Kaikai

Thought he did alright today even when it came to being told to track back and cover left back given their strength down the wings. But is better suited to the role that Yates played in behind Madine, or the 2 in a 3-4-2-1. As are all the other attacking options on the books.
 
poolfc said:
Thought he did alright today even when it came to being told to track back and cover left back given their strength down the wings. But is better suited to the role that Yates played in behind Madine, or the 2 in a 3-4-2-1. As are all the other attacking options on the books.
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Yep.

What I don't understand is why we don't rotate more in games. I'm not just moaning here, I genuinely don't know why we don't do it. Bez could have gone left, Yates right and Sullay in that hole for a bit, then back. Why not? We have players who are comfortable in different places. I don't know why CJ never goes down the middle for ten minutes for example.

Perhaps not so much today as I understand they're a good side and it might have destabilised us, but when we're up against a brick wall team who have come for a draw first and foremost we do seem to have a habit of doing the same thing until subs.
 
td53 said:
Yep.

What I don't understand is why we don't rotate more in games. I'm not just moaning here, I genuinely don't know why we don't do it. Bez could have gone left, Yates right and Sullay in that hole for a bit, then back. Why not? We have players who are comfortable in different places. I don't know why CJ never goes down the middle for ten minutes for example.

Perhaps not so much today as I understand they're a good side and it might have destabilised us, but when we're up against a brick wall team who have come for a draw first and foremost we do seem to have a habit of doing the same thing until subs.
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I'd put a lot of that frustration of 'why aren't they trying this?' down to the coaching method. Critchley's been put through an FA course since the FA decided to try to turn the England national team into a variant of how Spain play. They want to bring through coaches and players who are versed in a patient passing build up game rather than kick and rush (which is what we are as a nation) but it's being micromanaged down to a level where there's no individuality. Players have to fit in the system rather than the system fits to the players.
 
poolfc said:
I'd put a lot of that frustration of 'why aren't they trying this?' down to the coaching method. Critchley's been put through an FA course since the FA decided to try to turn the England national team into a variant of how Spain play. They want to bring through coaches and players who are versed in a patient passing build up game rather than kick and rush (which is what we are as a nation) but it's being micromanaged down to a level where there's no individuality. Players have to fit in the system rather than the system fits to the players.
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Yes, maybe. It's ironic if so, by coaching the Charles Hughes out of coaches, you then just indoctrinate another rigid philosophy.

Spanish football is just recycled 1880s Scottish football anyway.
 
td53 said:
What I don't understand is why we don't rotate more in games. I'm not just moaning here, I genuinely don't know why we don't do it. Bez could have gone left, Yates right and Sullay in that hole for a bit, then back. Why not? We have players who are comfortable in different places. I don't know why CJ never goes down the middle for ten minutes for example.

Perhaps not so much today as I understand they're a good side and it might have destabilised us, but when we're up against a brick wall team who have come for a draw first and foremost we do seem to have a habit of doing the same thing until subs.
Click to expand...
Ive banged on about this a lot recently but I honestly think it has a lot to do with the squad size.

We’ve 26 first team players on the books at the moment. That’s at least 4 too many. Might not sound a lot, but when 7 of them are attacking midfielders ( CJ, Bez, Kai Kai, Sarkic, Mitchell, Woodburn, Anderson - you could even throw Garbutt and Gabriel into the mix for attacking winger spots) it means a few things.

Firstly you have to try and get players game time week to week and off the bench meaning no meaningful positional rotation in game it’s been more person for person swaps as we need to get people minutes, this is exacerbated this season by the amount of subs.
This has impacted Kai Kai as he’s only had 60 odd minutes for a lot of games or looked good only in the last minutes after coming on, largely out of position.

This also means that Critch has constantly been forced to juggle the formation around all season to initially shoe horn players in and then adapt to the realities of league one which includes injuries.

Kai Kai, as well as most of our midfielders have been in and out of games, both time wise and positionally.
For instance he played outside left of a front three then was dropped brought back into a midfield three, dropped, then brought into a midfield four wide left. As much as I’ve dogged him I feel sorry for most of the players I’ve listed in this post they’ve had no stability or simplicity. They’re League One players in the main and need both a run of games in a preferred position with simple instructions to follow.

I believe we need to start again with a squad of Critch’s men, a smaller squad size but with hopefully larger pound for pound ability. Critch will need to live and die by that next season I think.
 
Rektseasider said:
Ive banged on about this a lot recently but I honestly think it has a lot to do with the squad size.

