Its not just on the manager this

Phil_bfc deux

Phil_bfc deux

Well-known member
Whilst I've never really rated Critchley I don't think this seasons failure is just down to him

Our best 3 players are loans and the rest of our squad is completely average, I remember the idiots on this site taking the pish out of Oxford at the start of the season but they have done what we should have done

They signed Mark Harris from Cardiff who has scored 17 goals this season and they signed Ruben Rodrigues from Notts County 11 goal contributions from midfield, they also gave their top Academy player Tyler Goodrham a proper chance again and they have kept their best player in Cameron Brannagan after giving him a massive contract the season before

They have done everything I wanted my club to do and i hope they get promoted for actually showing some ambition, they even lost their manager and instead of going back to some washed up ex they went and got someone who was doing a good job somewhere else

Sadler has failed us again this season, last season he tried to complete the Championship on the cheap this season he's underestimated League one whilst sticking all his eggs in the Critchley basket

I get it Sadler puts his own money in, but sorry its not enough and he's wasted what he has put in, we look a million miles away from being a Championship team
 
Oh and if anybody thinks we still have a chance of promotion we are currently 50/1 in a 9 horse race

Fill ur boots
 
Ok, so you don`t rate the manager, don`t rate the owner, you think the fans on here "are idiots", and you`re unhappy because another team has invested better in players and manager than BFC has. Nothing new there, I suppose.

But you would rather Oxford get promoted rather than Blackpool!

While there is still a slim chance of the play-offs?

Post mortems are best left to the end of the season, don`t you think?
 
I think it’s the Sadler way or no way. He has all these recruitment teams and experts in this and that, something that is important in modern football and something the stains would never do, but somehow he seems to ignore them.

Apart from the loans and getting Pennington and Morgan in the rest of the players we got are either hopeless or inexperienced. We seem to be all over the place. Recruitment of players isn’t Sadler’s fault it is either the recruitment teams or Critchley’s, ora bit of both. Once the loans leave we will have the worst squad since Sadler took over. We are playing awful football using a terrible tactic with a manager who is not good enough. But the buck stops with Sadler and his recruitment of manager and staff is down to him and as I keep saying, his arrogance and phuck ups are costing us and he sticks his heels in if he’s the slightest bit criticised. He needs to carry on doing what he’s doing with improving the club, get rid of Critchley and let the football people do their Jobs.
 
spudgun said:
Ok, so you don`t rate the manager, don`t rate the owner, you think the fans on here "are idiots", and you`re unhappy because another team has invested better in players and manager than BFC has. Nothing new there, I suppose.

But you would rather Oxford get promoted rather than Blackpool!

While there is still a slim chance of the play-offs?

Post mortems are best left to the end of the season, don`t you think?
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There isn't a cat on hells chance we will get promoted and to be frank we don't deserve to be, it's been a sh!t season and I'm truly disappointed on the performance from the football club

We were relegated last season with a whimper and we have failed as a club to really have a go to get promoted, its's not hindsight good teams have good footballers and to be frank we don't have enough good ones

The owner has to take some of the blame
 
hertfordseasider said:
I think it’s the Sadler way or no way. He has all these recruitment teams and experts in this and that, something that is important in modern football and something the stains would never do, but somehow he seems to ignore them.

Apart from the loans and getting Pennington and Morgan in the rest of the players we got are either hopeless or inexperienced. We seem to be all over the place. Recruitment of players isn’t Sadler’s fault it is either the recruitment teams or Critchley’s, ora bit of both. Once the loans leave we will have the worst squad since Sadler took over. We are playing awful football using a terrible tactic with a manager who is not good enough. But the buck stops with Sadler and his recruitment of manager and staff is down to him and as I keep saying, his arrogance and phuck ups are costing us and he sticks his heels in if he’s the slightest bit criticised. He needs to carry on doing what he’s doing with improving the club, get rid of Critchley and let the football people do their Jobs.
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We are all at sea because -
1 Critchley really put us in League 1
2.the shambles that followed his departure ? Reason went on underApple tree
3. And like a shallow newspaper boy wanting his job back after his cycling accident, he got it back with a squad of tissue paper

Having said that we aren’t quite on the mortuary slab yet

U t P
 
Camberwell1 said:
We are all at sea because -
1 Critchley really put us in League 1
2.the shambles that followed his departure ? Reason went on underApple tree
3. And like a shallow newspaper boy wanting his job back after his cycling accident, he got it back with a squad of tissue paper

Having said that we aren’t quite on the mortuary slab yet

U t P
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Appleton wasn't the problem it was the lack of planning and investment in the playing squad that was the problem

I mean things really got better once Appleton got sacked didn't they?
 
