Reality check Mr Critchley

SeasideKurt

SeasideKurt

Well-known member
Neil, this is becoming some of the most inept management I’ve seen of a professional squad at Blackpool since I’ve been following the club. The only caveat I feel you have at this precise moment is that Simon has let you down in that window. You needed a left wing back, another winger and another striker and you didn’t get one.

Let’s start off with the formation. It’s a 3-5-2 in defence and a 4-4-2 in attack. Kind of. Connolly at left wing back and CJ at right wing back. One is extremely left footed, scared to tackle, can’t shoot, can’t cross, can’t run, can’t defend. I’m not actually sure what he can do. A diabolical player who Blackpool fans laid up after his annual good game in CJ on the right. It was ** down right embarrassing watching him wear Tangerine today. Distinct lack of effort all afternoon. Connolly is counter productive at left wing back as he offers zero going forward.

What are we trying to achieve exactly? Compact at the back?

Why at 2-0 down did you change 3 players, like for like and keep pretty much the same ** formation that didn’t work for the previous 60 minutes?

Why did Kouassi stay on the bench after an utterly inept 60 minutes from Beesley?

I am seeing absolutely no signs of improvement. An intent to win games. A desire to excite fans.

The single thing I took from that game is we should build a team around Dembele if we have ANY chance of first of all staying in this league and second of all being in the top half.

That was depressing as fuck and frankly with the players we have. We shouldn’t be playing that brand of football and be where we are in the league.

Neil, wake the fuck up. Get rid of this rigid dogshit formation you’re obsessed with. Play players in their natural positions.

You’ve got about 3 games to sort this out or if I was Simon Sadler after watching that today. I would seriously be starting to look at who will be next in as manager.

Poor and uninspiring and our fans ** deserve better.
 
SeasideKurt said:
Neil, this is becoming some of the most inept management I’ve seen of a professional squad at Blackpool since I’ve been following the club. The only caveat I feel you have at this precise moment is that Simon has let you down in that window. You needed a left wing back, another winger and another striker and you didn’t get one.

Let’s start off with the formation. It’s a 3-5-2 in defence and a 4-4-2 in attack. Kind of. Connolly at left wing back and CJ at right wing back. One is extremely left footed, scared to tackle, can’t shoot, can’t cross, can’t run, can’t defend. I’m not actually sure what he can do. A diabolical player who Blackpool fans laid up after his annual good game in CJ on the right. It was ** down right embarrassing watching him wear Tangerine today. Distinct lack of effort all afternoon. Connolly is counter productive at left wing back as he offers zero going forward.

What are we trying to achieve exactly? Compact at the back?

Why at 2-0 down did you change 3 players, like for like and keep pretty much the same ** formation that didn’t work for the previous 60 minutes?

Why did Kouassi stay on the bench after an utterly inept 60 minutes from Beesley?

I am seeing absolutely no signs of improvement. An intent to win games. A desire to excite fans.

The single thing I took from that game is we should build a team around Dembele if we have ANY chance of first of all staying in this league and second of all being in the top half.

That was depressing as fuck and frankly with the players we have. We shouldn’t be playing that brand of football and be where we are in the league.

Neil, wake the fuck up. Get rid of this rigid dogshit formation you’re obsessed with. Play players in their natural positions.

You’ve got about 3 games to sort this out or if I was Simon Sadler after watching that today. I would seriously be starting to look at who will be next in as manager.

Poor and uninspiring and our fans ** deserve better.
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I hope he is looking, but somehow I don’t think he will be just yet.
 
SeasideKurt said:
Neil, this is becoming some of the most inept management I’ve seen of a professional squad at Blackpool since I’ve been following the club. The only caveat I feel you have at this precise moment is that Simon has let you down in that window. You needed a left wing back, another winger and another striker and you didn’t get one.

