It really is a simple fix

Phil_bfc deux

Phil_bfc deux

Well-known member
Lyons on the right and a left footed wingback on the left so we can actually get balls into the box

We simply can't create enough with this inverted nonsense

I would rather have DT play on the left

The other problem is creativity in midfield, we don't have any

We need a proper creative number 10 who has skill and who isn't afraid to take risks

This isn't hindsight or or kneee jerk reaction like most of the other shite I've read, i also dont need coaching qualifications like Critchley to see plainly what the issues are

Sort it out asap or it's going to be a difficult long hard season

oh and sacking the manager isn't going to happen he needs backing not sacking
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
Lyons on the right and a left footed wingback on the left so we can actually get balls into the box

We simply can't create enough with this inverted nonsense

I would rather have DT play on the left

The other problem is creativity in midfield, we don't have any

We need a proper creative number 10 who has skill and who isn't afraid to take risks

This isn't hindsight or or kneee jerk reaction like most of the other shite I've read, i also dont need coaching qualifications like Critchley to see plainly what the issues are

Sort it out asap or it's going to be a difficult long hard season

oh and sacking the manager isn't going to happen he needs backing not sacking
Click to expand...
Big week for recruitment team. 25 players (I think) who count towards the limit at the moment.

This week:

Move on Virtue, Trybull, Tharme.

Bring in LWB, number 8 who can dribble, striker.
 
Agreed. It was painful being there watching CJ on the right yesterday - he simply doesn't have the first touch to bring it down and cut inside and we were persisting with a diagonal ball to him all first half.

Swapping him and Lyons and having i.e. a Keshi in there and we'd have possibly gone in front early on when we had our chances and with all of the possession we had.

Not a million miles away but we need a decisive last week in the transfer window and Critch to start getting those things right.
 
thefutureistangerine said:
Agreed. It was painful being there watching CJ on the right yesterday - he simply doesn't have the first touch to bring it down and cut inside and we were persisting with a diagonal ball to him all first half.

Swapping him and Lyons and having i.e. a Keshi in there and we'd have possibly gone in front early on when we had our chances and with all of the possession we had.

Not a million miles away but we need a decisive last week in the transfer window and Critch to start getting those things right.
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Agreed - and just a little bit of patience from the fans - I know it’s frustrating, but 5 games in - let’s see how the next 5/6 games go . Big game vs Wigan
 
Switching the full backs would certainly help but it would only slightly improve us. The whole formation needs changing to a flat back four. It’s over complicated rubbish. You rely heaving on the midfield creating chances and they aren’t good enough. We need to sign some wingers and quick.

For Critchley to continue playing this lob sided 3-5-2 borders on strange. Critchley needs a plan B and quick otherwise he won’t get the backing from Blackpool fans and rightly so.
 
voyeur said:
Simple fix? The only part of the team that has worked so far is the back 3 and keeper. And Critch seems to have been broken, he's come back to us with zero confidence or courage. How do you fix him?
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The back three haven’t worked either. We have been lucky not conceding and yesterday showed defensively we are just as bad in both boxes.

It’s needs a complete reset or a new manager.
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
It's a fair enough point on the manager

He needs to be brave and set his team up to match this bravery as this safety first football is pointless
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The forwards are not good enough and the rest of the team knows it and is losing heart. It would help if we got the wing backs right obviously but there's a lack of quality up front that needs addressing. But we've pretty much completed our business I think, near as dammit.

I dont think it is a simple fix tbh.
 
Agreed good op. If you play CJ he has to be left wing he hasn’t the intelligence to play anywhere else. Don’t know what Thompson has done wrong if Critchley is insisting on carrying on with this formation then Lyon’s and Thompson would be ideal but played on their natural side. Utter nonsense all this left footers on the right and vice versa unless you have a Robben type player. I like Critchley but this does my head in.
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
Lyons on the right and a left footed wingback on the left so we can actually get balls into the box

We simply can't create enough with this inverted nonsense

I would rather have DT play on the left

The other problem is creativity in midfield, we don't have any

We need a proper creative number 10 who has skill and who isn't afraid to take risks

This isn't hindsight or or kneee jerk reaction like most of the other shite I've read, i also dont need coaching qualifications like Critchley to see plainly what the issues are

Sort it out asap or it's going to be a difficult long hard season

oh and sacking the manager isn't going to happen he needs backing not sacking
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To be fair mate what you have said is what most people have said, it's blindingly obvious!
Barring a disastrous run of results like he had at QPR Critchley is going nowhere so he has to be given 2 or 3 players that will make an actual difference in the coming week.
 
