It takes a big man to admit they are wrong

Phil_bfc deux said:
So come on Simon, Brett and Ben time to get rid of the tinker man coach Critchley

Big fanfare when he came in almost a year ago about fast exciting 'entertaining' football yet the reality is that Critchley's record is almost the same as Graysons, the football isn't much better either

I posted a thread a couple of days ago highlighting the support Critchley has had from the board and showed examples of our current squad and how strong it looks on paper with options all over the pitch

There really isn't any excuse as Critchley has been given all the tools necessary to build a good consistent team

The problem to me is the stubbornness and his reluctance to play 2 strikers week in week out, the stats show that we win more games than we lose when we play 2 upfront

Yesterday was awful for a number of reasons

Another new formation, that looked defensive on paper with 5 in midfield, it was all about accommodating the new Sunderland lad in a free role behind Yates. He did ok but nothing special considering he was given the freedom to make things happen. We have and have had several other players who could of played that role yet weren't given the chance. Both Kemp and Woodburn have been and gone without being allowed to play in that free role 10 slot that they prefer

Ipswich were bang out of form with several key players missing yet we were impotent

Credit to Critchley for the signing of big Marv he has really improved since the start of the season, but i suppose even a broken clock is right once

Maybe Critchley was brought in the develop players if so move him sideways and get a proper manager in the manage the 1st team

Get rid now to save our season, admit the experiment hasn't worked and kick on

Simon Sadler deserves better
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Kaikai hasnt had his chance in that no10 role either. Baffling.

Embleton did ok though... looks like he may have "something".
 
Martonmosser said:
Except when we’re hammering Wigan or beating Northampton. You will probably disappear back under your stone again on Tuesday night for a few days if we beat Burton 🙄
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........and quite a few more as well Mosser👍
Some people think we have a divine right to win every single game, but I would like to know where is the evidence to back this up.

When we beat Burton on Tuesday we will still get posts saying that Burton are a poor team with no regard to the fact that they beat Hull yesterday.

I’ve said it many times Mosser, football is full of fickle supporters but unfortunately they don’t see themselves that way.
 
SomersetSeasider said:
We’d be a lot higher up the league if we converted a few more of the chances we create. I think it was mentioned the other week that we had an 8% conversion rate. That’s with the different formations we’ve been deploying. We even created a couple of good chances yesterday that we should have done better with. It’s not all down to the formation!Fully
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SomersetSeasider said:
We create lots of chances in games so therefore whatever formation we play suggests the team that is on the pitch are creating these chances.
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It is the individuals who are failing to convert the chances and nothing to do with formation.
SomersetSeasider said:
We’d be a lot higher up the league if we converted a few more of the chances we create. I think it was mentioned the other week that we had an 8% conversion rate. That’s with the different formations we’ve been deploying. We even created a couple of good chances yesterday that we should have done better with. It’s not all down to the formation!
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Totally agree Somerset 👍
Whatever formation (or who) we play we are creating chances so if the individuals do not put those chances away why should NC take the blame.
I do wonder sometimes if people cannot see what is going on because they are too busy overanalysing every single game.
 
Insider said:
There are far too many posters on here desperate to see Critchley fail because the most important thing in their life is to say "I told you so".
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Exactly this. They are willing the team to lose purely for the satisfaction of being able to say 'I told you so'
Every single new thread the little Welsh fella starts is nothing but yet another laughable attempt to be seen to be being proved right all along.
 
He has a year to get it right and if he does I’ll be delighted. Another 12 months of this and Sadler has already shown he won’t tolerate failure.
 
BlackpoolsFinest said:
Exactly this. They are willing the team to lose purely for the satisfaction of being able to say 'I told you so'
Every single new thread the little Welsh fella starts is nothing but yet another laughable attempt to be seen to be being proved right all along.
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Don't talk bollux

I've never wanted my team to lose

Oh and I'm not Welsh .....
 
BlackpoolsFinest said:
Exactly this. They are willing the team to lose purely for the satisfaction of being able to say 'I told you so'
Every single new thread the little Welsh fella starts is nothing but yet another laughable attempt to be seen to be being proved right all along.
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And every thing you post is defending the indefensible.
FFS see both sides for once and take your Tangerine Goggles off.
 
