Today.

Insider

Insider

Well-known member
Left home at 9.30 today for my football double-header expecting an entertaining morning (although it's always a hard game at Bolton) and a less entertaining afternoon.
Football very rarely delivers what you expect (unless you have Haarland in your team).
This morning was indeed a very hard fought game. The Academy are currently without a keeper. Spinelli is suspended and Bardsley is injured so we borrowed 17yr old, 6'6"" Solomon Honor (ex-City) currently Blackburn (both Category 1 Academies) keeper. He wasn't any better than either of our keepers (honestly).
The 18s looked tired today. Listening to Eards on the Preview Show he was critical of last week's momentous 6-4 victory over The Nobbers because we defended poorly. This week he was concentrating in training on rectifying defensive frailties so we lost 2-0. I don't like criticising kids but if Spinelli had played it would probably have been 0-0 and gone to penalties.
I've always been in the Holloway camp of "we'll score one more than you" but I'm a paying customer wanting to be entertained not a football coach.
The philosophy at Bolton seems to be win at all costs and they completely conned the Ref with more time wasting cases of cramp than I've seen in a season but they were the better team despite the Dark Arts.
So on to to Bloomfield Rd and seeing the team sheet at 2pm I thought Critch has learned nothing.
BUT we didn't play 3-5-2, we reverted to old faithful 4-4-2.
We didn't fanny about playing tippy tappy across the back 3/5.
We only had 32% possession but how many times did we beat Russel Martin's possession based teams??
Today we didn't have to play against a team playing a back 7 thinking we are League 1 Citeh.
We had to fight and stand out players were Hubby (he's top trumps this season), Norburn and much criticised CJ.
I mention 3 but everyone else, subs included, are also worthy of a mention.
So it was backs to the wall, it was nerve racking but concede in 89mins, score the winner in 93mins is always going to be entertaining and it was.
So Critch played his "get out of jail card" today and we're (nearly) all back onside.
 
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The aim of the game isn't to keep the ball, I think some managers have forgotten. Last weekend, of the six teams in league one with the most possession, only one of them won. I'm absolutely certain that we could've had better possession stats yesterday if we'd wanted, but it was a conscious decision by us to change tactics and we played miles better because of it. We can play with 30% possession all season long for me if it means twice as many chances and twice as many goals as the opposition!
 
BFC_53 said:
The aim of the game isn't to keep the ball, I think some managers have forgotten. Last weekend, of the six teams in league one with the most possession, only one of them won. I'm absolutely certain that we could've had better possession stats yesterday if we'd wanted, but it was a conscious decision by us to change tactics and we played miles better because of it. We can play with 30% possession all season long for me if it means twice as many chances and twice as many goals as the opposition!
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I'm all for the possession just to keep the ball off the opposition but wait until we are 2 0 up before we do it.
 
BFC_53 said:
The aim of the game isn't to keep the ball, I think some managers have forgotten. Last weekend, of the six teams in league one with the most possession, only one of them won. I'm absolutely certain that we could've had better possession stats yesterday if we'd wanted, but it was a conscious decision by us to change tactics and we played miles better because of it. We can play with 30% possession all season long for me if it means twice as many chances and twice as many goals as the opposition!
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We've struggled against the teams that have sat back, which Lincoln did at home even. We'll need to get better at unpicking these defences obviously. Hopefully we do have the tools with Rhodes, Dembele, Lavery, Weir etc. Joseph at some point. Do we keep playing CJ against those types of teams?
 
voyeur said:
We've struggled against the teams that have sat back, which Lincoln did at home even. We'll need to get better at unpicking these defences obviously. Hopefully we do have the tools with Rhodes, Dembele, Lavery, Weir etc. Joseph at some point. Do we keep playing CJ against those types of teams?
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If Hamilton hasn't got acres of open space to run into he isn't effective, if a team chooses to sit tight and deny the space I wouldn't start him.
But if we can take the lead against a team like that and then they have to come after us you put Hamilton on.
It's all very simple, what puzzles me is Hamilton starting every game, maybe that will change now.
 
voyeur said:
We've struggled against the teams that have sat back, which Lincoln did at home even. We'll need to get better at unpicking these defences obviously. Hopefully we do have the tools with Rhodes, Dembele, Lavery, Weir etc. Joseph at some point. Do we keep playing CJ against those types of teams?
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Those games where we have more possession because teams sit back might be the time for Dembele? Assuming he's any good of course!
 
gjr said:
If Hamilton hasn't got acres of open space to run into he isn't effective, if a team chooses to sit tight and deny the space I wouldn't start him.
But if we can take the lead against a team like that and then they have to come after us you put Hamilton on.
It's all very simple, what puzzles me is Hamilton starting every game, maybe that will change now.
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Critchley...