Let’s start off with the formation. It’s a 3-5-2 in defence and a 4-4-2 in attack. Kind of. Connolly at left wing back and CJ at right wing back. One is extremely left footed, scared to tackle, can’t shoot, can’t cross, can’t run, can’t defend. I’m not actually sure what he can do. A diabolical player who Blackpool fans laid up after his annual good game in CJ on the right. It was ** down right embarrassing watching him wear Tangerine today. Distinct lack of effort all afternoon. Connolly is counter productive at left wing back as he offers zero going forward.

What are we trying to achieve exactly? Compact at the back?

Why at 2-0 down did you change 3 players, like for like and keep pretty much the same ** formation that didn’t work for the previous 60 minutes?

Why did Kouassi stay on the bench after an utterly inept 60 minutes from Beesley?

I am seeing absolutely no signs of improvement. An intent to win games. A desire to excite fans.

The single thing I took from that game is we should build a team around Dembele if we have ANY chance of first of all staying in this league and second of all being in the top half.

That was depressing as fuck and frankly with the players we have. We shouldn’t be playing that brand of football and be where we are in the league.

Neil, wake the fuck up. Get rid of this rigid dogshit formation you’re obsessed with. Play players in their natural positions.

You’ve got about 3 games to sort this out or if I was Simon Sadler after watching that today. I would seriously be starting to look at who will be next in as manager.

Poor and uninspiring and our fans ** deserve better.
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Agree with most of that but I think we have to give him a fair crack of the whip as he still has credit in the bank from his last stint..if it’s still the same after 15 games then the writing will be on the wall and it will quickly turn toxic but until then we need to pull together and support the team.
 
TANGERINETOWERPOWER said:
Agree with most of that but I think we have to give him a fair crack of the whip as he still has credit in the bank from his last stint..if it’s still the same after 15 games then the writing will be on the wall and it will quickly turn toxic but until then we need to pull together and support the team.
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He’s had 14 games including preseason.
 
Matesrates said:
He’s had 14 games including preseason.
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I will give him 15 league games which is effectively a third of the season with cup games..speaking to someone on the way back now who defo wants rid now and I don’t blame him..and he still goes to virtually every game so is entitled to that opinion..it’s very expensive going to Wycombe and back on the train and it’s miles from the train station aswell
 
straightatthewall said:
The key point for me is 4 goals scored. There's only 1 teams who's scored less. You can't win games of you don't score goals. And we don't score goals in this system or formation.
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It’s more that we don’t look remotely like scoring mate. The amount of times we were in their third attacking and two passes later Connolly to Husband to Grimshaw. 🤢🤢🤢
 
TANGERINETOWERPOWER said:
Agree with most of that but I think we have to give him a fair crack of the whip as he still has credit in the bank from his last stint..if it’s still the same after 15 games then the writing will be on the wall and it will quickly turn toxic but until then we need to pull together and support the team.
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What u might fail to understand is that ‘the mess‘ (his doing) is not simple to rectify nor should it be judged so.

We stayed up in the Championship at a cruise - unbeaten against the Champions Fulham , great draw at Bournemouth and had a spirit about us founded on a promotion push - he tossed that away, if he thinks it’s easy to forgive it isn’t, as the car crash that followed all that hard building and stability work, wrecked a reasonable squad and solid bunch of players and supporters.

People have strange expectations of the Manager and Chairmen but once you lose Championship status any player worth half their salt runs to the hills (even if they warm just the bench) - that’s as contagious as hamstring injuries

There’s no magic wand to this situation, Critch has some good qualities but he has many faults too and please remember we do not have a Prem squad or bank balance but I am sure we aren’t going to go bust tomorrow either

We have what we have - get behind it or don’t (but all the moaning is boring and yes, we’re not blind we can see it like the nose on your face) - it won’t be a pretty season for sure but we’ve had very very many of those in my 55 years

Move foreword
 
Camberwell1 said:
What u might fail to understand is that ‘the mess‘ (his doing) is not simple to rectify nor should it be judged so.

We stayed up in the Championship at a cruise - unbeaten against the Champions Fulham , great draw at Bournemouth and had a spirit about us founded on a promotion push - he tossed that away, if he thinks it’s easy to forgive it isn’t, as the car crash that followed all that hard building and stability work, wrecked a reasonable squad and solid bunch of players and supporters.

