There's plenty of 'able' and vaunted novices who crash and burn. It is to Critchley's immense credit that he doesn't seem to be one of them. The switch from coach to top man often doesn't work out. In this case, it appears it is working and working very well now.
It also is to his credit that he's finally worked out that leaving the best player stood on the touchline isn't the way to go. The way he rejigged 442 to enable the wide men to come inside recently is also very clever. I will give him every credit for that, but I also will question how he's used Sullay to this point.
Critchley is doing an excellent job but some of what he has tried hasn't worked and that has meant, sometimes, some players, getting stick as a result with Sullay being the obvious one. If you want me to be truly objective about it, I'd say, in the long run, he might well have done Sullay some good as he seems a more disciplined player now and to be timing and choosing his forays more selectively as well as tracking more effectively.
I think the narrative that Sullay just 'didn't give a fuck' and now magically he's 'playing really well' is simplistic and doesn't take into account what he's instructed to do. I've sad this before but it's like asking Dan Ballard to play right back. It's only a shuffle across the pitch, but for a player with Ballard's attributes, it would probably, eventually result in a loss of form and confidence and criticism.
As I say, I think in the long run, it
might have made Sullay a better player overall - I just object to the notion that Sullay is simply some workshy loafer who doesn't care in the slightest, when actually, I think to a certain extent, he's been doing what he's told to do (even when it runs against his natural skills - i.e. playing Dan Ballard as a wing back) in a side whose rigidity was a defining hallmark. Now the side is less rigid, Sullay looks much better. The problem was earlier in the year, if he tried something and it went wrong, he got stick for 'not being in position' - but then simultaneously, if he had a quiet game, he got stick for 'not trying things'
@Insider - none of the above... Imagine if it turned out I was Sullay tho. That
would be turn up.
Here's a fact I bet no one knows. His actual mum once stood for election on a women's rights ticket in Sierra Leone:
https://www.ayvnewspaper.com/uncategorized/slpp-s-navo-kaikai-confidence-of-winning-election/