I was saying yesterday that I’d recently seen the Swansea 3-6 highlights (I was there but only saw 2 out of the 9 goals 😂). The attacking play featured players of the calibre of Hoolihan, Morrell, Parker etc. In fact there was quality throughout. Nevermind who we went up with last time, each time we made the playoffs from lge1 we had a much stronger first 11 than we presently offer.
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
It's a fair enough point on the manager

He needs to be brave and set his team up to match this bravery as this safety first football is pointless
Click to expand...
He needs sacking. Playing like that is pure gross incompetence. How many times has it been said that CJ is only worth his place when on the left in the right game?

If Sadler won't bite the bullet and pot him then he has to force an experienced No 2 on him- one that isn't a nodding dog.
 
Football has and always will be a simple game but these so called managers and coaches are strangling the game by trying g to be clever.
Forget the opposition and let them worry about us by playing football how it should be played simple and scoring goals than them.
My pet hates are playing out from the back and square pegs in round holes.
Give Rob Apter a run of 10 full games
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
It's a fair enough point on the manager

He needs to be brave and set his team up to match this bravery as this safety first football is pointless
Click to expand...
He seems to have gone back to that academy mentality, where everything is a learning curve for the players and an opportunity to show what a tactical genius he is.

But this is proper football in the real world and results matter.
 
Born tangerine said:
Football has and always will be a simple game but these so called managers and coaches are strangling the game by trying g to be clever.
Forget the opposition and let them worry about us by playing football how it should be played simple and scoring goals than them.
My pet hates are playing out from the back and square pegs in round holes.
Give Rob Apter a run of 10 full games
Click to expand...
There's nothing wrong with playing out from the back, there's nothing wrong with going long, just do it well and don't be predictable.
 
I don't mind playing out from the back in fact I prefer it and I also don't mind 352 either but what you have to do is be ruthless and replace the players who can't do it. That for us means about 5 players replaced with quality to do what he wants. That isn't realistically going to happen though. As it is the midfield is the wierd area for me with Critch though because despite playing 3 there we only ever actually have Norburn there. The other 2 are always wide so there's a big hole in midfield. It must be by design cos no matter who plays there it's the same. Baffling.
 
When we got promoted with Critch we played a lot of games with a 4-3-3 set up and beat Lincoln in the final with that set up. Why on earth he now wants to persist with 3-5-2 is baffling when all of this current squad are nowhere near good enough to succed with it. In that play off final both Ekpiteta and Hamilton started as subs.
 
The first thing we need to get our heads around is Critchley is going nowhere, Sadler will not pot him 5 games into the season and it doesn't how much wailing and gnashing of teeth people do, it simply is not going to happen.

As the o/p suggests, it really is a simple fix, stop with this stupid system that we obviously do not have the players to play and put the players in their right positions on their natural sides. We've got so many midfielders we don't know what to do with them, just set up with a simple system and let them play to their strengths, stop overthinking everything.

How many players have signed since Critchley came back? O'Donnell, Pennington, Norburn, Morgan, Joseph, Oakley-Booth, Rhodes, have I missed anyone? He is being backed to some extent, even if fees aren't involved, wages need to be paid, ask Wigan.

I'd just like to see us play a regular 4-4-2, we seem to have the players to do it, why does it have to be so complicated?
 
Yarmouth Seasider said:
The first thing we need to get our heads around is Critchley is going nowhere, Sadler will not pot him 5 games into the season and it doesn't how much wailing and gnashing of teeth people do, it simply is not going to happen.