We’ve 26 first team players on the books at the moment. That’s at least 4 too many. Might not sound a lot, but when 7 of them are attacking midfielders ( CJ, Bez, Kai Kai, Sarkic, Mitchell, Woodburn, Anderson - you could even throw Garbutt and Gabriel into the mix for attacking winger spots) it means a few things.

Firstly you have to try and get players game time week to week and off the bench meaning no meaningful positional rotation in game it’s been more person for person swaps as we need to get people minutes, this is exacerbated this season by the amount of subs.
This has impacted Kai Kai as he’s only had 60 odd minutes for a lot of games or looked good only in the last minutes after coming on, largely out of position.

This also means that Critch has constantly been forced to juggle the formation around all season to initially shoe horn players in and then adapt to the realities of league one which includes injuries.

Kai Kai, as well as most of our midfielders have been in and out of games, both time wise and positionally.
For instance he played outside left of a front three then was dropped brought back into a midfield three, dropped, then brought into a midfield four wide left. As much as I’ve dogged him I feel sorry for most of the players I’ve listed in this post they’ve had no stability or simplicity. They’re League One players in the main and need both a run of games in a preferred position with simple instructions to follow.

I believe we need to start again with a squad of Critch’s men, a smaller squad size but with hopefully larger pound for pound ability. Critch will need to live and die by that next season I think.
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I think a selective shedding of some players would possibly help things a bit, It would be nice if we had 18 or so, plus a few of our kids like Antwi, Bange, Holmes etc but I don't think it's happening till summer. I'd also say Critch is odd in not playing players where they're best sometimes. He did it with Feeney pre season - picked him everywhere but wide right. He's never even given Sullay a half in behind the striker in a tinpot cup game, just to have a look. Not sure why as he clearly keeps going back to Kaikai so obviously rates him to a degree, but won't try him where he's best, even when there's little to lose.

We're doing ok. There's plenty of good stuff and some frustrating stuff but it's ok imo. I trust Critch enough not to think he's going to fuck it all up badly, I just don't know if he knows exactly where to go next now he's got a functioning but functional side that play really well at times, but not often enough to be serious promotion contenders yet.

We'll see.
 
td53 said:
I think a selective shedding of some players would possibly help things a bit, It would be nice if we had 18 or so, plus a few of our kids like Antwi, Bange, Holmes etc but I don't think it's happening till summer. I'd also say Critch is odd in not playing players where they're best sometimes. He did it with Feeney pre season - picked him everywhere but wide right. He's never even given Sullay a half in behind the striker in a tinpot cup game, just to have a look. Not sure why as he clearly keeps going back to Kaikai so obviously rates him to a degree, but won't try him where he's best, even when there's little to lose.

We're doing ok. There's plenty of good stuff and some frustrating stuff but it's ok imo. I trust Critch enough not to think he's going to fuck it all up badly, I just don't know if he knows exactly where to go next now he's got a functioning but functional side that play really well at times, but not often enough to be serious promotion contenders yet.

We'll see.
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You’re last paragraph nails it for me.

He probably needs to grab some advice from a seasoned lower league manger about keeping it simple whilst being explosive.

All eyes on Critch.
 
Rektseasider said:
Ive banged on about this a lot recently but I honestly think it has a lot to do with the squad size.

We’ve 26 first team players on the books at the moment. That’s at least 4 too many. Might not sound a lot, but when 7 of them are attacking midfielders ( CJ, Bez, Kai Kai, Sarkic, Mitchell, Woodburn, Anderson - you could even throw Garbutt and Gabriel into the mix for attacking winger spots) it means a few things.

Firstly you have to try and get players game time week to week and off the bench meaning no meaningful positional rotation in game it’s been more person for person swaps as we need to get people minutes, this is exacerbated this season by the amount of subs.
This has impacted Kai Kai as he’s only had 60 odd minutes for a lot of games or looked good only in the last minutes after coming on, largely out of position.

This also means that Critch has constantly been forced to juggle the formation around all season to initially shoe horn players in and then adapt to the realities of league one which includes injuries.

Kai Kai, as well as most of our midfielders have been in and out of games, both time wise and positionally.
For instance he played outside left of a front three then was dropped brought back into a midfield three, dropped, then brought into a midfield four wide left. As much as I’ve dogged him I feel sorry for most of the players I’ve listed in this post they’ve had no stability or simplicity. They’re League One players in the main and need both a run of games in a preferred position with simple instructions to follow.