Critchley needs to be sacked as soon as Reading away is done

A new manager needs identifying now and we as a club need to go out and get the new man with a proper plan on how we are going to play with joined up thinking and a sensible structure and recruitment strategy

The squad needs ripping up and starting again, but most of all the owner needs to decide if he's really got the ambition to take this great club forward as the recent transfer windows have been awful
 
If the strategy is buy players with potential and sell them at profit then our bosses and recruiters have been poor this season. In the main our loans have been more influential than our own. Losing Rhodes has shown how average our strikers are. My criticism of Critchley is he hasn’t got the ability as a coach to change things during the games we have struggled. HIs subs are like for like. Nor has he realised we don’t have enough physicality, letting Dougall go was a disaster. He should have been captain. Do the hierarchy show ambition? When we were relegated the stated ambition was to stay up, and this year to make the playoffs. Not right in my book. In the Championship ambition should have been to improve our finishing position and this year to win it. Their words are a cop out.
.
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
Critchley needs to be sacked as soon as Reading away is done

A new manager needs identifying now and we as a club need to go out and get the new man with a proper plan on how we are going to play with joined up thinking and a sensible structure and recruitment strategy

The squad needs ripping up and starting again, but most of all the owner needs to decide if he's really got the ambition to take this great club forward as the recent transfer windows have been awful
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Who do you put the recruitment down to?

I guess Sadler will say the recruitment team - they will say the manager identifies the targets - and you can't say loans don't count because they do (and how well did we do to get Dembele) and then they will both say that SS sets the budget. SS will say the budget is set by him propping up paying customers?

The customers will say they sold loads of season tickets before a ball was kicked after the worst season in a long time; and the walk on extra income didn't materialise because of the dirge being played in the pitch.

Beyond that; our home form, for all it's dullness is good enough - or away form hasn't been.

The fact that after an entire season of playing pretty much the same way we haven't tried to do something different is beyond me.

Anyway, I tend to agree that something needs to change; so that's either new players, new manager, new owner (not my preferred choice unless it was Red Bull, Disney or some oil rich nation) or a combination of the three.

I don't think it will happen to the depth which is required; but we will see.
 
Burnnazzer said:
If the strategy is buy players with potential and sell them at profit then our bosses and recruiters have been poor this season. In the main our loans have been more influential than our own. Losing Rhodes has shown how average our strikers are. My criticism of Critchley is he hasn’t got the ability as a coach to change things during the games we have struggled. HIs subs are like for like. Nor has he realised we don’t have enough physicality, letting Dougall go was a disaster. He should have been captain. Do the hierarchy show ambition? When we were relegated the stated ambition was to stay up, and this year to make the playoffs. Not right in my book. In the Championship ambition should have been to improve our finishing position and this year to win it. Their words are a cop out.
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Think Kenny went AWOL to force a transfer
 
Hindsight is a wonderful thing they say, you are not far wrong I have to say. The squad Critchley has amassed has been short all season of at least 2/3 players that could of made a difference. His dependecy on wing backs has proven to be a failure with no other widemen in the squad apart from Hamilton (enough said). More quality was needed, but not sure the funds are there to change the style of play needed !
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
Whilst I've never really rated Critchley I don't think this seasons failure is just down to him

Our best 3 players are loans and the rest of our squad is completely average, I remember the idiots on this site taking the pish out of Oxford at the start of the season but they have done what we should have done

They signed Mark Harris from Cardiff who has scored 17 goals this season and they signed Ruben Rodrigues from Notts County 11 goal contributions from midfield, they also gave their top Academy player Tyler Goodrham a proper chance again and they have kept their best player in Cameron Brannagan after giving him a massive contract the season before

They have done everything I wanted my club to do and i hope they get promoted for actually showing some ambition, they even lost their manager and instead of going back to some washed up ex they went and got someone who was doing a good job somewhere else

Sadler has failed us again this season, last season he tried to complete the Championship on the cheap this season he's underestimated League one whilst sticking all his eggs in the Critchley basket

I get it Sadler puts his own money in, but sorry its not enough and he's wasted what he has put in, we look a million miles away from being a Championship team
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Maybe it's managed stagnation then? I think SS is happier with us in L1. He cannot afford or is not willing to fund the Championship.
 
