The way I saw it

BFC_53

Well-known member
Now that I've calmed down a bit.

Firstly let's get the key part out of the way - Gabriel's sending off. Whether you thought it was fair or not, the fact is that he went in heavily after already being booked, in an area of the pitch where there was absolutely no need at all. It was extremely annoying.....however, it's the kind of thing a young and relatively inexperienced player would do. I remember two red cards for Husband last season in quick succession that I had a little rage/rant on here about. If that's taught me anything it's that player's do rash things occasionally that they'll regret and learn from, but it doesn't lessen their quality. He's a great player and will learn from it, and I'm very pleased he's ours.

While it was unbelievably frustrating to lose in the manner that we did, we would've won that game with 11 men. We were creating good chances, and actually should've been out of sight prior to the red card - and that shouldn't be overlooked as we were playing away to a side now in the championship playoff places. Madine and Yates just work, don't they. And Carey and Dougall really complimented each other in a 4-4-2. I personally think the line-up today was pretty much our strongest side. For me, there were a lot of positives from today, and it was miles better than the Birmingham and Derby games for 60 mins. We will come back from this and I tend to agree with @Athers on the podcast that for the most part we aren't playing badly even though results aren't coming yet.

One more game before we can sign players again, and I have faith in the manager and owner to bring in the players in those key positions that we need. For once I'm looking at January as a month where we can improve relative to our competitors, rather than falling further behind them.
 
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Measured and sensible view of things, some of the utter bollocks that's posted when we lose is just beyond comprehension.
Yes, I was gutted, very disappointed we lost, but that doesn't make Gabriel shite, it doesn't make Critch shite, it was a loss, against a team who not only shafted us at home, but have been in or around the play off places most of the season.
Do some "supporters", and I use that term very loosely, expect us to stroll to a comprehensive victory every time we play?
Yes it's frustrating, disappointing and sometimes deeply maddening, but get a ** grip, we are still a work in progress, with young players finding their feet at this level. We all have opinions and that's the way it should be, but for Jesus Christs sake, just give them a ** break when it doesn't go to script.
Merry Christmas
 
Now that I've calmed down a bit.

Firstly let's get the key part out of the way - Gabriel's sending off. Whether you thought it was fair or not, the fact is that he went in heavily after already being booked, in an area of the pitch where there was absolutely no need at all. It was extremely annoying.....however, it's the kind of thing a young and relatively inexperienced player would do. I remember two red cards for Husband last season in quick succession that I had a little rage/rant on here about. If that's taught me anything it's that player's do rash things occasionally that they'll regret and learn from, but it doesn't lessen their quality. He's a great player and will learn from it, and I'm very pleased he's ours.

While it was unbelievably frustrating to lose in the manner that we did, we would've won that game with 11 men. We were creating good chances, and actually should've been out of sight prior to the red card - and that shouldn't be overlooked as we were playing away to a side now in the championship playoff places. Madine and Yates just work, don't they. And Carey and Dougall really complimented each other in a 4-4-2. I personally think the line-up today was pretty much our strongest side. For me, there were a lot of positives from today, and it was miles better than the Birmingham and Derby games for 60 mins. We will come back from this and I tend to agree with @Athers on the podcast that for the most part we aren't playing badly even though results aren't coming yet.

One more game before we can sign players again, and I have faith in the manager and owner to bring in the players in those key positions that we need. For once I'm looking at January as a month where we can improve relative to our competitors, rather than falling further behind them.
Exactly as I saw it, I really enjoyed the performance yesterday, to the point of the sending off. My Christmas wish on a post after Peterborough was for Jerry and Gaz, and I thought they were superb together. No more messing Critch, that’s the blueprint if both are fit.

Carey did well, hope his injury isn’t too bad. I agree that Kenny looked better for the partnership, but whether that suits other opposition I don’t know. However, where we are in the league, I’d like to see us try it again, because we looked as positive and threatening as we’ve been all season.

Gabriel, well we all make mistakes and it’s a good comparison to Hubby in days gone by. The clowns slagging off Gabriel are clueless. He did really well attacking and his threat makes Bowler more threatening.

I enjoyed watching Bowler’s workrate yesterday, he did put in a shift and it was a marked difference to previous games.