I believe we need to start again with a squad of Critch’s men, a smaller squad size but with hopefully larger pound for pound ability. Critch will need to live and die by that next season I think.
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Worth a thread on its own tbh...I have opinions on most of our squad and though some wont agree with my opinion its good to debate
 
TANGERINETOWERPOWER said:
Worth a thread on its own tbh...I have opinions on most of our squad and though some wont agree with my opinion its good to debate
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Yes it probably is mate as I think a lot of it gets lost in the chatter.

You know what I think we’d all be surprised how much we agree on the players, their abilities, positions and more.

As I’ve bored everyone, with a salary and squad cap it might be worth just cutting our losses on players who are talented but won’t be effective for us to strengthen as much as we can all over the pitch. This is where I think I’ll get push back, people will want them as “squad players”. Just won’t be possible next year.
 
Rektseasider said:
You’re last paragraph nails it for me.

He probably needs to grab some advice from a seasoned lower league manger about keeping it simple whilst being explosive.

All eyes on Critch.
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To an extent. I'll give him the season to work it out. I think it's pressure on next year for me. I've said this since the beginning. It's daft of everyone to think we can just magic it in one year. You just don't. Year one you build, Year two you move. Doesn't matter whether you've got Sadler or not. That's how it works almost every time. I've seen enough to know he's got something - I don't know if he's got enough. He gets through to the players, he's got some cracking results, he's adapted to problems (not all of the ones, but some) He now needs to work out how to beat 'lesser' teams and to address a few imbalances in the squad. There's been some hyperbole about what we'll achieve this year and some hyperbole about how bad we are. Truth is somewhere in between probably.

It will be interesting to see if he applies the same ruthlessness he did to the old squad to his new squad. I honestly don't know.
 
Rektseasider said:
Yes it probably is mate as I think a lot of it gets lost in the chatter.

You know what I think we’d all be surprised how much we agree on the players, their abilities, positions and more.

As I’ve bored everyone, with a salary and squad cap it might be worth just cutting our losses on players who are talented but won’t be effective for us to strengthen as much as we can all over the pitch. This is where I think I’ll get push back, people will want them as “squad players”. Just won’t be possible next year.
Click to expand...

If we've got decent youth, that's the way to maximise the first team wage potential. If you believe a player is good enough to give a contract to and loan out, you must believe he's potentially good enough and possibly playing them in the league accelerates their development. Yes, they might not be ready *now* but after five or six games, maybe they'll be a lot more ready. I can't say much about most of them, but it was good to see Antwi on the bench today, I'd really like to see us push that, especially if the season is petering out. Give the kids a bit of time. See what they're made of cos if they're good enough for at least cover, they're worth a lot more than a 'squad player' cos they're a free hit.

Some people haven't processed the salary cap, I agree.

Though I'm keeping Sullay. So there.
 
td53 said:
To an extent. I'll give him the season to work it out. I think it's pressure on next year for me. I've said this since the beginning. It's daft of everyone to think we can just magic it in one year. You just don't. Year one you build, Year two you move. Doesn't matter whether you've got Sadler or not. That's how it works almost every time. I've seen enough to know he's got something - I don't know if he's got enough. He gets through to the players, he's got some cracking results, he's adapted to problems (not all of the ones, but some) He now needs to work out how to beat 'lesser' teams and to address a few imbalances in the squad. There's been some hyperbole about what we'll achieve this year and some hyperbole about how bad we are. Truth is somewhere in between probably.

It will be interesting to see if he applies the same ruthlessness he did to the old squad to his new squad. I honestly don't know.
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Good post.

really interesting to see if that ruthlessness happens. Personally I would but when you have to swallow you’re pride and admit you were wrong on more than a few signings it gets tricky.

Agree wasn’t sold on storming the world at the every beginning but did get swept up in all the night table finish stuff, which could still happen but we seem miles away yet. Normal thought only took a few weeks to be restored.

Not sure he gets through to everyone, he’s alienated far more players than he looks like he’s brought on at the moment. But like you say next year his clock will really start ticking.

Will the squad be complete, and in his own making I hope so because we could go onto great things. As you say we will see.
 
td53 said:
If we've got decent youth, that's the way to maximise the first team wage potential. If you believe a player is good enough to give a contract to and loan out, you must believe he's potentially good enough and possibly playing them in the league accelerates their development. Yes, they might not be ready *now* but after five or six games, maybe they'll be a lot more ready. I can't say much about most of them, but it was good to see Antwi on the bench today, I'd really like to see us push that, especially if the season is petering out. Give the kids a bit of time. See what they're made of cos if they're good enough for at least cover, they're worth a lot more than a 'squad player' cos they're a free hit.

