Last season we slaughtered Appleton for things like playing Yates/Lavery/Beasley out wide to ensure he could stick to his preferred 433 formation.
This season we’ve seen:
Connolly at left wing back
Connolly on the left of a back 3
Connolly in the middle of a back 3
Ekpiteta in the middle of a back 3
Hamilton at right wing back
Hamilton occasionally at left wing back
Norburn playing so deep he could hold Ekpiteta’s hand and becomes essentially a 4th centre half
Dale at left wing back
Dale early season as our reserve forward
Lavery out wide
Beasley out wide
Lavery as a lone forward
Kouassi as a lone forward
Rhodes as a lone forward
Are there any other examples?
All the above are examples of players playing out of position or in positions they haven’t regularly played in throughout their careers. Perhaps the lone forward examples are more debatable but I think all those forwards have shown in their careers and in their time with us that they play better with a partner.
This for me is far worse than the situation under Appleton and at least Appleton’s tactics were a pretty standard 433 which most players would have played throughout their careers whereas this 523 with wing backs who are sometimes full backs and sometimes wingers and sometimes playing on their stronger side and sometimes on their weaker side is just ridiculous. Maybe Critchley is used to coaching youngsters at Liverpool who are more skilled and more malleable and can potentially be moulded into different positions but that just isn’t the quality of player we have in league one. Our away form in particular is diabolical and for the manager not to have seen that and try to switch things up this far into the season is astonishing. In our promotion season and our first season in the Championship he switched things up, sometimes 442 sometimes 433/4231 but almost always with square pegs in square holes. And for the most part it works because players know what they’re doing.
I guess there is a separate question to ask about why the club has gone into two seasons in a row having brought in a manager who then feels he doesn’t have the players to play the way he wants to play, but either way the manager needs to adapt to the squad and Critchley has completely failed to do that this season.
This season we’ve seen:
Connolly at left wing back
Connolly on the left of a back 3
Connolly in the middle of a back 3
Ekpiteta in the middle of a back 3
Hamilton at right wing back
Hamilton occasionally at left wing back
Norburn playing so deep he could hold Ekpiteta’s hand and becomes essentially a 4th centre half
Dale at left wing back
Dale early season as our reserve forward
Lavery out wide
Beasley out wide
Lavery as a lone forward
Kouassi as a lone forward
Rhodes as a lone forward
Are there any other examples?
All the above are examples of players playing out of position or in positions they haven’t regularly played in throughout their careers. Perhaps the lone forward examples are more debatable but I think all those forwards have shown in their careers and in their time with us that they play better with a partner.
This for me is far worse than the situation under Appleton and at least Appleton’s tactics were a pretty standard 433 which most players would have played throughout their careers whereas this 523 with wing backs who are sometimes full backs and sometimes wingers and sometimes playing on their stronger side and sometimes on their weaker side is just ridiculous. Maybe Critchley is used to coaching youngsters at Liverpool who are more skilled and more malleable and can potentially be moulded into different positions but that just isn’t the quality of player we have in league one. Our away form in particular is diabolical and for the manager not to have seen that and try to switch things up this far into the season is astonishing. In our promotion season and our first season in the Championship he switched things up, sometimes 442 sometimes 433/4231 but almost always with square pegs in square holes. And for the most part it works because players know what they’re doing.
I guess there is a separate question to ask about why the club has gone into two seasons in a row having brought in a manager who then feels he doesn’t have the players to play the way he wants to play, but either way the manager needs to adapt to the squad and Critchley has completely failed to do that this season.