"We broke well, and we had CJ (Hamilton) pressing higher up the pitch, which was deliberate.

"That won’t be the case every game, it will change depending on the opponent.

"It’s important that you’ve got multifunctional players in the squad.

"We were comfortable.


"Penno (Matthew Pennington) has played different positions as a boy with Everton, but he was only right back when a certain sort of scenario was happening on the pitch.

"He dealt well with (Callum) McManaman and I felt we were comfortable to be fair.

"Callum Connolly played the left side of a back three at Wolves on Tuesday night and was wing-back today- what a guy he is.

"I want the spirit and the togetherness that we had previously,” Critchley added.

"This football club is special, there’s something different about it, and it’s important that we all stick together.

"In the last few weeks I feel that we’ve forgotten who we are a little bit for various reasons, but I can assure everyone that we’ve got people who genuinely want to do well and care.

"That’s everyone from Simon (Sadler) all the way down, as well as the players.
 
After CJs performance yesterday, other teams will have taken note and he’ll be marked closely, that of course will leave space for our other players to take advantage of.
 
BFC_53 said:
The aim of the game isn't to keep the ball, I think some managers have forgotten. Last weekend, of the six teams in league one with the most possession, only one of them won. I'm absolutely certain that we could've had better possession stats yesterday if we'd wanted, but it was a conscious decision by us to change tactics and we played miles better because of it. We can play with 30% possession all season long for me if it means twice as many chances and twice as many goals as the opposition!
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We can still improve that aspect though, so no harm in doing it.

When leading for e.g. we can keep the ball a bit better and kill of any fight backs.

Once ahead possession football is fine as they either let us pass it round or have to come at us and we can work it round and pick them off.

We found a way to go long yesterday, at times we played too but if we can learn to do both when required we can improve still.
 
voyeur said:
Callum Connolly played the left side of a back three at Wolves on Tuesday night and was wing-back today- what a guy he is.
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Well Critch that performance from Callum was as far removed from what I'd expect from a WB as you can get.
Not criticising his performance because he defended well but I bet he didn't cross the halfway line more than half a dozen times.
So if you set up as a back three you better say thank you to your players for ignoring you and playing as a back 4 except perhaps late in the game when CJ tucked in.
 
voyeur said:
Critchley...

"We broke well, and we had CJ (Hamilton) pressing higher up the pitch, which was deliberate.

"That won’t be the case every game, it will change depending on the opponent.

"It’s important that you’ve got multifunctional players in the squad.

"We were comfortable.


"Penno (Matthew Pennington) has played different positions as a boy with Everton, but he was only right back when a certain sort of scenario was happening on the pitch.

"He dealt well with (Callum) McManaman and I felt we were comfortable to be fair.

"Callum Connolly played the left side of a back three at Wolves on Tuesday night and was wing-back today- what a guy he is.

"I want the spirit and the togetherness that we had previously,” Critchley added.

"This football club is special, there’s something different about it, and it’s important that we all stick together.

"In the last few weeks I feel that we’ve forgotten who we are a little bit for various reasons, but I can assure everyone that we’ve got people who genuinely want to do well and care.

"That’s everyone from Simon (Sadler) all the way down, as well as the players.
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Maybe the penny has dropped! Horses for courses, I'm yet to be convinced that he doesn't see Hamilton and Connolly as horses for every course.
 
Insider said:
Well Critch that performance from Callum was as far removed from what I'd expect from a WB as you can get.
Not criticising his performance because he defended well but I bet he didn't cross the halfway line more than half a dozen times.
So if you set up as a back three you better say thank you to your players for ignoring you and playing as a back 4 except perhaps late in the game when CJ tucked in.
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I saw it as a slightly skewed five, with CJ dropping in as and when. No question he is way more effective in the forward part of the role though, especially when, as said above, he is afforded space to run in to. He clearly has faith in Cal for his durability. We all know and so does Cal that his left foot is for standing on but he is some pro. Hugely underrated imo.
 