People have strange expectations of the Manager and Chairmen but once you lose Championship status any player worth half their salt runs to the hills (even if they warm just the bench) - that’s as contagious as hamstring injuries

There’s no magic wand to this situation, Critch has some good qualities but he has many faults too and please remember we do not have a Prem squad or bank balance but I am sure we aren’t going to go bust tomorrow either

We have what we have - get behind it or don’t (but all the moaning is boring and yes, we’re not blind we can see it like the nose on your face) - it won’t be a pretty season for sure but we’ve had very very many of those in my 55 years

Move foreword
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I really don’t know what you are on about Paul…where have I said it will be easy..I’m on record as saying I think we will finish between 6th and 12th and I haven’t seen much to change my opinion. Remember at the start of the season many were saying we would piss this league and defo be promoted. It was patently obvious we hadn’t spent enough or brought in enough quality during this window and that has to in the main be down to the owner. So yes it won’t be easy but it was all so avoidable.
 
TANGERINETOWERPOWER said:
I really don’t know what you are on about Paul…where have I said it will be easy..I’m on record as saying I think we will finish between 6th and 12th and I haven’t seen much to change my opinion. Remember at the start of the season many were saying we would piss this league and defo be promoted. It was patently obvious we hadn’t spent enough or brought in enough quality during this window and that has to in the main be down to the owner. So yes it won’t be easy but it was all so avoidable.
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He didn't bring in enough quality and he bought in the wrong manager. 12th to 20th is more realistic.
 
In the promotion season first time around under NC, for the first half of the season, we were far better against teams who attacked us and wanted to play. I remember us going to Peterborough and winning that made everyone think, we’re not actually that shit. This is also why we had such a good season back in the Championship. NC’s tactics rely on this, it’s also why we looked good against Wigan.

If teams sit in against us or go in-front and defend, we are absolutely clueless. Completely lost. Always have been under NC. It’s not a new thing. Mick fuckin McCarthy did this to us when Cardiff did just that.

He did manage to get the momentum back end of League 1 and the Championship season Jan-March, so we can do it, but his tactics are far more effective when teams attack us.

NC needs to take the handbrake, steering lock and driving gloves off and his green P’s and just let us play.

Don’t think there’s a fan out there who would rather us not go and attack Wycombe or Lincoln with players in the correct positions and trying to attack than stay solid and lose without making a mark.

Connolly left wing back, Beesley upfront will not be working ever. If this cannot be seen by our Head Coach then this is going to be a proper grueller for the next few months.
 
Adams Kebab said:
In the promotion season first time around under NC, for the first half of the season, we were far better against teams who attacked us and wanted to play. I remember us going to Peterborough and winning that made everyone think, we’re not actually that shit. This is also why we had such a good season back in the Championship. NC’s tactics rely on this, it’s also why we looked good against Wigan.

If teams sit in against us or go in-front and defend, we are absolutely clueless. Completely lost. Always have been under NC. It’s not a new thing. Mick fuckin McCarthy did this to us when Cardiff did just that.

He did manage to get the momentum back end of League 1 and the Championship season Jan-March, so we can do it, but his tactics are far more effective when teams attack us.

NC needs to take the handbrake, steering lock and driving gloves off and his green P’s and just let us play.

Don’t think there’s a fan out there who would rather us not go and attack Wycombe or Lincoln with players in the correct positions and trying to attack than stay solid and lose without making a mark.

Connolly left wing back, Beesley upfront will not be working ever. If this cannot be seen by our Head Coach then this is going to be a proper grueller for the next few months.
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Connolly at lwb is the killer for me. You can play him there for 2 seasons and he'll never be effective. It's no slight on the player himself, his strengths are a million miles from what you need there whether as a conventional right wing back or inverted 🙄

And I'd add that all 3 fit strikers (Lavery, Rhodes and Beesely) are the sort who'd thrive on traditional service of players getting wide and putting balls into to box. Exactly the sort of service that having inverted wing backs will fail to deliver.