Jean - Claude said:
There's some right numpties on this thread, with the opening poster being the biggest one of them all (obviously not referring to height).

It's ok to criticise the performance, tactics, application or effort of a football match, but why in the world does it always have to result in people calling for the manager to be sacked?

I'm glad Messers Sadler, Mansford and Gerrity aren't as clueless as the OP!
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His sacking is inevitable.
 
What a pile of wank the opening post is.
Critch can't play 2 strikers when we don't HAVE 2 strikers to play, Simms was always gonna be a bencher.
We've lost Anderson, Ballard, Madine, Viking, CJ Hamilton to name but a few.
Ipswich were nothing special, Maxwell had a shocker for their first goal and Yates screwed up for their 2nd.
Sacking the manager?
You need to get real mate.
Ekpiteta should have put us 1 up, we could have got 2 in the first half - and their first goal was a massive amount of luck, KaiKai tried a pass that, had it come of, could have been a goal for us.
Small margins everywhere.
You need a change of perspective FFS.
 
People have very short memories and all a little hypocritical if I'm honest

About a year ago there was a massive witch hunt by the majority on this site including many of the people who have posted on this very thread

Simon Grayson got sacked due to him ' losing the fans' oh and a few games

He had been in charge just 7 months .....
 
Martonmosser said:
No it’s not. He’s here for the long term especially with a new training ground and a youth development programme to set up 👍🏼
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Like any other gaffer he needs to get results or he will be shown the exit door.
Calderwood and Madine have kept him in a job thus far and he didn't want either of them.
 
poolseasider said:
Just read your last ten posts easily done on this modern site.
No offence but you don't see both sides and take offence when something derogative is posted about our club.
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Glad you found them so easily, however that is not true at all. I've called out Critch plenty, there is a lot going wrong at the moment and improvements are desperately needed.
Unlike some I'm not here to score points, prove I'm right or constantly run the club down.
 
RONJI said:
What a pile of wank the opening post is.
Critch can't play 2 strikers when we don't HAVE 2 strikers to play, Simms was always gonna be a bencher.
We've lost Anderson, Ballard, Madine, Viking, CJ Hamilton to name but a few.
Ipswich were nothing special, Maxwell had a shocker for their first goal and Yates screwed up for their 2nd.
Sacking the manager?
You need to get real mate.
Ekpiteta should have put us 1 up, we could have got 2 in the first half - and their first goal was a massive amount of luck, KaiKai tried a pass that, had it come of, could have been a goal for us.
Small margins everywhere.
You need a change of perspective FFS.
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Not much point reading past your second line which is nonsense. We do have two strikers. Yates and Simms. Why do you say Simms was always gonna be a bencher? If he was always gonna be a bencher can you manage to explain how he managed to start the game in midweek?
 
20togo said:
Not much point reading past your second line which is nonsense. We do have two strikers. Yates and Simms. Why do you say Simms was always gonna be a bencher? If he was always gonna be a bencher can you manage to explain how he managed to start the game in midweek?
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I also stopped at the 2nd sentence. Clueless.
 
People have very short memories and all a little hypocritical if I'm honest

About a year ago there was a massive witch hunt by the majority on this site including many of the people have have posted on this very thread

Simon Grayson got sacked due to him ' losing the fans' oh and a few games

He had been in charge just 7 months .....
 
I admit that tactically I wouldn't do well as a football manager.
I never really go on about who should play and where.
On Sat even I saw the mistake.
100% should have gone 442 - Simms up front with Yates.
I would have started with Virtue wide right as we have had some good moves between Virtue and Simms.
Think the clock is ticking - not in agreement with Phil yet but its ticking away
 
Interesting op, I don't think we can compare Graysons time in charge with Critchleys to be honest. The fact we have been impacted by the effects of Covid, with key players having to isolate hasn't helped to maintain consistency during this season. We've had to get an emergency loan for our captain /keeper at one point . Saturdays game was frustrating but let's put some perspective on it we have not won at Ipswich so we could say we just don't get on with the place. We are starting to see injuries starting to come into play, CJ and Madine have played big parts in our season so far and it shows we are missing them. Hopefully the January signings gel with the team and they get to the standard we expect, but this doesn't just happen overnight. I know Simms has scored already, but against a shite Wigan side. For me Embleton and Stewart need time to get to speed with the pace we play at. I hope we can turn things around against Burton and the management team work some magic on the training pitch. Let's face it we aren't in a relegation battle, we are slowly advancing up the league so to get rid of the manager after Saturday is tad premature.
 