As the o/p suggests, it really is a simple fix, stop with this stupid system that we obviously do not have the players to play and put the players in their right positions on their natural sides. We've got so many midfielders we don't know what to do with them, just set up with a simple system and let them play to their strengths, stop overthinking everything.

How many players have signed since Critchley came back? O'Donnell, Pennington, Norburn, Morgan, Joseph, Oakley-Booth, Rhodes, have I missed anyone? He is being backed to some extent, even if fees aren't involved, wages need to be paid, ask Wigan.

I'd just like to see us play a regular 4-4-2, we seem to have the players to do it, why does it have to be so complicated?
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Your second paragraph pretty much covers it perfectly. And it always sums up Critch's weakness as a coach. Football is not a hard game. It's made difficult by people overcomplicating things.
 
fcblackpool said:
We seem to collecting the same player often.
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The trouble is Critchley is only part of the problem, a big one but not all of it. We haven’t signed any players for 2 years that makes you think, “hang on, hang the futtock on, he’s a bloody exciting player, I can’t wait to see him play, he’s ace” we did it with loans last season but the team was so unbalanced that MA never had a chance to play his system.

This season we have signed Norburn and Pennington, the rest are plodders, the stains managed to blunder into more exciting players by chance than Sadler does with all these super analysts and recruitment experts, and I’m not saying we need the stains back, it was the best day of the last 30 years getting rid of them, but surely, once we had we deserve something better that this?

It’s too late to do anything now the squad is full of players who are bang average or can’t play this stupid system Critchley wants them too.

He won’t pot Critchley (never should have taken him back) until we are 30 games through the season, if then, even if we are in the bottom half of the table.

There’s no point selling players for a few million here and a few million there if we aren’t going to reinvest it in players who are better than what we have, don’t squander it on young players who are a bit crap that they think they can turn into world beaters. It’s not working.

Still after 3 years, we haven’t got that creative midfielder with goals in him! That is unforgivable.

We all want to see exciting attacking football with players who can do that and a manager who can do that. We are never going to get it with Critchley, we were never going to get it with Grayson, MA or Mcdinosaur. Sadler has owned the club for nearly 5 years now, his excuse of being inexperienced was fine for 2 or 3 years, but his record of management appointments and player recruitment is getting worse. I’m not saying he hasn’t been a stabilising factor off the pitch or hasn’t improved the infrastructure of the club, he has, but at the end of the day, football supporters want to be entertained and have players they will talk about in years from now. There isn’t anyone in that squad that will get that accolade.

So, it’s going to be a long hard season of dull, over complicated football with players who can’t play the system and probably won’t enjoy it. It just should have been better than this after the vermin left.
 
straightatthewall said:
Your second paragraph pretty much covers it perfectly. And it always sums up Critch's weakness as a coach. Football is not a hard game. It's made difficult by people overcomplicating things.
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Agreed - whilst the coaching skills and knowledge might be vast, it’s doesn’t translate to average players with limited ability, intelligence or both.
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
Lyons on the right and a left footed wingback on the left so we can actually get balls into the box

We simply can't create enough with this inverted nonsense

I would rather have DT play on the left

The other problem is creativity in midfield, we don't have any

We need a proper creative number 10 who has skill and who isn't afraid to take risks

This isn't hindsight or or kneee jerk reaction like most of the other shite I've read, i also dont need coaching qualifications like Critchley to see plainly what the issues are

Sort it out asap or it's going to be a difficult long hard season

oh and sacking the manager isn't going to happen he needs backing not sacking
Click to expand...
Yes ,get rid of the idiot in charge. SIMPLE
 
Square pegs in round holes, no movement in the midfield, pinging balls out to CJ who can't control them, playing through a centre back who can't play with his feet, not having enough options up front.

Too easy to play against, too nice, toothless.

We need to play the wingers on their stronger sides and get them attacking because it isn't working. We need to play our best midfield and try and build some partnerships because they look clueless. If we rely on CJ for creativity it's going to be a long season because he isn't consistent, he's dangerous but can also be awful. Ekpiteta needs dropping and we need to play somebody who is more comfortable on the ball if they're going to see a lot of the ball.