You can blame the recruitment process - and we're clearly light on creative players - but it's madness to them employ what you do have in ways that actively weaken players ability to impact on the game.
 
straightatthewall said:
Connolly at lwb is the killer for me. You can play him there for 2 seasons and he'll never be effective. It's no slight on the player himself, his strengths are a million miles from what you need there whether as a conventional right wing back or inverted 🙄

And I'd add that all 3 fit strikers (Lavery, Rhodes and Beesely) are the sort who'd thrive on traditional service of players getting wide and putting balls into to box. Exactly the sort of service that having inverted wing backs will fail to deliver.

You can blame the recruitment process - and we're clearly light on creative players - but it's madness to them employ what you do have in ways that actively weaken players ability to impact on the game.
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Totally agree re: Connolly.

It also effects our left sided central midfielder as when he’s got the ball there’s zero outlet for them offensively to their left as he’s not bombing on and if he actually does (which he won’t) he doesn’t want it on his left foot to create the width to get to the byline and will just have to turn back. This is the complete opposite of why teams play wing-backs. If also means that if you currently stop our right hand side you stop us, which let’s be honest isn’t hard to do against CJ. Just drop off leave no space behind and get him facing his own goal. Job done.

Nobody including Connolly having watched him for 2 seasons would think to play him there, bar for our Manager 🙈 it’s completely baffling. I’m not sure on Thompson but there’s no way on gods earth he can’t be better than Connolly in that position. What he won’t be is as positionally solid and function defensively as CC does, so it’s a no from NC. Even after Lincoln and Wycombe shit shows.
 
Camberwell1 said:
What u might fail to understand is that ‘the mess‘ (his doing) is not simple to rectify nor should it be judged so.

We stayed up in the Championship at a cruise - unbeaten against the Champions Fulham , great draw at Bournemouth and had a spirit about us founded on a promotion push - he tossed that away, if he thinks it’s easy to forgive it isn’t, as the car crash that followed all that hard building and stability work, wrecked a reasonable squad and solid bunch of players and supporters.

People have strange expectations of the Manager and Chairmen but once you lose Championship status any player worth half their salt runs to the hills (even if they warm just the bench) - that’s as contagious as hamstring injuries

There’s no magic wand to this situation, Critch has some good qualities but he has many faults too and please remember we do not have a Prem squad or bank balance but I am sure we aren’t going to go bust tomorrow either

We have what we have - get behind it or don’t (but all the moaning is boring and yes, we’re not blind we can see it like the nose on your face) - it won’t be a pretty season for sure but we’ve had very very many of those in my 55 years

Move foreword
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That's as hypocritical post as you will find on here. You talk of all the moaning, plenty of it justifiable, but you yourself have done plenty of moaning ever since Critchley was reappointed making it perfectly clear of what you thought of him. Practice what you preach.
 
No we
TANGERINETOWERPOWER said:
Agree with most of that but I think we have to give him a fair crack of the whip as he still has credit in the bank from his last stint..if it’s still the same after 15 games then the writing will be on the wall and it will quickly turn toxic but until then we need to pull together and support the team.
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no we don’t why should you go and put yourself through that I’m voting with non attendance I can’t watch that rubbish you’ll just make yourself miserable
 
20togo said:
That's as hypocritical post as you will find on here. You talk of all the moaning, plenty of it justifiable, but you yourself have done plenty of moaning ever since Critchley was reappointed making it perfectly clear of what you thought of him. Practice what
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SeasideKurt said:
Neil, this is becoming some of the most inept management I’ve seen of a professional squad at Blackpool since I’ve been following the club. The only caveat I feel you have at this precise moment is that Simon has let you down in that window. You needed a left wing back, another winger and another striker and you didn’t get one.

Let’s start off with the formation. It’s a 3-5-2 in defence and a 4-4-2 in attack. Kind of. Connolly at left wing back and CJ at right wing back. One is extremely left footed, scared to tackle, can’t shoot, can’t cross, can’t run, can’t defend. I’m not actually sure what he can do. A diabolical player who Blackpool fans laid up after his annual good game in CJ on the right. It was ** down right embarrassing watching him wear Tangerine today. Distinct lack of effort all afternoon. Connolly is counter productive at left wing back as he offers zero going forward.