TwelveAngryMen said:
I'm not advocating replacing Critchley but Phil does make some good points about the stark contrast in results when play a lone striker / 4-3-3 and when we play two up top - see my 4-4-2 post for the specifics

What that tells us is that both Madine and Yates need each other ( or a like replacement )

Until we have the personal to play the system Critch wants us to play we should stick to what works - fairly certain we'd be a lot higher in the league if we had adopted that mantra back in Nov when the benefits of 4-4-2 first became apparent

We also need to stop the ridiculous number of substitutions
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Ridiculous number Tam or the ridiculous timings? 🤔
 
There are no excuses at all

I dont buy this covid, injury malarkey

Its the same for all teams

Infact if anything we should benefit due to the investment from the owner

We have a large strong squad with several options for every position
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
There are no excuses at all

I dont buy this covid, injury malarkey

Its the same for all teams

Infact if anything we should benefit due to the investment from the owner

We have a large strong squad with several options for every position
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Your opening post compares the points tally for Grayson v Critch key. One manager who didn't have Covid to deal with and had the 12th man in attendance, and one who has been dealt a s#£t hand. He's nowhere near perfect, but the guy managed a 9 game unbeaten run in all comps and then had to deal with games being postponed. So to compare him to Grayson is absolute garbage.

You mention Appleton further on, a manager/ assistant manager who has been about for a while v a newbie to the role. Christ what happened to giving someone a chance!

He has made errors in judgement but we all had to expect a degree of this. It's the risk we took in bringing him in, but I for one won't hang him out to dry on one bloody game.

The football is better than what we had with Larry, all I think we need is consistency in the attacking 3rd. The counter attacking goals we have scored this season have been sublime, which dare I say was a feature of the 2010 squad. They didn't come all together in one season did they, so why expect it now?
 
Tangerine WAFU said:
Your opening post compares the points tally for Grayson v Critch key. One manager who didn't have Covid to deal with and had the 12th man in attendance, and one who has been dealt a s#£t hand. He's nowhere near perfect, but the guy managed a 9 game unbeaten run in all comps and then had to deal with games being postponed. So to compare him to Grayson is absolute garbage.

You mention Appleton further on, a manager/ assistant manager who has been about for a while v a newbie to the role. Christ what happened to giving someone a chance!

He has made errors in judgement but we all had to expect a degree of this. It's the risk we took in bringing him in, but I for one won't hang him out to dry on one bloody game.

The football is better than what we had with Larry, all I think we need is consistency in the attacking 3rd. The counter attacking goals we have scored this season have been sublime, which dare I say was a feature of the 2010 squad. They didn't come all together in one season did they, so why expect it now?
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Sorry but i disagree with every single bit of that post, for a start

Grayson didn't have a full summer transfer window he had a few interim board signings and a Mcphillips squad to choose from

He also didn't have the full financial backing of Sadler like Critchley has had

Yeah Appleton is more experienced, that's my point we didn't have to go for a novice did we

Oh and the football isn't any better
 
Insider said:
I never wanted Grayson as Manager but when he was appointed I was desperate for him to prove me wrong because the most important thing was he was managing the team I support.
There are far too many posters on here desperate to see Critchley fail because the most important thing in their life is to say "I told you so".
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I don't want him to fail

I support Blackpool

I want the best for the club
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
I don't want him to fail

I support Blackpool

I want the best for the club
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That comment wasn't particularly directed at you. I know you want the best for the club although I sometimes wonder when I see your love for Larry and Fat Sam. Critchy will move the club forward just not as quickly as we all hoped. We need to see our young players develop because a couple of them, at least, are doing well. I respect Critchley knows far more than me about how our kids rate in the overall ability pyramid but there are plenty of precedents for players making the grade from Cat 3 academies. We played against a good example on Saturday, Luke Mattheson. Kyle Joseph is another and one from Bury who's name escapes me. I've seen all these kids playing at u/18 level over the last few seasons.
Edit The Bury player is Callum Styles now playing regularly for Barnsley.
 