Keshi should have killed the game and the defending for the 2nd and particularly the 3rd was poor, and had little to do with us being down to 10 men.

We lost, but felt very positive on the drive home, it was good to watch and a step up on recent performances.
 
Exactly as I saw it, I really enjoyed the performance yesterday, to the point of the sending off. My Christmas wish on a post after Peterborough was for Jerry and Gaz, and I thought they were superb together. No more messing Critch, that’s the blueprint if both are fit.

Carey did well, hope his injury isn’t too bad. I agree that Kenny looked better for the partnership, but whether that suits other opposition I don’t know. However, where we are in the league, I’d like to see us try it again, because we looked as positive and threatening as we’ve been all season.

Gabriel, well we all make mistakes and it’s a good comparison to Hubby in days gone by. The clowns slagging off Gabriel are clueless. He did really well attacking and his threat makes Bowler more threatening.

I enjoyed watching Bowler’s workrate yesterday, he did put in a shift and it was a marked difference to previous games.

Keshi should have killed the game and the defending for the 2nd and particularly the 3rd was poor, and had little to do with us being down to 10 men.

We lost, but felt very positive on the drive home, it was good to watch and a step up on recent performances.
I think that's the key thing, as frustrating as it was, it doesn't alter the fact that we were good yesterday, the players have put a shift in, and the quality has been there. More often than not we'll come away with something if that happens but sometimes you don't and that's just football. We were second best for large parts against Sheff Utd but won the game.

If, after going on a poor run like we have, we can still put in a good, confident performance like yesterday (for the first 60 mins) against a promotion chasing side, then it bodes well in my view. It means that we're not dwelling on defeats and letting a poor run of form really get to us.
 
yep, good o/p. As many have been saying for a long time, we are a much better team with two main strikers on the pitch. We actually look a threat with them.
I think Yates is our best striker, and unfortunately he doesn't seem to be suited to play in Critchley's favoured system. It's a conundrum. I always get the feeling that Critchley reverts to a system that suits Yates when we start struggling, but then why not play that way all the time if it works.
It'll certainly be interesting to see who we bring in in January, and if one or two players are brought in that might offer Yates more support when playing the lone striker role.
 
I think Yates is our best striker, and unfortunately he doesn't seem to be suited to play in Critchley's favoured system. It's a conundrum. I always get the feeling that Critchley reverts to a system that suits Yates when we start struggling, but then why not play that way all the time if it works.
It'll certainly be interesting to see who we bring in in January, and if one or two players are brought in that might offer Yates more support when playing the lone striker role.
Do any of our strikers suit Critch's favoured system? And what is the favoured system? He started out wanting to play 433 last season, with Ward, Robson and Anderson in midfield and Yates in the middle of a front 3. And was hoping the full backs would overlap I suppose. We hit on a way of getting results that was largely down to being hard to score against, wiith two holding midfield players. We haven't really sorted out the attacking end, I think? Though yesterday was promising with eleven men.
 
Now that I've calmed down a bit.

Firstly let's get the key part out of the way - Gabriel's sending off. Whether you thought it was fair or not, the fact is that he went in heavily after already being booked, in an area of the pitch where there was absolutely no need at all. It was extremely annoying.....however, it's the kind of thing a young and relatively inexperienced player would do. I remember two red cards for Husband last season in quick succession that I had a little rage/rant on here about. If that's taught me anything it's that player's do rash things occasionally that they'll regret and learn from, but it doesn't lessen their quality. He's a great player and will learn from it, and I'm very pleased he's ours.

While it was unbelievably frustrating to lose in the manner that we did, we would've won that game with 11 men. We were creating good chances, and actually should've been out of sight prior to the red card - and that shouldn't be overlooked as we were playing away to a side now in the championship playoff places. Madine and Yates just work, don't they. And Carey and Dougall really complimented each other in a 4-4-2. I personally think the line-up today was pretty much our strongest side. For me, there were a lot of positives from today, and it was miles better than the Birmingham and Derby games for 60 mins. We will come back from this and I tend to agree with @Athers on the podcast that for the most part we aren't playing badly even though results aren't coming yet.