Insider said:
Left home at 9.30 today for my football double-header expecting an entertaining morning (although it's always a hard game at Bolton) and a less entertaining afternoon.
Football very rarely delivers what you expect (unless you have Haarland in your team).
This morning was indeed a very hard fought game. The Academy are currently without a keeper. Spinelli is suspended and Bardsley is injured so we borrowed 17yr old, 6'6"" Solomon Honor (ex-City) currently Blackburn (both Category 1 Academies) keeper. He wasn't any better than either of our keepers (honestly).
The 18s looked tired today. Listening to Eards on the Preview Show he was critical of last week's momentous 6-4 victory over The Nobbers because we defended poorly. This week he was concentrating in training on rectifying defensive frailties so we lost 2-0. I don't like criticising kids but if Spinelli had played it would probably have been 0-0 and gone to penalties.
I've always been in the Holloway camp of "we'll score one more than you" but I'm a paying customer wanting to be entertained not a football coach.
The philosophy at Bolton seems to be win at all costs and they completely conned the Ref with more time wasting cases of cramp than I've seen in a season but they were the better team despite the Dark Arts.
So on to to Bloomfield Rd and seeing the team sheet at 2pm I thought Critch has learned nothing.
BUT we didn't play 3-5-2, we reverted to old faithful 4-4-2.
We didn't fanny about playing tippy tappy across the back 3/5.
We only had 32% possession but how many times did we beat Russel Martin's possession based teams??
Today we didn't have to play against a team playing a back 7 thinking we are League 1 Citeh.
We had to fight and stand out players were Hubby (he's top trumps this season), Norburn and much criticised CJ.
I mention 3 but everyone else, subs included, are also worthy of a mention.
So it was backs to the wall, it was nerve racking but concede in 89mins, score the winner in 93mins is always going to be entertaining and it was.
So Critch played his "get out of jail card" today and we're (nearly) all back onside.
Click to expand...
We didn't play 4-4-2. Not sure where you got that from. We played 3-5-2.
 
voyeur said:
Critchley...

"We broke well, and we had CJ (Hamilton) pressing higher up the pitch, which was deliberate.

"That won’t be the case every game, it will change depending on the opponent.

"It’s important that you’ve got multifunctional players in the squad.

"We were comfortable.


"Penno (Matthew Pennington) has played different positions as a boy with Everton, but he was only right back when a certain sort of scenario was happening on the pitch.

"He dealt well with (Callum) McManaman and I felt we were comfortable to be fair.

"Callum Connolly played the left side of a back three at Wolves on Tuesday night and was wing-back today- what a guy he is.

"I want the spirit and the togetherness that we had previously,” Critchley added.

"This football club is special, there’s something different about it, and it’s important that we all stick together.

"In the last few weeks I feel that we’ve forgotten who we are a little bit for various reasons, but I can assure everyone that we’ve got people who genuinely want to do well and care.

"That’s everyone from Simon (Sadler) all the way down, as well as the players.
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So according to Critchley it was a back three after all,glad he's cleared that debate up for those that weren't sure
 
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haggertyf said:
Amazing that even after Critchley has explained the formation yesterday some people are still not having it
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I was sat in the South so had a great view of our formation. However Critch set them up Connolly rarely crossed the half way line. Admittedly we played virtually the whole match down the right hand side of the pitch so CJ was well forward with Pennington behind him at RB.
 
Insider said:
I was sat in the South so had a great view of our formation. However Critch set them up Connolly rarely crossed the half way line. Admittedly we played virtually the whole match down the right hand side of the pitch so CJ was well forward with Pennington behind him at RB.
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Critchley confirmed he’d played 3-5-2 with CJ pushing on. Pennington was moving across to cover 👍

It looked like two banks of 4 more often than not.
 
Insider said:
I was sat in the South so a great view of our formation. However Critch set them up Connolly rarely crossed the half way line. Admittedly we played virtually the whole match down the right hand side of the pitch so CJ was well forward with Pennington behind him at RB.
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I was sat the in South and when Grimshaw had the ball at his feet in the first half both Hamilton and Connolly were tight to the touchline as wing backs, Pennington only went to RB when in Critchley's words " only happened when a certain scenario happened on the pitch" To me Critchley explained it perfectly
 
haggertyf said:
I was sat the in South and when Grimshaw had the ball at his feet in the first half both Hamilton and Connolly were tight to the touchline as wing backs, Pennington only went to RB when in Critchley's words " only happened when a certain scenario happened on the pitch" To me Critchley explained it perfectly
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Someone get on TTV and watch the full game replay.

I want stills, arrows and markers.
 
Possession of a football means absolutely nothing if you do nothing with it.

Many lower league teams try to emulate the big boys without the ability to play intricate football nor the athleticism of movement and speed of play.

Barca started the tika taka phenomenon and barely any teams are capable of replicating it. Oh and it's really boring IMO. No crossing and just monotonous going across and back and inside and so forth.

I perefered Critch playing the old catenaccio and smash em with CJ on the break 👍🏼
 
I was sat in the west, and of course CJ made the pass for the goal, after that it seemed to me that all the play was on the other side and I was thinking, why aren’t they giving it to him. In the second half, again the play was on the east side and CJ flourished.
 
Macseasider said:
Possession of a football means absolutely nothing if you do nothing with it.

Many lower league teams try to emulate the big boys without the ability to play intricate football nor the athleticism of movement and speed of play.

Barca started the tika taka phenomenon and barely any teams are capable of replicating it. Oh and it's really boring IMO. No crossing and just monotonous going across and back and inside and so forth.

I perefered Critch playing the old catenaccio and smash em with CJ on the break 👍🏼
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Exactly, nearly 70% possession at Exeter but the result tells you a different story........
 