I think the players are better than NC allows them to be. Now, whether they aren't that interested or have lost a bit of heart with it all, but some have gone backwards. CJ always offered a threat- he doesn't now. ME was easily a defender who looked like being comfortable in a higher league. Something is wrong.

As @Phil_bfc deux says SS should be looking at replacing NC....I can smell a 'mutual consent' coming on and as I've said previously, that the new guy should have been sought from Christmas if not earlier.

If the players don't play as well as they can then the buck stops with the manager. If the manager doesn't perform etc etc....the buck eventually stops with SS. He really needs a football DoF in, as well as an investor.
 
I was always within the understanding that recruitment worked like this:

Recruiting team / scouts identity future potential players.
RT / S also identify current targets and players with potential to improve further.

Manager suggests targets from own network for RT/S to analyse.

Manager makes requests for positional players.

RT/S identify these players from lists above. Negotiations begin through the process and within set budgets. SS signs off once fee/wages agreed. Any overspend goes to SS to sign off.

Loan players fall into above too with potential to be much better short term options than available signings.
 
In the modern world Critchley is a coach so has a much lesser say on who is signed. Reason for this is managers are normally short lived (fans asking for removal in September etc) so you need a recruiting team to set the tone and structure.
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
Whilst I've never really rated Critchley I don't think this seasons failure is just down to him

Our best 3 players are loans and the rest of our squad is completely average, I remember the idiots on this site taking the pish out of Oxford at the start of the season but they have done what we should have done

They signed Mark Harris from Cardiff who has scored 17 goals this season and they signed Ruben Rodrigues from Notts County 11 goal contributions from midfield, they also gave their top Academy player Tyler Goodrham a proper chance again and they have kept their best player in Cameron Brannagan after giving him a massive contract the season before

They have done everything I wanted my club to do and i hope they get promoted for actually showing some ambition, they even lost their manager and instead of going back to some washed up ex they went and got someone who was doing a good job somewhere else

Sadler has failed us again this season, last season he tried to complete the Championship on the cheap this season he's underestimated League one whilst sticking all his eggs in the Critchley basket

I get it Sadler puts his own money in, but sorry its not enough and he's wasted what he has put in, we look a million miles away from being a Championship team
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Agree with this, I can’t work out the recruitment? It seems disjointed from what’s happening on the pitch, NC has clearly wanted to play 3 at the back from the start but we’ve not recruited a ball-playing centre back. We play wing-backs who’s 1st intention is to check back or go inside and have only specifically recruited 1 player for this role who epitomises the above, as highlighted yesterday when he’s in a great position but doesn’t want to aggressively attack the full-back and does neither but hit a cross come shot out of play.

We signed a penalty box striker in Rhodes but don’t really get the ball in the penalty box from wide if the wing backs do as above. He has to play in a 2, yet we’ve not sometimes and it’s severely exposed his lack of pace.

We take Kyle Joseph as part of the Yates deal but don’t play him enough or a formation that suits him.

Dembele has been a joy to watch and is magic but it took months for NC to work out where he should play and he’s even tried to play him off a lone striker at 1st which hasn’t worked.

Surely we recruit based on the system?

It’s probably why we let Apter out on loan again and culled any wingers we have but that’s only good if your system always works and you never have to change it, which is hasn’t especially away to poor teams.

Even with that, there is a massive part on the manager regarding his in-game tactics and ability to change things as well as being so soft when it gets a bit tough. It’s all based around scoring 1st… we’ve come back to win in just 2 games and get draws in just 2 games, it’s very bizarre.
 
Adams Kebab said:
Agree with this, I can’t work out the recruitment? It seems disjointed from what’s happening on the pitch, NC has clearly wanted to play 3 at the back from the start but we’ve not recruited a ball-playing centre back. We play wing-backs who’s 1st intention is to check back or go inside and have only specifically recruited 1 player for this role who epitomises the above, as highlighted yesterday when he’s in a great position but doesn’t want to aggressively attack the full-back and does neither but hit a cross come shot out of play.

We signed a penalty box striker in Rhodes but don’t really get the ball in the penalty box from wide if the wing backs do as above. He has to play in a 2, yet we’ve not sometimes and it’s severely exposed his lack of pace.