Some people haven't processed the salary cap, I agree.

Though I'm keeping Sullay. So there.
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Yes can’t disagree with much again there. I think ideally we should have a first team squad of 20 with 3 of the best youth lads getting game time where possible.

Sully is talented, I just I think his race is run with us and he knows it.
 
Rektseasider said:
Good post.

really interesting to see if that ruthlessness happens. Personally I would but when you have to swallow you’re pride and admit you were wrong on more than a few signings it gets tricky.

Agree wasn’t sold on storming the world at the every beginning but did get swept up in all the night table finish stuff, which could still happen but we seem miles away yet. Normal thought only took a few weeks to be restored.

Not sure he gets through to everyone, he’s alienated far more players than he looks like he’s brought on at the moment. But like you say next year his clock will really start ticking.

Will the squad be complete, and in his own making I hope so because we could go onto great things. As you say we will see.
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I mean in the sense that they go out, they play their positions, they try by and large and you can see them doing something akin to what the plan is. Some of the hyperbole would have you believe he's Muggers, Hendry and Clark combined and he's nothing of the sort. What marked them out was you just couldn't see a plan. You'd watch some games (ok, I barely saw Mcdonald's team, but the other two) and think 'I have literally no idea what they've been told to do here' and you'd suspect the players didn't really know either.

I've said before, sometimes it looked early on like they were so rigidly trying to follow Critch's instructions that they didn't think for themselves at all. That's got better. In terms of individuals, I don't know if Sullay is sulking or just low in confidence. I think the latter, but I do have a tendancy to defend him at all costs cos he's Sullay. I agree he's misused some players, but I don't know if I think anyone looks 'alienated' beyond Thorniley and Howe. Gabriel today exploded onto the pitch. Robson was sliding in. Demi seems to come on with a point to prove every time. I know there's talk of 'what goes on...' but if Madine hates Critch and vice versa, he's playing generally pretty well for him.

I don't get the sense of a side where you think 'hmmm, something is rotten here' - I know that doesn't mean every player in the squad is totally happy but as I say, I don't think 'wow, it's all perfect', cos it's clearly not but I also don't think 'shit, it's really going wrong!' - I was getting there with fake shit Liverpool up till November, but he did sort that out.
 
Rektseasider said:
Yes can’t disagree with much again there. I think ideally we should have a first team squad of 20 with 3 of the best youth lads getting game time where possible.

Sully is talented, I just I think his race is run with us and he knows it.
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Stop it. Next you'll be saying Armand has left 😞
 
td53 said:
I mean in the sense that they go out, they play their positions, they try by and large and you can see them doing something akin to what the plan is. Some of the hyperbole would have you believe he's Muggers, Hendry and Clark combined and he's nothing of the sort. What marked them out was you just couldn't see a plan. You'd watch some games (ok, I barely saw Mcdonald's team, but the other two) and think 'I have literally no idea what they've been told to do here' and you'd suspect the players didn't really know either.

I've said before, sometimes it looked early on like they were so rigidly trying to follow Critch's instructions that they didn't think for themselves at all. That's got better. In terms of individuals, I don't know if Sullay is sulking or just low in confidence. I think the latter, but I do have a tendancy to defend him at all costs cos he's Sullay. I agree he's misused some players, but I don't know if I think anyone looks 'alienated' beyond Thorniley and Howe. Gabriel today exploded onto the pitch. Robson was sliding in. Demi seems to come on with a point to prove every time. I know there's talk of 'what goes on...' but if Madine hates Critch and vice versa, he's playing generally pretty well for him.

I don't get the sense of a side where you think 'hmmm, something is rotten here' - I know that doesn't mean every player in the squad is totally happy but as I say, I don't think 'wow, it's all perfect', cos it's clearly not but I also don't think 'shit, it's really going wrong!' - I was getting there with fake shit Liverpool up till November, but he did sort that out.
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More recently NC has shown that he is not only flexible but has that plan to get the team humming. The first 12 or so games of the season I thought we may have made a huge mistake but I do now think he has the potential to take us up, where as you’re right some of the others had no idea and were here for a wage.

Alienate is probably the wrong term, he’s dismissed far more players than he’s brought on again a natural part of football when a new coach comes in, however it’s slightly worrying that we’re half way through the season and there’s only really Marv who you can say there’s marked improvement, in fact a lot of the squad have regressed. This is worrying considering his background. Time will tell on this. Regarding Madine, they don’t really get on but I was told basically Madine doesn’t respect him, but I don’t think Madines ever really respected any of his managers and just players for him self.