One more game before we can sign players again, and I have faith in the manager and owner to bring in the players in those key positions that we need. For once I'm looking at January as a month where we can improve relative to our competitors, rather than falling further behind them.
A very good and realistic observation. Thanks 53. 👍
 
I think Yates is our best striker, and unfortunately he doesn't seem to be suited to play in Critchley's favoured system. It's a conundrum. I always get the feeling that Critchley reverts to a system that suits Yates when we start struggling, but then why not play that way all the time if it works.
It'll certainly be interesting to see who we bring in in January, and if one or two players are brought in that might offer Yates more support when playing the lone striker role.
I posted recently that we need to use Yates or risk losing him. He’s high quality and has significant further scope. Madine also looks a different proposition when paired with Yates.

Neither are particularly suited to partnering with Lavery, who I think has much to learn about playing in a 2. He’s never close enough to make it work, as we saw last week v Peterborough, when he was paired with Madine, when Gaz was beating his fists on the ground after a knock down, with Lavery nowhere near. The difference to yesterday was massive. I’ve never understood how Lavery, as promising as he is, could start in place of Yates.

It should be very obvious to Critch how we need to start up front. If he gets it wrong then it’s right to ask questions.
 
Exactly as I saw it, I really enjoyed the performance yesterday, to the point of the sending off. My Christmas wish on a post after Peterborough was for Jerry and Gaz, and I thought they were superb together. No more messing Critch, that’s the blueprint if both are fit.

Carey did well, hope his injury isn’t too bad. I agree that Kenny looked better for the partnership, but whether that suits other opposition I don’t know. However, where we are in the league, I’d like to see us try it again, because we looked as positive and threatening as we’ve been all season.

Gabriel, well we all make mistakes and it’s a good comparison to Hubby in days gone by. The clowns slagging off Gabriel are clueless. He did really well attacking and his threat makes Bowler more threatening.

I enjoyed watching Bowler’s workrate yesterday, he did put in a shift and it was a marked difference to previous games.

Keshi should have killed the game and the defending for the 2nd and particularly the 3rd was poor, and had little to do with us being down to 10 men.

We lost, but felt very positive on the drive home, it was good to watch and a step up on recent performances.
the defending wasnt helped by putting 5 at the back players not used to the system and not knowing who to pick up.
should of left lavery on the halfway line and brought CJ on instead of Mitchell for quick breakaway as huddersfield went all out gungho and we couldve punished them with a big hoof
 
Jerry and Gaz were imperious yesterday. Some of the link play was as good as I've seen for a very long time. Defensively they couldn't deal with it. Add to that Keshi's movement and general performance and we could have been out of sight within 60 minutes. However, whereas last year we built our performances on defensive organisation, the standard of some of the opposition attacking play has made that much harder this time round. Only to be expected of course but we were at risk every time they went down the wings and every time they had a setpiece. Their goals at the end looked like the result of their own reinvigorated efforts and doggedness combined with a few tired bodies and tired minds on our side. Plenty still to work on but we're already doing better this season than I dared expect.
 
Good point about Gabriel, and it also leads into something people tend to overlook: Critchley himself is also inexperienced.

This is effectively his 2nd season in management. Youth academy stuff doesn't really count because it isnt a results oriented business. Liverpool don't care if their U18s come bottom or top of their league as long as the players are developing.

Critch's changes yesterday all made some sense at the time. Because the result didn't come our way in the end, Captain Hindsight makes the alternatives look obvious.

Down to 10, against a team who are having success down our wings already, we need to get on a replacement fullback. The obvious sacrifice is up top. Madine's hold-up play could be really useful and he is a danger from set pieces, so Yates goes.

Bowler is a real threat going forward, but he is defensively very light. Bring him off and compress the midfield whilst adding an extra centre half for stability.

What transpired is that Madine's hold up was useless as he was so isolated. Our only real threat was Anderson breaking quickly, but Madine didn't have the pace to keep up with him, so he cut his losses and brought Lavery on.

That would not necessarily have been needed if Yates had stayed on initially and Madine gone off, but you just never know quite how a 10v11 will work out in reality.

We are 2-1 up with 30 to go when we lose Gabriel. Deciding to try and defend what you have isn't the worst decision in the world (we last 20 of those 30) but you have to pose some threat on the break at the same time.
 
