hertfordseasider
Well-known member
Well... where do I start? Season over? I would say so. First 20 minutes was the best I've seen us play for ages but it didn't produce the goal we deserved, Kouassi was terrorising them up front and Gabriel and Coulson were doing well overlapping and Morgan was involved in everything. They then settled a bit and got back into the game more but we were still the better footballing side by far, but we weren't looking like we were going to score but Stevenage didn't look like they were going to score if we played until next Saturday, they were a team of big players who liked to put themselves about, a typical Steve Evans side, horrible to play against.
Going in at half time I thought we had done well but we needed a goal as the game was there for the taking. My main concerns were that CJ, who was in a midfield 3 had another stinker, he was constantly knocked off the ball and didn't get away from his marker at all, he shouldn't be starting in the current form he is in, I also thought Joseph flattered to deceive. He ran about a lot but there was little about his play that bought anything to our forward line.
So, onto the second half and instead of coming out after a tactical masterclass and team talk from Critchley where we changed it around so we could hurt this big side by playing on the deck, we instead reverted to long balls, one after the other which was just gobbled up by their defenders. CJ continued to be shit and Joseph disappeared completely, leaving Kouassi on his own up front and it was no surprise that after an hour he was completely knackered.
We made a couple of changes, Dembele for Kouassi and Lavery for CJ but it made no difference because we now had the shortest forward line we could put out yet we still just continued to hoof long balls to them after some ridiculous tippy tapping between keeper and defenders. It looked like it was heading for a boring 0-0 which I would have taken, but a fluke moment, one attack, a shot, deflection off Marv and we're one down and you kust knew that was how it was going to end. We created nothing, in fact we were awful for the last 20 with no idea what we were doing
The final whistle went and at the end of the day a 0-0 would have been fair, but we somehow deserved the result because of our lack of a plan. There was no lack of commitment or effort, which is why the players, who looked crestfallen at the end, were warmly applauded by the outstanding support again, 780 in a crowd of 5000 and vocal throughout.
My conclusion is that our tactics away from home are woeful and Critchley has no idea how to change anything, he just drives on with the same thing. We have to play it on the deck but we had barely any midfield, CJ and Joseph may as well not have bothered playing and Dembele looks the part when he is playing as the forward playmaker in the centre, not as a winger and Lavery just looks a yard slower than he used to be and to be honest just isn't good enough.
The next 4 games will define our season, if we get nothing against Oxford then that really will be it and with Posh and Bolton to play we could be season over by the end of February apart from the cup thing.
Today was because of Critchley's lack of bravery and his inability to change a game with his tactics. I will stand by my feelings that he should never have been re-employed yet we are stuck with him for the rest of this season and probably next season too. With him in the helm we will be bog standard, upper mid table League 1 team which I think Sadler is happy with.
Very disappointed today, the players and the supporters deserve better, Critchley is not the answer and his formation he keeps standing by is not right for us.
Going in at half time I thought we had done well but we needed a goal as the game was there for the taking. My main concerns were that CJ, who was in a midfield 3 had another stinker, he was constantly knocked off the ball and didn't get away from his marker at all, he shouldn't be starting in the current form he is in, I also thought Joseph flattered to deceive. He ran about a lot but there was little about his play that bought anything to our forward line.
So, onto the second half and instead of coming out after a tactical masterclass and team talk from Critchley where we changed it around so we could hurt this big side by playing on the deck, we instead reverted to long balls, one after the other which was just gobbled up by their defenders. CJ continued to be shit and Joseph disappeared completely, leaving Kouassi on his own up front and it was no surprise that after an hour he was completely knackered.
We made a couple of changes, Dembele for Kouassi and Lavery for CJ but it made no difference because we now had the shortest forward line we could put out yet we still just continued to hoof long balls to them after some ridiculous tippy tapping between keeper and defenders. It looked like it was heading for a boring 0-0 which I would have taken, but a fluke moment, one attack, a shot, deflection off Marv and we're one down and you kust knew that was how it was going to end. We created nothing, in fact we were awful for the last 20 with no idea what we were doing
The final whistle went and at the end of the day a 0-0 would have been fair, but we somehow deserved the result because of our lack of a plan. There was no lack of commitment or effort, which is why the players, who looked crestfallen at the end, were warmly applauded by the outstanding support again, 780 in a crowd of 5000 and vocal throughout.
My conclusion is that our tactics away from home are woeful and Critchley has no idea how to change anything, he just drives on with the same thing. We have to play it on the deck but we had barely any midfield, CJ and Joseph may as well not have bothered playing and Dembele looks the part when he is playing as the forward playmaker in the centre, not as a winger and Lavery just looks a yard slower than he used to be and to be honest just isn't good enough.
The next 4 games will define our season, if we get nothing against Oxford then that really will be it and with Posh and Bolton to play we could be season over by the end of February apart from the cup thing.
Today was because of Critchley's lack of bravery and his inability to change a game with his tactics. I will stand by my feelings that he should never have been re-employed yet we are stuck with him for the rest of this season and probably next season too. With him in the helm we will be bog standard, upper mid table League 1 team which I think Sadler is happy with.
Very disappointed today, the players and the supporters deserve better, Critchley is not the answer and his formation he keeps standing by is not right for us.
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