As you’ve said next year is the acid test.
td53 said:
Stop it. Next you'll be saying Armand has left 😞
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He did but he’s back somewhere 😯
 
Rektseasider said:
More recently NC has shown that he is not only flexible but has that plan to get the team humming. The first 12 or so games of the season I thought we may have made a huge mistake but I do now think he has the potential to take us up, where as you’re right some of the others had no idea and were here for a wage.

Alienate is probably the wrong term, he’s dismissed far more players than he’s brought on again a natural part of football when a new coach comes in, however it’s slightly worrying that we’re half way through the season and there’s only really Marv who you can say there’s marked improvement, in fact a lot of the squad have regressed. This is worrying considering his background. Time will tell on this. Regarding Madine, they don’t really get on but I was told basically Madine doesn’t respect him, but I don’t think Madines ever really respected any of his managers and just players for him self.


As you’ve said next year is the acid test.

He did but he’s back somewhere 😯
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Madine is far too rock n roll to give a fuck about some old bloke telling him what to do. It's why we love him.

I don't want to think about Armand being back but not coming back.
 
td53 said:
Madine is far too rock n roll to give a fuck about some old bloke telling him what to do. It's why we love him.

I don't want to think about Armand being back but not coming back.
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Madine is the gun slinger in the western the townsfolk are disgusted by but need to protect them from the bandits.
 
Rektseasider said:
More recently NC has shown that he is not only flexible but has that plan to get the team humming. The first 12 or so games of the season I thought we may have made a huge mistake but I do now think he has the potential to take us up, where as you’re right some of the others had no idea and were here for a wage.

Alienate is probably the wrong term, he’s dismissed far more players than he’s brought on again a natural part of football when a new coach comes in, however it’s slightly worrying that we’re half way through the season and there’s only really Marv who you can say there’s marked improvement, in fact a lot of the squad have regressed. This is worrying considering his background. Time will tell on this. Regarding Madine, they don’t really get on but I was told basically Madine doesn’t respect him, but I don’t think Madines ever really respected any of his managers and just players for him self.


As you’ve said next year is the acid test.

He did but he’s back somewhere 😯
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He's done OK with Ward. Player of no fixed position in his career up to a few months ago. And his signing just looked like the CEO showing off that he could make signings. But looks like he can get things moving from the midfield two now.
 
poolfc said:
He's done OK with Ward. Player of no fixed position in his career up to a few months ago. And his signing just looked like the CEO showing off that he could make signings. But looks like he can get things moving from the midfield two now.
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That's fair. I remember a game last year away where Ward played in the middle under Grayson and had one of the weirdest performances I've ever seen. Like he was a winger but up the middle. It was bizarre and totally innefective. Can't remember what match it was. It was, I think also KDH's debut and Ward got hooked at half time.

Can't imagine him playing like that now.
 
poolfc said:
He's done OK with Ward. Player of no fixed position in his career up to a few months ago. And his signing just looked like the CEO showing off that he could make signings. But looks like he can get things moving from the midfield two now.
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I guess so, but if Ward left would we really miss him I’m not sure. If Marv left we would really miss him. I think I was just expecting to see people like Anderson (injury I know) or Yates become truly scintillating it hasn’t really happened.

I better go to bed instead of rambling on about lower league footballers. 😩
 
Rektseasider said:
I guess so, but if Ward left would we really miss him I’m not sure. If Marv left we would really miss him. I think I was just expecting to see people like Anderson (injury I know) or Yates become truly scintillating it hasn’t really happened.

I better go to bed instead of rambling on about lower league footballers. 😩
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Not at the moment but at least it's something. I'm now thinking I hope Ward is playing rather than thinking it must be contractual if he is, and I see him as having a role in a team. So NC is managing to make something out of it. But it all feels like a lot of expense when you see the likes of Accrington and Rochdale making the absolute most of what they have, and you think they'd be having an open top bus tour if Grant Ward signed for them as he's ex Spurs and some championship clubs.
 
poolfc said:
Not at the moment but at least it's something. I'm now thinking I hope Ward is playing rather than thinking it must be contractual if he is, and I see him as having a role in a team. So NC is managing to make something out of it. But it all feels like a lot of expense when you see the likes of Accrington and Rochdale making the absolute most of what they have, and you think they'd be having an open top bus tour if Grant Ward signed for them as he's ex Spurs and some championship clubs.
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I agree with you, that he has actually improved and you’re right there was a time when I rolled my eyes when he started.

He is another one who’s been disjointed by the overload we have in midfield.
 
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