L’étranger said:
It was clearly 4-4-2 until CJ dropped back late on.
Critchley is obviously too stubborn to admit to changing the failing 3-5-2 system!
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I think you might have it …Critch would say and do anything to blur the change away from his initial tactics…all I know we must never see the painful passy pass pass dross of the 352 again…
 
Insider said:
Well Critch that performance from Callum was as far removed from what I'd expect from a WB as you can get.
Not criticising his performance because he defended well but I bet he didn't cross the halfway line more than half a dozen times.
So if you set up as a back three you better say thank you to your players for ignoring you and playing as a back 4 except perhaps late in the game when CJ tucked in.
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As Wigan left the their front door open for Hamilton to wander in there was no need for Connolly to leave our left back area. Problem arises when Connolly has to do some attacking but we have to take each game as it comes with tactics, formations and personnel.
Although I think he will usually go with Hamilton and Connolly as nominal wingbacks.
 
gjr said:
As Wigan left the their front door open for Hamilton to wander in there was no need for Connolly to leave our left back area. Problem arises when Connolly has to do some attacking but we have to take each game as it comes with tactics, formations and personnel.
Although I think he will usually go with Hamilton and Connolly as nominal wingbacks.
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Before the season started we hoped for Gabriel and Lyon’s …we might still end up with those two.
 
Brilliant thread 🤣 can’t even agree on what the formation might have been 🤩
 
Macseasider said:
Possession of a football means absolutely nothing if you do nothing with it.

Many lower league teams try to emulate the big boys without the ability to play intricate football nor the athleticism of movement and speed of play.

Barca started the tika taka phenomenon and barely any teams are capable of replicating it. Oh and it's really boring IMO. No crossing and just monotonous going across and back and inside and so forth.

I perefered Critch playing the old catenaccio and smash em with CJ on the break 👍🏼
Click to expand...
As said somewhere else, it's great when ahead as they have to come out and you can then, if your good enough at it, pick them off and tire them out. It's the pointless possession when level or behind that's annoying. OK when level sometimes rather than launch it you may want to probe for openings and keep it rather them be on the back foot.

It's definitely about learning when to play and when to go long, when to keep the ball and kill the game, kill their momentum.

When ahead we still seem to go into panic mode and keep giving it back, that's not desirable and is exactly when calm heads playing some possession football is needed.
 
352. CJ to track back when needed but didn’t need to much due to us winning the ball higher up the pitch, when either wing back flying forward the other stays back to create the 4 at the back, CJ was doing so well Connolly took the defensive role in and let him get on with it.
 
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Insider said:
Of course not because Critch would never play a player out of position. 😂
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I suppose it depends on what you consider to be ‘out of position’..

It never ceases to amaze me how supporters seem to allocate these ‘positions’ to players, yet the bloke who works with the players day in, day out at training doesn’t get it.
 
gjr said:
If Hamilton hasn't got acres of open space to run into he isn't effective, if a team chooses to sit tight and deny the space I wouldn't start him.
But if we can take the lead against a team like that and then they have to come after us you put Hamilton on.
It's all very simple, what puzzles me is Hamilton starting every game, maybe that will change now.
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OK, I'll own up. I'm no master tactician. But if Hamilton hares down the wing with ball and cuts into the penalty area, they can't just ignore him.
 
gjr said:
If Hamilton hasn't got acres of open space to run into he isn't effective, if a team chooses to sit tight and deny the space I wouldn't start him.
But if we can take the lead against a team like that and then they have to come after us you put Hamilton on.
It's all very simple, what puzzles me is Hamilton starting every game, maybe that will change now.
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Yes that's right CJ after his motm performance playing in his rightfull position for the 1st time this season should now start from the bench against teams that sit back, that'll fox em! You my friend are a Tactical genius 🤣. Give me strength 😂😂
 
1966_and_all_that said:
OK, I'll own up. I'm no master tactician. But if Hamilton hares down the wing with ball and cuts into the penalty area, they can't just ignore him.
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He kept doing it and they did nothing to change it. They allowed him space to run into which is what he's good at. He's not good in tight areas or when he's closely marked. Their left back couldn't cope and they did nothing to help him. So effectively they did ignore Hamilton as they did nothing to lessen his threat.
 
Razzledazzle53 said:
Yes that's right CJ after his motm performance playing in his rightfull position for the 1st time this season should now start from the bench against teams that sit back, that'll fox em! You my friend are a Tactical genius 🤣. Give me strength 😂😂
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So you think he will do that every game, even against the teams that sit back, even after what we've seen this season?
Critchley has said that Hamilton started as a right wing back, we pushed him further up the pitch because Wigan allowed it.
He had a good game and Critchley saw how he could best use him, won't be like that most of the time.
 
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