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Insider said:
That comment wasn't particularly directed at you. I know you want the best for the club although I sometimes wonder when I see your love for Larry and Fat Sam. Critchy will move the club forward just not as quickly as we all hoped. We need to see our young players develop because a couple of them, at least, are doing well. I respect Critchley knows far more than me about how our kids rate in the overall ability pyramid but there are plenty of precedents for players making the grade from Cat 3 academies. We played against a good example on Saturday, Luke Mattheson. Kyle Joseph is another and one from Bury who's name escapes me. I've seen all these kids playing at u/18 level over the last few seasons.
Edit The Bury player is Callum Styles now playing regularly for Barnsley.
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I don't love any manager insider

Strange choice of words
 
Insider said:
You know exactly what I mean.
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Not really

I also don't understand your academy comments

Critchley is here to manager/coach the 1st team not the Academy

Also Kyle Joseph came through Wigans Academy we are a million miles away from what they have
 
Tangerine WAFU said:
Your opening post compares the points tally for Grayson v Critch key. One manager who didn't have Covid to deal with and had the 12th man in attendance, and one who has been dealt a s#£t hand. He's nowhere near perfect, but the guy managed a 9 game unbeaten run in all comps and then had to deal with games being postponed. So to compare him to Grayson is absolute garbage.

You mention Appleton further on, a manager/ assistant manager who has been about for a while v a newbie to the role. Christ what happened to giving someone a chance!

He has made errors in judgement but we all had to expect a degree of this. It's the risk we took in bringing him in, but I for one won't hang him out to dry on one bloody game.

The football is better than what we had with Larry, all I think we need is consistency in the attacking 3rd. The counter attacking goals we have scored this season have been sublime, which dare I say was a feature of the 2010 squad. They didn't come all together in one season did they, so why expect it now?
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He's not being hung out to dry on one game but on the back of 10 league defeats, poor performances and tactics.
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
Not really

I also don't understand your academy comments

Critchley is here to manager/coach the 1st team not the Academy

Also Kyle Joseph came through Wigans Academy we are a million miles away from what they have
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And how many professionals do we currently have in our Academy that are training with the 1st team and how many from last years Academy are in the first team squad. Don't tell me he wasn't consulted about whether any of those that have been offered pro contracts since he arrived.
 
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I don't go anywhere as near as harsh as Phil does but he raises some valid points. I'd like to know what the point of Lubala being here is? Critchley and his staff brought him to the club and paid a decent fee for him. What is his best position? A second striker, a main striker, a wide player. Which?
Yet we have Madine and Anderson out injured yet he still can't get a game because Critchley went out and brought Embleton in. And before that Woodburn and Kemp. Now, I've made it pretty clear that so far, I don't rate Lubala but if Critchley wanted him surely he has to show some faith in him by picking him when others ahead of him in the pecking order are injured.
At this point in time it seems more and more the case that Crichley went for quantity over quality last summer and it doesn't matter how much quantity you have if you've not got enough quality then success is that much harder.
 
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I feel sorry for Bez. His ability or otherwise is a moot point. He's had very little chance to show what he can do, I'd say 70% of his chances have been bring chucked on when we're already losing and when he got a start and played his part against Wigan (he was ok in that game, did a job, we won 5-0) he got a knock and now Sullay has the shirt back.

I think I share some of 20s thoughts above. I think we have quality but not the blend perhaps. It's like we're baking a cake and we have loads of good flour, good fresh eggs but no sugar. We're over loaded in fact with flour and eggs... (and also have some bacon we bought cos it was on offer at the time)

I can see what Embleton is intended to be, but I dunno whether he's a bag of sugar or a sachet of sweetener yet...