What are we trying to achieve exactly? Compact at the back?

Why at 2-0 down did you change 3 players, like for like and keep pretty much the same ** formation that didn’t work for the previous 60 minutes?

Why did Kouassi stay on the bench after an utterly inept 60 minutes from Beesley?

I am seeing absolutely no signs of improvement. An intent to win games. A desire to excite fans.

The single thing I took from that game is we should build a team around Dembele if we have ANY chance of first of all staying in this league and second of all being in the top half.

That was depressing as fuck and frankly with the players we have. We shouldn’t be playing that brand of football and be where we are in the league.

Neil, wake the fuck up. Get rid of this rigid dogshit formation you’re obsessed with. Play players in their natural positions.

You’ve got about 3 games to sort this out or if I was Simon Sadler after watching that today. I would seriously be starting to look at who will be next in as manager.

Poor and uninspiring and our fans ** deserve better.
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Lots of good points are made here ,but I think you should leave SS out of it ,in respect to signings . Critchley came out and publicly said that he was happy with the players he had got and the squad in general . Therefore ,if he wasn't he should have said so . Therefore I believe its another Critch mistake and if Critch told SS what he said publicly ,how would SS know anything different.
 
For the statisticians our there it would be great to know what his win ratio is with these 2 backroom staff and the same with an experienced no2. I can tell you now its in the low 20's win ratio without McCall or Calderwood. that is relegation form.
 
Camberwell1 said:
What u might fail to understand is that ‘the mess‘ (his doing) is not simple to rectify nor should it be judged so.

We stayed up in the Championship at a cruise - unbeaten against the Champions Fulham , great draw at Bournemouth and had a spirit about us founded on a promotion push - he tossed that away, if he thinks it’s easy to forgive it isn’t, as the car crash that followed all that hard building and stability work, wrecked a reasonable squad and solid bunch of players and supporters.

People have strange expectations of the Manager and Chairmen but once you lose Championship status any player worth half their salt runs to the hills (even if they warm just the bench) - that’s as contagious as hamstring injuries

There’s no magic wand to this situation, Critch has some good qualities but he has many faults too and please remember we do not have a Prem squad or bank balance but I am sure we aren’t going to go bust tomorrow either

We have what we have - get behind it or don’t (but all the moaning is boring and yes, we’re not blind we can see it like the nose on your face) - it won’t be a pretty season for sure but we’ve had very very many of those in my 55 years

Move foreword
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Boring or not ,this is a chat room and football is important to the people who use it. People need to air their views to make them feel better . Nobody is forced to read these posts.
 
There wouldn't be Critchley out threads if we were on the same amount of points but at least trying to attack. No one can relate to CJ and Connolly playing as wing backs especially on their wrong side.

I watched Arsenal yesterday and Zinchenko slotted into a left back position when defending but when attacking it went to a 3-4-3 with him in a central midfield role. Is that what Critchley is trying to do with Connolly because that is just daft. We rely then on James Husband, of all people, attempting to make overlapping runs to provide width.

It's an absolute mess. It ends up being a lob sided 3-5-2 which more emphasis on defending than attacking. Connolly naturally defends and CJ tries to get forward but has no overlapping support whatsoever.

People can handle losing but the issue here is that no one understands what the manager is trying to achieve and there is no sign of progress; only decline. I get he wants stick with his beliefs but it's clearly not working. He waited until 73 minutes (I think) to go more attacking. By that point the game was dead and Wycombe were thinking about what they were having for dinner.
 
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SeasideKurt said:
Neil, this is becoming some of the most inept management I’ve seen of a professional squad at Blackpool since I’ve been following the club. The only caveat I feel you have at this precise moment is that Simon has let you down in that window. You needed a left wing back, another winger and another striker and you didn’t get one.