With hindsight we could have retained our threat by going 4-3-2, taking off Bowler for Sterling. That was my call at the time, but I think Critch looked at the way they were using the width, and decided 3 in the middle wouldn’t work. Looking back at the 2nd & 3rd goals, it was just poor defending, not an overload.
 
With hindsight we could have retained our threat by going 4-3-2, taking off Bowler for Sterling. That was my call at the time, but I think Critch looked at the way they were using the width, and decided 3 in the middle wouldn’t work. Looking back at the 2nd & 3rd goals, it was just poor defending, not an overload.
Thats the rub. Aside from having little threat going forward (which invites pressure to keep building) it wasn't the system that allowed the goals but good play and errors.
 
I didn't like us going to 3 centre backs and we lost an out player into the bargain. We could have kept Bowler or Yates on and remained as a 4 at the back, and I felt so at the time. We invited pressure onto a needlessly disrupted back line.
 
At last a well thought out and sensible post about yesterday. I couldnt have written it any better 👍. The first hour was the best I have seen us play all season and I was really pleased with the way Yates and madine attacked and also Bowler after all the recent criticism he has had. We just look a better side with him in it and his final ball and overall involvement is improving a lot. Stick with that team and style of play and we will not only win more than we loose but it will be fun watching.
 
Do any of our strikers suit Critch's favoured system? And what is the favoured system? He started out wanting to play 433 last season, with Ward, Robson and Anderson in midfield and Yates in the middle of a front 3. And was hoping the full backs would overlap I suppose. We hit on a way of getting results that was largely down to being hard to score against, wiith two holding midfield players. We haven't really sorted out the attacking end, I think? Though yesterday was promising with eleven men.
It's a reasonable question.
 
Thought Critch set us up perfectly. That has to be our strongest formation. It was great to see Gaz and Jerry up top as I think they give us our best options for goals.

Gabriel has come in for a lot of criticism and without doubt it cost us the game. Some need to give their heads a wobble with the level of criticism he’s receiving! He’s been quite consistent since coming back into the team. Hopefully he’ll learn from this.

We finally succumbed to pressure due to formation changes and without doubt Critch will reflect on his part in this.

Amazing support throughout and it doesn’t matter if we’re winning losing or drawing we get totally behind the team.

Onto tomorrow night and another opportunity to get behind the team and three points
 
I didn't like us going to 3 centre backs and we lost an out player into the bargain. We could have kept Bowler or Yates on and remained as a 4 at the back, and I felt so at the time. We invited pressure onto a needlessly disrupted back line.
There's be plenty of support on here in the past for playing a back 3 (myself included). Perhaps it's unfair to be critical of that formation when we only had 10 players but I think it's there for all to see that 4-4-2 suits us best including ditching two out and out defensive holding mid-fielders.
Carey certainly looks like he could grow into that position but if I'm being constructively critical he needs to work on his upper body strength.
 
There's be plenty of support on here in the past for playing a back 3 (myself included). Perhaps it's unfair to be critical of that formation when we only had 10 players but I think it's there for all to see that 4-4-2 suits us best including ditching two out and out defensive holding mid-fielders.
Carey certainly looks like he could grow into that position but if I'm being constructively critical he needs to work on his upper body strength.
There's a difference between playing a 3421 formation and bringing on a third CB when you do down to 10 men mid game. Especially when one CB is making his first appearance of the season and the CB coming on is returning from a while out with injury. And one full back is more a centre back and the other full back gas played centre back all season. It was a bit of a mess and there were lights flashing as the changes were made. Warning: chaos ahead.
 
There's be plenty of support on here in the past for playing a back 3 (myself included). Perhaps it's unfair to be critical of that formation when we only had 10 players but I think it's there for all to see that 4-4-2 suits us best including ditching two out and out defensive holding mid-fielders.
Carey certainly looks like he could grow into that position but if I'm being constructively critical he needs to work on his upper body strength.
We've gone 3 CB's on a few occasions in past seasons possibly during Ollie's reign & for me they seemed to get in each others way, or expect one of the other CB's to react to the danger & end up all looking at each other. It can work if the players are used to that system, but to throw another in the mix doesn't fill me with confidence.
Summary of Sundays game for me is mainly positive & the rest has been covered already multiple times. We lost a game of football & yes I was disappointed, but play like that & we'll be fine, I'm looking forward to tomorrow. 👍
 
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