I do think though, weird cake analogies and tub thumping posts aside demanding we all stop being so bloody defeatist etc, it is a 2 year job to go up normally and I've never seen a new Pool manager make enormous changes on the scale we saw and succeed. It either takes time (larry rebuilding hendogs team, Allardyce, Macca) or they work more with what they have and repurpose it, building on the existing team spirit (wor Billy, Ollie and even arguably Terry McP in so much he was a 'success' or Megson in so much as he was...)

I think, whilst equal for all clubs, the loss of the last ten or so games last year probably set a rookie back more than other managers in terms of learning the grim practicality of league 1 and league 1 players and maybe building a working relationship with a few of the extant players could have made recruitment marginally easier/focussed.

I'm not being insulting to Critch - he was a rookie and it took time for him to get to speed with league 1. Of course it did. Maybe with those games, he would have made a few different choices at the start of this year.

It is what it is what it is. We've got a very functional side with some very good defensive players. It's a platform. We need to attack better and not just when we have the right circumstances. Our reliance on Madine is a concern as he's definitely (outside of CJ) the biggest factor when we compete well and/or win (i.e. Madine plays well and others thrive) and you get the feeling he might not be here next year and we have nothing even close to him in the squad.

It's not gonna be easy to just go and get another Madine...
 
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Phil_bfc deux said:
People have very short memories and all a little hypocritical if I'm honest

About a year ago there was a massive witch hunt by the majority on this site including many of the people have have posted on this very thread

Simon Grayson got sacked due to him ' losing the fans' oh and a few games

He had been in charge just 7 months .....
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And take away the covid period, the current incumbent has been in charge for 26 games. Hardly a lengthy stint.
 
Wizaard said:
And take away the covid period, the current incumbent has been in charge for 26 games. Hardly a lengthy stint.
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Wiz

Considering your point in isolation - there's one for Plumbs - why would the covid period be extracted when looking at a managers tenure ?

There is no doubt that things are different in such times but is the ability to deal with changing circumstances not something a manager should be judged on ?

For the benefit of the tape, I am not expressing an opinion on Critch's performance during the covid period.
 
Insider said:
And how many professionals do we currently have in our Academy that are training with the 1st and how many from last years Academy are in the first team squad. Don't tell me he wasn't consulted about whether any of those that have been offered pro contracts since he arrived.
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We don't know if any of them are actually any good though or up to the standard of league one football, the current rules mean you have to include 'home grown' players in the squad

A couple of been shipped out on loan without really having a chance in the first team and we have brought in other teams youngsters instead of playing ours

So again i don't get your point

Sorry ...
 
20togo said:
I don't go anywhere as near as harsh as Phil does but he raises some valid points. I'd like to know what the point of Lubala being here is? Critchley and his staff brought him to the club and paid a decent fee for him. What is his best position? A second striker, a main striker, a wide player. Which?
Yet we have Madine and Anderson out injured yet he still can't get a game because Critchley went out and brought Embleton in. Now, I've made it pretty clear that so far, I don't rate Lubala but if Critchley wanted him surely he has to show some faith in him by picking him when others ahead of him in the pecking order are injured.
At this point in time it seems more and more the case that Crichley went for quantity over quality last summer and it doesn't matter how much quantity you have if you've not got enough quality then success is that much harder.
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Thats a good point about Lubala 20s

You could also say the same about Sarkic, Mitchell, Kemp and Woodburn

None have really had a chance in their favoured position

Robson now looks like a back up player when he was meant to be the number 6 play maker and MJ has been and gone after a handful of games

Generally I'm not one for sacking managers as I'm sure you will remember from when i defended both Ince and Grayson from the Witch Hunts

This is different now as Critchley has had more backing than any other manager in our history
 
20togo said:
I don't go anywhere as near as harsh as Phil does but he raises some valid points. I'd like to know what the point of Lubala being here is? Critchley and his staff brought him to the club and paid a decent fee for him. What is his best position? A second striker, a main striker, a wide player. Which?
Yet we have Madine and Anderson out injured yet he still can't get a game because Critchley went out and brought Embleton in. Now, I've made it pretty clear that so far, I don't rate Lubala but if Critchley wanted him surely he has to show some faith in him by picking him when others ahead of him in the pecking order are injured.
At this point in time it seems more and more the case that Crichley went for quantity over quality last summer and it doesn't matter how much quantity you have if you've not got enough quality then success is that much harder.
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Spot on.
 