Let’s start off with the formation. It’s a 3-5-2 in defence and a 4-4-2 in attack. Kind of. Connolly at left wing back and CJ at right wing back. One is extremely left footed, scared to tackle, can’t shoot, can’t cross, can’t run, can’t defend. I’m not actually sure what he can do. A diabolical player who Blackpool fans laid up after his annual good game in CJ on the right. It was ** down right embarrassing watching him wear Tangerine today. Distinct lack of effort all afternoon. Connolly is counter productive at left wing back as he offers zero going forward.

What are we trying to achieve exactly? Compact at the back?

Why at 2-0 down did you change 3 players, like for like and keep pretty much the same ** formation that didn’t work for the previous 60 minutes?

Why did Kouassi stay on the bench after an utterly inept 60 minutes from Beesley?

I am seeing absolutely no signs of improvement. An intent to win games. A desire to excite fans.

The single thing I took from that game is we should build a team around Dembele if we have ANY chance of first of all staying in this league and second of all being in the top half.

That was depressing as fuck and frankly with the players we have. We shouldn’t be playing that brand of football and be where we are in the league.

Neil, wake the fuck up. Get rid of this rigid dogshit formation you’re obsessed with. Play players in their natural positions.

You’ve got about 3 games to sort this out or if I was Simon Sadler after watching that today. I would seriously be starting to look at who will be next in as manager.

Poor and uninspiring and our fans ** deserve better.
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Mostly agree but from your opening statement I assume you have only been a Blackpool fan since May this year 🤣
 
I think Gabriel and Lyons are currently the only players in the squad capable of playing wing back effectively. Husband at a push. In these circumstances, especially, it is counter productive surely to play this system.

I don't think Critch is necessarily stubborn, I think he is more lacking the confidence to be flexible. Subtle difference. He decides on a system and they work on it repeatedly in training and he believes that the squad has to master something before it can learn something else. He doesnt wamt to risk change without detailed practice. A process which becomes heavy and tedious if it doesnt get results. Joyless eventually.

In reality British players learn to play with a back 4 from a young age so it can easily be reverted to. And we would instantly lose the Connolly/CJ wing back nonsense.

And it's not like we would lose anything in terms of midfield and attack cos neither is working well at all. I'd have Norburn and Dougall in midfield as they know this division inside out. Then you want 4 attacking players and Rhodes and Dembele are shoo-ins right now I think.

I'm sure all Dobbie did was free the players to play their natural game, in a simple system they understood, and the mood lifted and players relaxed and got back into their familiar grooves.
 
voyeur said:
I think Gabriel and Lyons are currently the only players in the squad capable of playing wing back effectively. Husband at a push. In these circumstances, especially, it is counter productive surely to play this system.

I don't think Critch is necessarily stubborn, I think he is more lacking the confidence to be flexible. Subtle difference. He decides on a system and they work on it repeatedly in training and he believes that the squad has to master something before it can learn something else. He doesnt wamt to risk change without detailed practice. A process which becomes heavy and tedious if it doesnt get results. Joyless eventually.

In reality British players learn to play with a back 4 from a young age so it can easily be reverted to. And we would instantly lose the Connolly/CJ wing back nonsense.

And it's not like we would lose anything in terms of midfield and attack cos neither is working well at all. I'd have Norburn and Dougall in midfield as they know this division inside out. Then you want 4 attacking players and Rhodes and Dembele are shoo-ins right now I think.

I'm sure all Dobbie did was free the players to play their natural game, in a simple system they understood, and the mood lifted and players relaxed and got back into their familiar grooves.
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I hate to say this but I agree about Norburn and Kenny and if push came to shove I'd have Kenny and Carey or Virtue. We need 4 at the back, Connolly is more than good enough to play as a traditional right back until Lyons is ready, Hubby as left back and then 2 wingers, CJ and Dembele and either 2 up front or one up front with someone like Carey or Weir just behind but in front of Kent and Norburn
 
hertfordseasider said:
And that, is why he should have got the job.
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It may or may not have worked but for me it was worth keeping him on (on a rolling contract or something) because he brought us optimism, organisation and energy out of a season of chaos and misery. It was no more of a risk than bringing Critch back surely, and he provided a fresh vibe that we could look forward. The fans didnt want to go back, they wanted a new chapter and to see where this promising new guy could take the story. Sadler didnt want to risk his money on it but seems oblivious to the fact that there's always risk and second spells regularly work out differently to first spells.