I'd like to see Trybull playing as the defensive midfielder and then we can advance Norburn because he's intelligent, can find space and pick a pass. Morgan looked promising initially but has dropped off so I'd play Weir because we know he has goals in him from last season. Beesley just isn't good enough for this level so we still need a striker and he can go out on loan. Hopefully Lavs injury isn't too bad and he'll be back soon because it sounds like Joseph is out for a while so we could be down to two fit strikers including Beesley.

We need to be more of a threat, the style isn't working. A few tweaks and I don't think we'll be that far off but it's worrying that a lot of people can see the problems but he persists with the same tactics that clearly don't work.
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
It's a fair enough point on the manager

He needs to be brave and set his team up to match this bravery as this safety first football is pointless
Click to expand...
Safety first has us with 1 win and 3 draws and 1 loss.

Watching yesterday we need to centre our entire play around feeding Rhodes. Far far far better than Lavery and Beesley by a distance.
 
Critchknows said:
I don't mind playing out from the back in fact I prefer it and I also don't mind 352 either but what you have to do is be ruthless and replace the players who can't do it. That for us means about 5 players replaced with quality to do what he wants. That isn't realistically going to happen though. As it is the midfield is the wierd area for me with Critch though because despite playing 3 there we only ever actually have Norburn there. The other 2 are always wide so there's a big hole in midfield. It must be by design cos no matter who plays there it's the same. Baffling.
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Exactly!!

Norburn sits too deep, covering the front area of the back line.

Critchley is playing the other 2 wide close to CJ and Lyon’s. There’s gaping space in centre of the pitch.

I’ve never seen it before, it’s weird and it’s 100% not working.
 
Agree with the OP that this is not a complex problem other than our clear lack of a quality no 10 type player (needs to be bought or loaned in immediately) and a reliable and experienced striker. Hopefully we now have the latter. The cockamamey wing back situation needs sorting now and we should just IMO revert to a four. Playing an extra centre half just plays to Critchley’s natural caution and let's face it, how many centre halves in football history have ever been that good on the ball?
 
We can all see what is blindingly obvious to us personally and at the moment we the supporters all seem to be seeing the same thing which @Phil_bfc deux points out in the o/p.
I wonder what our Custodian supporter is seeing?
What frustrated me as much as anything yesterday was CJ. I've stood up for him a little bit in the past although he was on my hit list when we were still in the Champiionship.
Hubby hit some decent cross field balls to him in the first half but that's no good. His only strength is a ball over the top. (Turts had that off to a tee in CJ's heyday).
But my point is why wasn't CJ hooked at HT.
I told posters when Beesley signed that he was not what we needed. I'm guessing you probably won't get anyone that works harder in training and he always gives his all but there's no room for nice guys in football.
You can argue with me until cows come home that Holmes isn't ready for League 1 football but IMO he's just as good as Jake now and is still very much a worthwhile development project.
Critch said in his pre-match presser he would rather have permanent signings than loans. He said there's no point in developing young players for other Clubs so loanees have to be 1st team ready (gave Ballard as an example).
On that basis why didn't Weir start and then why was he last sub?
And where does that leave the most technically gifted player (not the best player) at the Club, Rob Apter?
The Critch/Trybull relationship is an interesting one. The few cameos I've seen of Tom looked quite promising. Critch says publicly there's been no falling out but I wonder?
So bottom line is current tactics are obviously not working and we need to change. Too many mid-field journeymen that need culling.
I'm glad I get to watch the u18s play to restore my faith that football can be entertaining.
#5(no chance)for25
 
Norburn should have gone off at half time his passing was shocking, teams have sussed that if they pressure him he simply
cannot play that position without someone next to him especially as he is totally one-footed. I am not a fan of playing a 3 at the back unless one of the players is a great playmaker, and we haven't got that. Anyway in the next game let's hope that we ditch the inverted wingbacks. I would revert to a different formation, but I think we will be stuck with this system for at least the first 10 matches. It was inevitable that we would have a game like today, as we have ridden our luck with our sloppy passing at the back. Hopefully, we will get another couple of quality additions to the squad over the last few days of the transfer window.
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
Lyons on the right and a left footed wingback on the left so we can actually get balls into the box

