bite of the cherry next season and time will tell whether it’s the correct decision.

We desperately need to improve our attacking talent if we’re going to mount a serious challenge next season. Without Rhodes we’re toothless and we rely on a bit of Dembele magic and he’s become a marked man and was poor today. Beesley is can be a decent target man who’ll get you a few goals but he can’t be our go to striker. Lavery will move on and I can’t say I’ll be too sad to see him go. Joseph works hard and is good with the ball at his feet but his finishing has been atrocious.

Big changes needed and I think it will be the playing staff rather than the manager.
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Just giving him another go would be a big mistake imo if we do finish as now expected and miss out and also if we show no real signs of improvement.

He's shown nothing to suggest he's got it as a decent manager with us this time, his last 2 jobs didn't go well.

Add to that when here he struggled at first with a big budget side and only when an experienced assistant came in did we do well.

I'm not saying he's not responsible for any of it but you have to question how good he actually is or was.

I guess if anyone at the club disagrees and thinks many of the players are actually good enough, then it's the coaching staff and setup that's not getting a bit more from them, then I'm not so sure he'd survive, despite what was said.

I understand sticking with and building but you have to be at least moving in the right direction.

Have we actually improved from the first game, where we won comfortably?
 
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ElBurroSinNombre said:
Joseph is a prospect, not yet the finished article. He will improve. He is not crap.
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Under a real football manager, Kyle Joseph will excel - especially if paired with a genuinely suitable foil. A young Brian Clough (for one example) would have him England-ready if given the opportunity. That’s a pointer to how bad our club is presently being run.
 
only just watched the game, not a great watch and a gane we could have won. we were far too ponderous, and slow in the build up. not a great deal of movement up front. dembele and carey too far away from beesley so couldnt get much penetrative attacking possession. their goal was a direct result of having every player back, when we clear from a corner it just comes straight back at us. even in the last three or four minutes we had eleven behind the balll at corners, just leave three players up, Derby or an other team arent ging to risk losing a one goal lead.

Critchley is tactically inept. even if by small miracle we make the play-offs and go up, i still think he needs binning.
 
Costero Poderoso said:
only just watched the game, not a great watch and a gane we could have won. we were far too ponderous, and slow in the build up. not a great deal of movement up front. dembele and carey too far away from beesley so couldnt get much penetrative attacking possession. their goal was a direct result of having every player back, when we clear from a corner it just comes straight back at us. even in the last three or four minutes we had eleven behind the balll at corners, just leave three players up, Derby or an other team arent ging to risk losing a one goal lead.

Critchley is tactically inept. even if by small miracle we make the play-offs and go up, i still think he needs binning.
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Does seem mad that even with a couple of minutes to go, 1-0 down, we keep every player back for a corner.

There must be a statistic that tells Critchley we have more chance of scoring as well as not conceding if we have 11 players in the box to defend a corner🤷🏿‍♂️

Got to admire his unwavering belief in how we are going to play no matter what.
 
Beachcomber said:
Under a real football manager, Kyle Joseph will excel - especially if paired with a genuinely suitable foil. A young Brian Clough (for one example) would have him England-ready if given the opportunity. That’s a pointer to how bad our club is presently being run.
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That's a reasonable post.
 
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