That dossier he presumably paid good money for was shit. You can always find people to write the words you want to hear in exchange for an exhorbitant hourly rate!
 
AllezBlackpool said:
Needs longer but some of our fans need to be excited cos on here they're needing Viagra for their excitement.
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He's a (a very well) paid professional FFS! Why should it be taking him so long to see (let alone act upon) what is so glaringly obvious to the 98% (you're clearly in that 'select' band making up the tiny minority, AllezBlackpool) of us squirming with frustration and embarrassment on the terraces?
 
voyeur said:
That dossier he presumably paid good money for was shit. You can always find people to write the words you want to hear in exchange for an exhorbitant hourly rate!
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And that tells you the type of person Sadler is, he is very similar to Critchley, he lives by reading report after report, analysis after analysis, he doesn't "know" football, he has lost the instinct to go with his heart, he believed this dossier, did he have a dossier done on anyone else? Of course if he did the same with Dobbie then of course Crichley would come out better than Dobbie as he has more experience, had he had a dossier done on McSaurus he would have come out higher than Crichley. You can't run a football club like a hedge fund, you have to feel it, to feel what the supporters are feeling, he's too detached now and his brain doesn't work that way. Dossier my arse, he just wanted Critchley back because he was too stubborn to see that he had started to struggle before he left, he ignored Critchley sticking 2 fingers up at him and he took him back because they are similar in style and he had got promotion from league one before. BUT.... it doesn't work like that Mr Sadler, please stop running the managerial searches like a robot with a computer program, this is football, passion, blood and guts, entertainment, you have thousands of customers and they deserve better.
 
Camberwell1 said:
What u might fail to understand is that ‘the mess‘ (his doing) is not simple to rectify nor should it be judged so.

We stayed up in the Championship at a cruise - unbeaten against the Champions Fulham , great draw at Bournemouth and had a spirit about us founded on a promotion push - he tossed that away, if he thinks it’s easy to forgive it isn’t, as the car crash that followed all that hard building and stability work, wrecked a reasonable squad and solid bunch of players and supporters.

People have strange expectations of the Manager and Chairmen but once you lose Championship status any player worth half their salt runs to the hills (even if they warm just the bench) - that’s as contagious as hamstring injuries

There’s no magic wand to this situation, Critch has some good qualities but he has many faults too and please remember we do not have a Prem squad or bank balance but I am sure we aren’t going to go bust tomorrow either

We have what we have - get behind it or don’t (but all the moaning is boring and yes, we’re not blind we can see it like the nose on your face) - it won’t be a pretty season for sure but we’ve had very very many of those in my 55 years

Move foreword
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'Critch has some good qualities ...'

Wrong tense! Critch HAD some good qualities.
 
hertfordseasider said:
And that tells you the type of person Sadler is, he is very similar to Critchley, he lives by reading report after report, analysis after analysis, he doesn't "know" football, he has lost the instinct to go with his heart, he believed this dossier, did he have a dossier done on anyone else? Of course if he did the same with Dobbie then of course Crichley would come out better than Dobbie as he has more experience, had he had a dossier done on McSaurus he would have come out higher than Crichley. You can't run a football club like a hedge fund, you have to feel it, to feel what the supporters are feeling, he's too detached now and his brain doesn't work that way. Dossier my arse, he just wanted Critchley back because he was too stubborn to see that he had started to struggle before he left, he ignored Critchley sticking 2 fingers up at him and he took him back because they are similar in style and he had got promotion from league one before. BUT.... it doesn't work like that Mr Sadler, please stop running the managerial searches like a robot with a computer program, this is football, passion, blood and guts, entertainment, you have thousands of customers and they deserve better.
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You’ve literally no idea whatsoever what criteria was used to assess anyone’s suitability for the job.