We simply can't create enough with this inverted nonsense

I would rather have DT play on the left

The other problem is creativity in midfield, we don't have any

We need a proper creative number 10 who has skill and who isn't afraid to take risks

This isn't hindsight or or kneee jerk reaction like most of the other shite I've read, i also dont need coaching qualifications like Critchley to see plainly what the issues are

Sort it out asap or it's going to be a difficult long hard season

oh and sacking the manager isn't going to happen he needs backing not sacking
Click to expand...
Phil we've been desperate for a creative midfielder for at least 4 seasons can't see it changing anytime soon
 
TangerineJD said:
Between Weir, Carey, Morgan, and Dale we should find a strong number 10 for this season.
Click to expand...

We've almost certainly got at least one already. They just haven't had the opportunity to show it.

When he was signed, Morgan was depicted on the OS as a midfielder that continuously looks to unlock defences whilst having a keen eye for goal himself. And Critchley said "he will help us play the football we want to play."
So unshackle him, let him play the game he's capable of playing. Not routinely dropping back to pick up the ball from the centre backs.

And there was widespread approval when Weir came in, bearing in mind the goals and assists he contributed to a poor Morecambe team in this division. Wasn't he described as their best attacking player last season?
I appreciate he's been getting up to match fitness so far. When fully fit, he's got to be worth a run in the team.

But like Morgan, only if he's deployed correctly.
Otherwise, it's a waste of a player.
 
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fcblackpool said:
He needs sacking. Playing like that is pure gross incompetence. How many times has it been said that CJ is only worth his place when on the left in the right game?

If Sadler won't bite the bullet and pot him then he has to force an experienced No 2 on him- one that isn't a nodding dog.
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He’s going no where. for that to happen it will cost money and that money is better spent on players. The team we have isn’t bad, it’s just poorly managed and disjointed. Play our best players in their correct positions, stop pissing around with formations that are alien to the players. NC has to take responsibility and fix things. I don’t think anyone is suggesting we‘ll go down, but after a promising start it seems to have turned very quickly, which is concerning. We can all be ‘arm chair managers’ and throw our opinions in the ring, but if the footballs crap, boring and switching off fans, then what was the point in bringing back Critchley? I would rather lose 3-0 playing out of our skins, be entertained and ‘going for it’ than this turgid dross!
 
911_Kirky said:
He’s going no where. for that to happen it will cost money and that money is better spent on players. The team we have isn’t bad, it’s just poorly managed and disjointed. Play our best players in their correct positions, stop pissing around with formations that are alien to the players. NC has to take responsibility and fix things. I don’t think anyone is suggesting we‘ll go down, but after a promising start it seems to have turned very quickly, which is concerning. We can all be ‘arm chair managers’ and throw our opinions in the ring, but if the footballs crap, boring and switching off fans, then what was the point in bringing back Critchley? I would rather lose 3-0 playing out of our skins, be entertained and ‘going for it’ than this turgid dross!
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You're asking for the obvious, yet NC can't see it. If he refuses to see it what do you do? The very least is force a No 2 on him who won't be a nodding dog.

It was so obvious the day he started he needed a No 2. Why didn't SS (or advisors) see that? One thing for sure is that if NC gets moved on (and I agree it's doubtful), then as I said yesterday The Meanley Warriors should reform for one last gig and kidnap SS so he has nothing to do with choosing a new manager.
 
fcblackpool said:
You're asking for the obvious, yet NC can't see it. If he refuses to see it what do you do? The very least is force a No 2 on him who won't be a nodding dog.

It was so obvious the day he started he needed a No 2. Why didn't SS (or advisors) see that? One thing for sure is that if NC gets moved on (and I agree it's doubtful), then as I said yesterday The Meanley Warriors should reform for one last gig and kidnap SS so he has nothing to do with choosing a new manager.
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To be fair to you FC, you have championed the need for a Critchley number 2 since day dot of his first tenure with us.
You were spot on, then and now. Critch is simply not up to the job alone. Maybe not at all if Calderwood made the actual impact last time we played well.
 