td53 said:
I feel sorry for Bez. His ability or otherwise is a moot point. He's had very little chance to show what he can do, I'd say 70% of his chances have been bring chucked on when we're already losing and when he got a start and played his part against Wigan (he was ok in that game, did a job, we won 5-0) he got a knock and now Sullay has the shirt back.

I think I share some of 20s thoughts above. I think we have quality but not the blend perhaps. It's like we're baking a cake and we have loads of good flour, good fresh eggs but no sugar. We're over loaded in fact with flour and eggs... (and also have some bacon we bought cos it was on offer at the time)

I can see what Embleton is intended to be, but I dunno whether he's a bag of sugar or a sachet of sweetener yet...

I do think though, weird cake analogies and tub thumping posts aside demanding we all stop being so bloody defeatist etc, it is a 2 year job to go up normally and I've never seen a new Pool manager make enormous changes on the scale we saw and succeed. It either takes time (larry rebuilding hendogs team, Allardyce, Macca) or they work more with what they have and repurpose it, building on the existing team spirit (wor Billy, Ollie and even arguably Terry McP in so much he was a 'success' or Megson in so much as he was...)

I think, whilst equal for all clubs, the loss of the last ten or so games last year probably set a rookie back more than other managers in terms of learning the grim practicality of league 1 and league 1 players and maybe building a working relationship with a few of the extant players could have made recruitment marginally easier/focussed.

I'm not being insulting to Critch - he was a rookie and it took time for him to get to speed with league 1. Of course it did. Maybe with those games, he would have made a few different choices at the start of this year.

It is what it is what it is. We've got a very functional side with some very good defensive players. It's a platform. We need to attack better and not just when we have the right circumstances. Our reliance on Madine is a concern as he's definitely (outside of CJ) the biggest factor when we compete well and/or win (i.e. Madine plays well and others thrive) and you get the feeling he might not be here next year and we have nothing even close to him in the squad.

It's not gonna be easy to just go and get another Madine...
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The Madine situation worries me as i can't see him being here next season

He wasn't in Critchley's plans at the start of the season but is now a key player and a bit of a talisman

I still don't understand the Embleton signing when we have Kaikai who would be suited to the 10 role
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
The Madine situation worries me as i can't see him being here next season

He wasn't in Critchley's plans at the start of the season but is now a key player and a bit of a talisman

I still don't understand the Embleton signing when we have Kaikai who would be suited to the 10 role
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I think there's a increasing number of fans who can't fathom many of Critchley's decisions. He's in danger of hanging himself.
 
Blackpool_Gaz said:
We have the divine right to complain when the manager plays a negative formation with one striker up front against a team who have lost 6 of their previous 7 home games.
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Thing is Gaz people mention the wrong formation after the result and never seem to come on this forum at the start of a match and say it’s wrong then
If we had beaten Ipswich with that line up and formation (and by the way had the chances been put away we could have won) then Critchley would have been getting the plaudits and not all this “time to go” crap
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
The Madine situation worries me as i can't see him being here next season

He wasn't in Critchley's plans at the start of the season but is now a key player and a bit of a talisman

I still don't understand the Embleton signing when we have Kaikai who would be suited to the 10 role
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Kai Kai's had more lives than a Hindhu god Phil

Equally I am not sure we've found the next KDH - early days though
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
The Madine situation worries me as i can't see him being here next season

He wasn't in Critchley's plans at the start of the season but is now a key player and a bit of a talisman

I still don't understand the Embleton signing when we have Kaikai who would be suited to the 10 role
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I get that but unless Garbutt gets a new body, or Bez is suddenly any good we don't have anyone who can play the Sullay 2021 role on the left. (and even then, he loves inverting players...)

You know me, I'd love to see Sull where he belongs.
 
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