You’re just making shit up to suit your own pre-existing beliefs.
 
WIZARD OF TANGERINE said:
Lots of good points are made here ,but I think you should leave SS out of it ,in respect to signings . Critchley came out and publicly said that he was happy with the players he had got and the squad in general . Therefore ,if he wasn't he should have said so . Therefore I believe its another Critch mistake and if Critch told SS what he said publicly ,how would SS know anything different.
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What’s he going to say - I’m still three players short? The recruitment team didn’t do their job well enough albeit with the budget they had.
 
BFC_BFC_BFC said:
You’ve literally no idea whatsoever what criteria was used to assess anyone’s suitability for the job.

You’re just making shit up to suit your own pre-existing beliefs.
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You don't know any different though do you? You just want to stick your head in the sand and say everything is fine, when clearly it isn't.

Voy is right about the dossier, it is almost comical that he even referred to it to the supporters, I just can't trust the bloke to take this club forward on the pitch. just my opinion Daz and it's unlikely to ever change unless he realises it's not all about stats.
 
voyeur said:
I think Gabriel and Lyons are currently the only players in the squad capable of playing wing back effectively. Husband at a push. In these circumstances, especially, it is counter productive surely to play this system.

I don't think Critch is necessarily stubborn, I think he is more lacking the confidence to be flexible. Subtle difference. He decides on a system and they work on it repeatedly in training and he believes that the squad has to master something before it can learn something else. He doesnt wamt to risk change without detailed practice. A process which becomes heavy and tedious if it doesnt get results. Joyless eventually.

In reality British players learn to play with a back 4 from a young age so it can easily be reverted to. And we would instantly lose the Connolly/CJ wing back nonsense.

And it's not like we would lose anything in terms of midfield and attack cos neither is working well at all. I'd have Norburn and Dougall in midfield as they know this division inside out. Then you want 4 attacking players and Rhodes and Dembele are shoo-ins right now I think.

I'm sure all Dobbie did was free the players to play their natural game, in a simple system they understood, and the mood lifted and players relaxed and got back into their familiar grooves.
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'... shoe-ins ...'
 
WIZARD OF TANGERINE said:
Lots of good points are made here ,but I think you should leave SS out of it ,in respect to signings . Critchley came out and publicly said that he was happy with the players he had got and the squad in general . Therefore ,if he wasn't he should have said so . Therefore I believe its another Critch mistake and if Critch told SS what he said publicly ,how would SS know anything different.
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Why should Sadler get away with it just cos critch said he was happy with the players? I’m sure he would have and should have been happier but Sadler let him down toward the close of the window. It looked like we were looking at decent players to really boost the first team. I actually got my hopes up that we were gonna get the striker from Peterborough. I was convinced we were about to sign at least a couple more. For me it’s as much Sadler as critch letting the fans down big time.
Now we have to accept what we’ve become and get on with it.
A win on Saturday will help the cause and might be a turning point?
 
hertfordseasider said:
And that tells you the type of person Sadler is, he is very similar to Critchley, he lives by reading report after report, analysis after analysis, he doesn't "know" football, he has lost the instinct to go with his heart, he believed this dossier, did he have a dossier done on anyone else? Of course if he did the same with Dobbie then of course Crichley would come out better than Dobbie as he has more experience, had he had a dossier done on McSaurus he would have come out higher than Crichley. You can't run a football club like a hedge fund, you have to feel it, to feel what the supporters are feeling, he's too detached now and his brain doesn't work that way. Dossier my arse, he just wanted Critchley back because he was too stubborn to see that he had started to struggle before he left, he ignored Critchley sticking 2 fingers up at him and he took him back because they are similar in style and he had got promotion from league one before. BUT.... it doesn't work like that Mr Sadler, please stop running the managerial searches like a robot with a computer program, this is football, passion, blood and guts, entertainment, you have thousands of customers and they deserve better.
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That's just another of your rants innit?

Sadler just needs to learn that fear influences his decision making and not in a helpful way.
 
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