We take Kyle Joseph as part of the Yates deal but don’t play him enough or a formation that suits him.

Dembele has been a joy to watch and is magic but it took months for NC to work out where he should play and he’s even tried to play him off a lone striker at 1st which hasn’t worked.

Surely we recruit based on the system?

It’s probably why we let Apter out on loan again and culled any wingers we have but that’s only good if your system always works and you never have to change it, which is hasn’t especially away to poor teams.

Even with that, there is a massive part on the manager regarding his in-game tactics and ability to change things as well as being so soft when it gets a bit tough. It’s all based around scoring 1st… we’ve come back to win in just 2 games and get draws in just 2 games, it’s very bizarre.
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Good post.
 
When Critchley first time round got appointed as head coach(not manager) it was the belief that it was easier to change the coach than the players, so we went with that model which is fine if your Real Madrid but not at this level.

We appoint Appleton who's a 4-3-3 man and have to play Yates and Lavery either side of Madine as we've no one else,we then in January get Bowler and Rogers who would be perfect for the system and then sack him and bring in McCarthy!
Bonkers.

It's totally disjointed just get a manager with his targets in give him a budget and and stop pissing about with this recruitment failure so whoever is in charge is the fall guy not some bloke upstairs.
 
Adams Kebab said:
Agree with this, I can’t work out the recruitment? It seems disjointed from what’s happening on the pitch, NC has clearly wanted to play 3 at the back from the start but we’ve not recruited a ball-playing centre back. We play wing-backs who’s 1st intention is to check back or go inside and have only specifically recruited 1 player for this role who epitomises the above, as highlighted yesterday when he’s in a great position but doesn’t want to aggressively attack the full-back and does neither but hit a cross come shot out of play.

We signed a penalty box striker in Rhodes but don’t really get the ball in the penalty box from wide if the wing backs do as above. He has to play in a 2, yet we’ve not sometimes and it’s severely exposed his lack of pace.

We take Kyle Joseph as part of the Yates deal but don’t play him enough or a formation that suits him.

Dembele has been a joy to watch and is magic but it took months for NC to work out where he should play and he’s even tried to play him off a lone striker at 1st which hasn’t worked.

Surely we recruit based on the system?

It’s probably why we let Apter out on loan again and culled any wingers we have but that’s only good if your system always works and you never have to change it, which is hasn’t especially away to poor teams.

Even with that, there is a massive part on the manager regarding his in-game tactics and ability to change things as well as being so soft when it gets a bit tough. It’s all based around scoring 1st… we’ve come back to win in just 2 games and get draws in just 2 games, it’s very bizarre.
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Yeah it's a great post the wing back situation has been truly ridiculous even playing wingers there in Dale and CJ as inverted and Rhodes thing as well

Its obvious to anyone who watches football that Rhodes needs a partner hence why i think Critchley has stuck to this 352 to get the best out of Rhodes and it kinda worked for a bit at home but not away and for the life of me I can't understand why we didn't keep both Apter and Dale and played them in positions to suit them

Doesn't look to me like much planning on recruitment more a case of just getting who's available and then just forcing them into a ridged system

Lets be honest we got lucky with Dembele as the manager didn't have a clue what to do with him at first and it took fcuking ages to bring in a left football wing back

Get rid of Critchley and build again with a proper plan for what the new manager wants
 
Burnnazzer said:
If the strategy is buy players with potential and sell them at profit then our bosses and recruiters have been poor this season. In the main our loans have been more influential than our own. Losing Rhodes has shown how average our strikers are. My criticism of Critchley is he hasn’t got the ability as a coach to change things during the games we have struggled. HIs subs are like for like. Nor has he realised we don’t have enough physicality, letting Dougall go was a disaster. He should have been captain. Do the hierarchy show ambition? When we were relegated the stated ambition was to stay up, and this year to make the playoffs. Not right in my book. In the Championship ambition should have been to improve our finishing position and this year to win it. Their words are a cop out.
.
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Letting Dale go to Oxford another disaster!
 
Adams Kebab said:
Agree with this, I can’t work out the recruitment? It seems disjointed from what’s happening on the pitch, NC has clearly wanted to play 3 at the back from the start but we’ve not recruited a ball-playing centre back. We play wing-backs who’s 1st intention is to check back or go inside and have only specifically recruited 1 player for this role who epitomises the above, as highlighted yesterday when he’s in a great position but doesn’t want to aggressively attack the full-back and does neither but hit a cross come shot out of play.