4411 with lefties on the left and righties on the right.We don't need 3/5 at the back.Its not complicated.In a 4 everyone has one job and is facing the right way on the correct side of the pitch in the right area.

We are undertaking the everyday equivalent of asking the Window Cleaner to Rewire the house and the Decorator to fit a new Boiler

Horses for courses.
 
Bloodorange said:
4411 with lefties on the left and righties on the right.We don't need 3/5 at the back.Its not complicated.In a 4 everyone has one job and is facing the right way on the correct side of the pitch in the right area.

We are undertaking the everyday equivalent of asking the Window Cleaner to Rewire the house and the Decorator to fit a new Boiler

Horses for courses.
Click to expand...
Spot on 👍
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
Lyons on the right and a left footed wingback on the left so we can actually get balls into the box

We simply can't create enough with this inverted nonsense

I would rather have DT play on the left

The other problem is creativity in midfield, we don't have any

We need a proper creative number 10 who has skill and who isn't afraid to take risks

This isn't hindsight or or kneee jerk reaction like most of the other shite I've read, i also dont need coaching qualifications like Critchley to see plainly what the issues are

Sort it out asap or it's going to be a difficult long hard season

oh and sacking the manager isn't going to happen he needs backing not sacking
Click to expand...
Great OP, most of our issues stem from having poor wingback play and little courage from midfield (which is partly due to the poor wingbacks).

Need to sort out a new wingback to replace CJ and maybe even add another attacking minded midfielder.
 
fcblackpool said:
You're asking for the obvious, yet NC can't see it. If he refuses to see it what do you do? The very least is force a No 2 on him who won't be a nodding dog.

It was so obvious the day he started he needed a No 2. Why didn't SS (or advisors) see that? One thing for sure is that if NC gets moved on (and I agree it's doubtful), then as I said yesterday The Meanley Warriors should reform for one last gig and kidnap SS so he has nothing to do with choosing a new manager
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Absolutely baffling why he has no assistant. Especially after what happened last time and he was forced to have one…. Maybe his time at Villa putting cones out - he thinks he can do it all!
 
Matesrates said:
ok lads, play in your natural positions and go out there and enjoy yourselves. That would probably be better then all the technical stuff he tries to fill their heads with.
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Reminds me a bit of Hendry as his 'I didn't get where I am today without knowing L1 football'. The arrogant belief that players should be capable of a higher standard and if I play them they'll understand.
911_Kirky said:
Absolutely baffling why he has no assistant. Especially after what happened last time and he was forced to have one…. Maybe his time at Villa putting cones out - he thinks he can do it all!
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No doubt he does!!!! Why the XXXX SS thinks he can is beyond me.
 
Bandagem said:
Exactly!!

Norburn sits too deep, covering the front area of the back line.

Critchley is playing the other 2 wide close to CJ and Lyon’s. There’s gaping space in centre of the pitch.

I’ve never seen it before, it’s weird and it’s 100% not working.
Click to expand...

Nail on head.
Critchley is an experimentalist. That was part of his role as an Academy coach.
 
Three at the back seems to pull Norburn too deep with a yawning gap in the middle. He has to try to do everyone’s job. Felt for him yesterday. It’s tactically flawed and he’s definitely not getting the best out of the squad he has at his disposable. And strangely, the less you do with what you’ve been given the less likely you are to be given more!
 
dead simple this football malarkey... Replace Lyons and CJ with Benson & Hedges.... Job done

Sort it out Critchley!!!
 
fcblackpool said:
He needs sacking. Playing like that is pure gross incompetence. How many times has it been said that CJ is only worth his place when on the left in the right game?

If Sadler won't bite the bullet and pot him then he has to force an experienced No 2 on him- one that isn't a nodding dog.
Click to expand...
Sadler has a great track record in appointing managers. ,hasn't he.
 
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