We signed a penalty box striker in Rhodes but don’t really get the ball in the penalty box from wide if the wing backs do as above. He has to play in a 2, yet we’ve not sometimes and it’s severely exposed his lack of pace.

We take Kyle Joseph as part of the Yates deal but don’t play him enough or a formation that suits him.

Dembele has been a joy to watch and is magic but it took months for NC to work out where he should play and he’s even tried to play him off a lone striker at 1st which hasn’t worked.

Surely we recruit based on the system?

It’s probably why we let Apter out on loan again and culled any wingers we have but that’s only good if your system always works and you never have to change it, which is hasn’t especially away to poor teams.

Even with that, there is a massive part on the manager regarding his in-game tactics and ability to change things as well as being so soft when it gets a bit tough. It’s all based around scoring 1st… we’ve come back to win in just 2 games and get draws in just 2 games, it’s very bizarre.
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As for experimenting with Dembele off a lone striker early season, he must have liked what he saw because he tried it on 66 minutes when he took off Shane leaving Beez up front on his own.
Beyond bizarre, particularly when our tiny chance of squeaking the playoffs could rest in goal difference.
Muddled thinking from a muddled or instransigent mind.
 
hertfordseasider said:
He has all these recruitment teams and experts in this and that, but somehow he seems to ignore them.

Recruitment of players isn’t Sadler’s fault it is either the recruitment teams or Critchley’s.
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Your post has confused me. These statements appear to contradict each other?
 
Loco said:
Your post has confused me. These statements appear to contradict each other?
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Yeah, I thought that when I posted it. I think it's more around his managerial appointments although he has a reputation for just doing what he wants without listening to the advice, again I think he may make decision making more difficult for the teams. He is the owner though so he can do what he wants, it doesn't have to be the best thing though and he has to expect criticism but hates it.
 
Mark_GT said:
As for experimenting with Dembele off a lone striker early season, he must have liked what he saw because he tried it on 66 minutes when he took off Shane leaving Beez up front on his own.
Beyond bizarre, particularly when our tiny chance of squeaking the playoffs could rest in goal difference.
Muddled thinking from a muddled or instransigent mind.
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This is where I’ve had enough of NC.

If you just look at Dembele. Straight away he looked magic. Everyone’s saying play him infront of two midfielders and behind two strikers if we’re sticking with 3-5-2. We get fed that he hasn’t played a full-game professionally etc.

He gives him his 1st start v Derby but he shits himself and starts him behind a lone Rhodes making both ineffective. In that game, he actually turns on a sixpence and sets up Dougall’s goal but NC and the two coaches already have the subs ready as it’s just gone 70 mins and he hooks him. He couldn’t think, nah let’s wait on that now he’s getting lively. Both subs were stripped and we couldn’t ever think outside the box. We end up losing impetus with the subs.

He bags at Charlton off the bench and changes the game at Oxford to get us a point so at home to Cheltenham he starts and finally it’s with Rhodes & another striker. We dominate 1st half with him starring and scoring again but end up hanging on, but we all know where he needs to play and who with and this is it now here we go with him.

So next up it’s Peterborough & NC shits himself and he’s back on the bench. We get pumped but he’s off the bench to get us two goals back.

So you think right, he surely knows now. Nope. It’s Cods away he’s on the bench, just to add whilst our most creative player isn’t starting we’re watching Tashan Oakley-Boothe look like he’s won a competition and got to play in a pro-game. Anyway, having been sat at the side for once it was obvious where we were missing a link and I still say the fan reaction caused the half-time changes. That 2nd half we were untouchable for about 35 mins and Dembele was as good as anything you’ll see at this level. Unplayable almost. He also made CJ look good.

So this is it now, he must fuckin know now where to play him. Bolton away. He starts him, he can’t not, but he shits himself and plays him off a lone striker in Rhodes which means they both aren’t as effective, we go a goal down and he takes him off for Owen Dale.

Since that, we’ve swapped to a 3-4-3 to accommodate him but it also explains why Rhodes hasn’t been as effective and we weirdly have a forward operating in a left channel. I think since Carey has come back we’ve almost gone to a 3-1-4-2 but Dembele has always operated from our right touchline to the middle of the penalty box and no wider left than that.

It’s a long post but that sub yesterday where he leaves him upfront off Beesley summed up what a pussy NC is and brought it all back to me how much he shit himself with him for the 1st quarter / half of the season.
 
hertfordseasider said:
Yeah, I thought that when I posted it. I think it's more around his managerial appointments although he has a reputation for just doing what he wants without listening to the advice, again I think he may make decision making more difficult for the teams. He is the owner though so he can do what he wants, it doesn't have to be the best thing though and he has to expect criticism but hates it.
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Try writing a coherent argument and stop waffling...
 
With relegation the best players wanted away and with the loss of Yates, Anderson, Madine, Thorniley, and even Garbutt. Did they get
replaced with players as good at the start of the season? Or even players that could develop. The recruitment has been poor and with the
injury to Rhodes and Dougall wanting a fresh challenge ( more money), the squad lacks the goals to gain promotion.

The current system is too reliant on Dembele, and apart from his performances, the football is boring and very predictable.
The question is does Sadler, carry on with Critch and invest in the 5 or 6 quality players needed to gain promotion with this system, or
change manager and let them rebuild the squad and change football styles? What Sadler cannot do is allow Critch to carry on
with this system and recruit players who are not good enough. Fans will accept boring football if they are successful but not boring football
if the results are mediocre.
 
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There's literally no reason why anyone involved in the club wouldn't want us to be in the Championship rather than League 1. Just as if we were in the Championship there's no reason you wouldn't want to be in the Premier League. And if you're in the Premier League you want to get into Europe. But of course it doesn't work like that because everyone else is also doing the same thing and trying to achieve the same as we're trying to achieve.

Recruitment does need to be better targeted or - maybe - simplified. It does look like we've signed some players on their potential to develop rather than whether they actually suit the style and system the coach wants. There's a heap of players that have stalled because they're being asked to do things that they're really not good at and not things that really make them stand out.

Whether you think SS should spend more or whether he has the money to do so, is immaterial to me. He's the owner and custodian, he's working hard and trying to invest properly and with long term benefits for the club. There's not much else to say.
 
Adams Kebab said:
This is where I’ve had enough of NC.

If you just look at Dembele. Straight away he looked magic. Everyone’s saying play him infront of two midfielders and behind two strikers if we’re sticking with 3-5-2. We get fed that he hasn’t played a full-game professionally etc.

He gives him his 1st start v Derby but he shits himself and starts him behind a lone Rhodes making both ineffective. In that game, he actually turns on a sixpence and sets up Dougall’s goal but NC and the two coaches already have the subs ready as it’s just gone 70 mins and he hooks him. He couldn’t think, nah let’s wait on that now he’s getting lively. Both subs were stripped and we couldn’t ever think outside the box. We end up losing impetus with the subs.

He bags at Charlton off the bench and changes the game at Oxford to get us a point so at home to Cheltenham he starts and finally it’s with Rhodes & another striker. We dominate 1st half with him starring and scoring again but end up hanging on, but we all know where he needs to play and who with and this is it now here we go with him.

So next up it’s Peterborough & NC shits himself and he’s back on the bench. We get pumped but he’s off the bench to get us two goals back.

So you think right, he surely knows now. Nope. It’s Cods away he’s on the bench, just to add whilst our most creative player isn’t starting we’re watching Tashan Oakley-Boothe look like he’s won a competition and got to play in a pro-game. Anyway, having been sat at the side for once it was obvious where we were missing a link and I still say the fan reaction caused the half-time changes. That 2nd half we were untouchable for about 35 mins and Dembele was as good as anything you’ll see at this level. Unplayable almost. He also made CJ look good.

So this is it now, he must fuckin know now where to play him. Bolton away. He starts him, he can’t not, but he shits himself and plays him off a lone striker in Rhodes which means they both aren’t as effective, we go a goal down and he takes him off for Owen Dale.

Since that, we’ve swapped to a 3-4-3 to accommodate him but it also explains why Rhodes hasn’t been as effective and we weirdly have a forward operating in a left channel. I think since Carey has come back we’ve almost gone to a 3-1-4-2 but Dembele has always operated from our right touchline to the middle of the penalty box and no wider left than that.

It’s a long post but that sub yesterday where he leaves him upfront off Beesley summed up what a pussy NC is and brought it all back to me how much he shit himself with him for the 1st quarter / half of the season.
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Yup, wouldn't disagree with any of that. Full marks for even being able to remember those key moments and decisions. I've wiped most of it from the memory banks 👍
The summary feeling I have is frustration. We had one of the best young talents available our level, Rob Apter consigned to "learning his trade" at Tranmere, and we're most likely going to miss the playoffs by a handful of points.
Sticking it on the players he has picked and their decision making in those "key moments" in front of goal is disingenuous. That or he just can't see it.
 
Mark_GT said:
Yup, wouldn't disagree with any of that. Full marks for even being able to remember those key moments and decisions. I've wiped most of it from the memory banks 👍
The summary feeling I have is frustration. We had one of the best young talents available our level, Rob Apter consigned to "learning his trade" at Tranmere, and we're most likely going to miss the playoffs by a handful of points.
Sticking it on the players he has picked and their decision making in those "key moments" in front of goal is disingenuous. That or he just can't see it.
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"Quality in both boxes"
 
Mark_GT said:
Yup, wouldn't disagree with any of that. Full marks for even being able to remember those key moments and decisions. I've wiped most of it from the memory banks 👍
The summary feeling I have is frustration. We had one of the best young talents available our level, Rob Apter consigned to "learning his trade" at Tranmere, and we're most likely going to miss the playoffs by a handful of points.
Sticking it on the players he has picked and their decision making in those "key moments" in front of goal is disingenuous. That or he just can't see it.
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Frustration is definitely the thing.

We could have definitely used Apter in loads of games we couldn’t score or break teams down just as something different.

But the bottom line is, at 1-0 up, or even drawing with 15 mins to go, we’ve got a manager who’d rather bring on Matty Virtue than use a creative talent like Rob Apter.
 
But people have told me for ages that we should be easily top six with this squad, it's one of those little AVFTT factnotfacts, so I'm confused now.
 
The weirdest of all is giving CJ who like it or not is a winger and not a back anything, a 3 year contract to play presumably as a right wing back.
Like CJ or not surely you must be giving your players their best chance to succeed or binning them.
 
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Loads of great stuff in this string.
For me Critchley has been found out.
He came with a reputation as a great coach and kept us in the Champ with a weak squad at that level.
He then crashed and burned at the other clubs, and we took him back - fair enough we thought, biting our tongues.
But it's clear he's a poor coach. Not one department is doing well. We look shaky at the back, out-muscled and out-played in midfield - often unable to string two passes together before it's hoofed upfield - and our strikers look non-league (Rhodes excepted obvs).
Highlights have been Rhodes, Dembele, and latterly Byers.
But for someone supposed to be a great coach - the coaching and tactics are woeful.
Time for a change.
 
Camberwell1 said:
We are all at sea because -
1 Critchley really put us in League 1
2.the shambles that followed his departure ? Reason went on underApple tree
3. And like a shallow newspaper boy wanting his job back after his cycling accident, he got it back with a squad of tissue paper

Having said that we aren’t quite on the mortuary slab yet

U t P
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How did Critchley put us in league one?
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
Before this season he had never ever played a professional game as a left wing back

I think that tells you more about the manager than anything else
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I wasn't impressed with him last season either. Lightweight and too easily pushed off the ball.

As you said, not just about the manager.
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
Whilst I've never really rated Critchley I don't think this seasons failure is just down to him

Our best 3 players are loans and the rest of our squad is completely average, I remember the idiots on this site taking the pish out of Oxford at the start of the season but they have done what we should have done

They signed Mark Harris from Cardiff who has scored 17 goals this season and they signed Ruben Rodrigues from Notts County 11 goal contributions from midfield, they also gave their top Academy player Tyler Goodrham a proper chance again and they have kept their best player in Cameron Brannagan after giving him a massive contract the season before

They have done everything I wanted my club to do and i hope they get promoted for actually showing some ambition, they even lost their manager and instead of going back to some washed up ex they went and got someone who was doing a good job somewhere else

Sadler has failed us again this season, last season he tried to complete the Championship on the cheap this season he's underestimated League one whilst sticking all his eggs in the Critchley basket

I get it Sadler puts his own money in, but sorry its not enough and he's wasted what he has put in, we look a million miles away from being a Championship team
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To edit: 'Sadler has failed us again this season, last season he tried to compete in the Championship on the cheap; this season he's underestimated League One whilst sticking all his eggs in the 'Critchley basket-case' ...
 
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