Who Critchley will need

7YearCritch

7YearCritch

Well-known member
When you think back who were his key players in the promotion season

Embleton
Ballard
Simms
Dougall
Maxwell
Ekpiteta
Gabriel
Kaikai
Madine
Ward
Yates

So we have Yates (probably on his way), Dougall (poor season), Ekpiteta (season of injury and decline) and Gabriel - out again.

So whilst he might know some of the squad most of the influential players have gone and he will have a tough job trying to recreate that with loans and buys.

At least he has Grimshaw (please don’t bring back Maxwell!), Lyons, Connolly, Trumbull and Lavery (who I think could yet shine) - so he has a half decent first team but I hope he still has his contacts, can pull a few favours in and can build the squad back to what it was last time we were in League One but I still think he had a lucky season and it’ll be interesting if he can recreate that.
Glad we have made an appointment and look forward to watching the developments and have high hopes for this guy from Sheff Wed.
The good news is we have a manager in waiting if it all goes wrong!
 
Anderson and Husband played a lot that season.

The hardest to replace on the list are Ballard and Simms. Hopefully we will be able to pull in a couple of good loans like that, clubs know they will get good coaching and experience. No reason why not.
 
He will improve the squad but he can already put out the following team before he starts to bring in new players.

Grimshaw
Lyons or Gabriel
Ekpiteta
Tharme or Casey
Husband or James
Trybull or Connolly
Dougall
Virtue or Carey
Lavery
Yates or Beesley
Dale or CJ


Got to be a good basis for next season
 
Wilburrabbit said:
He will improve the squad but he can already put out the following team before he starts to bring in new players.

Grimshaw
Lyons or Gabriel
Ekpiteta
Tharme or Casey
Husband or James
Trybull or Connolly
Dougall
Virtue or Carey
Lavery
Yates or Beesley
Dale or CJ


Got to be a good basis for next season
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Gabriel will probably be out for the first half of the season, if not more
 
Wilburrabbit said:
He will improve the squad but he can already put out the following team before he starts to bring in new players.

Grimshaw
Lyons or Gabriel
Ekpiteta
Tharme or Casey
Husband or James
Trybull or Connolly
Dougall
Virtue or Carey
Lavery
Yates or Beesley
Dale or CJ


Got to be a good basis for next season
Click to expand...
You forgot Thompson.
 
Wilburrabbit said:
Grimshaw
Lyons or Gabriel
Ekpiteta
Tharme or Casey
Husband or James
Trybull or Connolly
Dougall
Virtue or Carey
Lavery
Yates or Beesley
Dale or CJ


Got to be a good basis for next season
Click to expand...

There's a distinct lack of decent wingers in that list - surely has to be the priority considering how much Critchley's style relies on them.
 
BFC_53 said:
There's a distinct lack of decent wingers in that list - surely has to be the priority considering how much Critchley's style relies on them.
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What is Critchley's style? He was a strict 4-3-3 man when he first came but changed to 4-4-2 either for tactical reasons or due to the limitations in the squad. For much of the Championship season it was 4-5-1! Style wise it could be a short passing game, long ball, or anything in between, he hasn't yet got a style from what I've seen!
 
AllTheBoysAreCheerin' said:
What is Critchley's style? He was a strict 4-3-3 man when he first came but changed to 4-4-2 either for tactical reasons or due to the limitations in the squad. For much of the Championship season it was 4-5-1! Style wise it could be a short passing game, long ball, or anything in between, he hasn't yet got a style from what I've seen!
Click to expand...
Dull, functional, pressing and occasionally deadly is his style.
 
WestStandWaller said:
When you think back who were his key players in the promotion season

Embleton
Ballard
Simms
Dougall
Maxwell
Ekpiteta
Gabriel
Kaikai
Madine
Ward
Yates

So we have Yates (probably on his way), Dougall (poor season), Ekpiteta (season of injury and decline) and Gabriel - out again.

So whilst he might know some of the squad most of the influential players have gone and he will have a tough job trying to recreate that with loans and buys.

At least he has Grimshaw (please don’t bring back Maxwell!), Lyons, Connolly, Trumbull and Lavery (who I think could yet shine) - so he has a half decent first team but I hope he still has his contacts, can pull a few favours in and can build the squad back to what it was last time we were in League One but I still think he had a lucky season and it’ll be interesting if he can recreate that.
Glad we have made an appointment and look forward to watching the developments and have high hopes for this guy from Sheff Wed.
The good news is we have a manager in waiting if it all goes wrong!
Click to expand...
He needs the trust of the fans and his players and he will never get that . You can make lists up till you are blue in the face ,but these players will not trust him and we will go nowhere under him. Maybe in a couple of years time when all the players have left that he betrayed then maybe we will get somewhere.
 
Wilburrabbit said:
He will improve the squad but he can already put out the following team before he starts to bring in new players.

Grimshaw
Lyons or Gabriel
Ekpiteta
Tharme or Casey
Husband or James
Trybull or Connolly
Dougall
Virtue or Carey
Lavery
Yates or Beesley
Dale or CJ


Got to be a good basis for next season
Click to expand...
That team doesn't finish in the top half, lets not kid ourselves.
 
Trybull and Thompson could do well under Critch. He will no doubt be scouring the prem/champ released list for another Bowler/Sully type and also the top players from L2 like Jerry, Keshi and Marv last time.

It will be easier to bring in young talent as the existing squad knows how he wants to play and will be able to get that across on the pitch.

Connolly is another interesting one as won’t be needed at right back but he might be able to partner Marv or play in midfield. He’s too good for L1 to be sat on the bench and he’s also a shout for captain (so is Trybull).
 
If Sadler is serious about getting back to the Championship I’d keep Jerry and build the team around him. Selling point would be imagine if you’d had decent service and support how many goals you would have scored and which clubs would have been in for you then? Goals win games and if we’re serious about getting out of a difficult division we need Jerry. If we sell him we increase the odds we’re not getting promoted next season.
 
AllTheBoysAreCheerin' said:
What is Critchley's style? He was a strict 4-3-3 man when he first came but changed to 4-4-2 either for tactical reasons or due to the limitations in the squad. For much of the Championship season it was 4-5-1! Style wise it could be a short passing game, long ball, or anything in between, he hasn't yet got a style from what I've seen!
Click to expand...
It was often two holding midfielders, meaning we were very heavily reliant on wide players for creativity. Very little came through the middle. In the championship we relied on being extremely well organised (for the most part), and basically gave the ball to Bowler and Keshi as much as possible to do their stuff.
 
Theoneandonly said:
If Sadler is serious about getting back to the Championship I’d keep Jerry and build the team around him. Selling point would be imagine if you’d had decent service and support how many goals you would have scored and which clubs would have been in for you then? Goals win games and if we’re serious about getting out of a difficult division we need Jerry. If we sell him we increase the odds we’re not getting promoted next season.
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Problem is NC doesn't fancy him - unless there was more to it than that.
The person we need to rip up L1 is Bowler.
 
We’ll need a big target man striker in the Madine mold, we never got going just playing 1 up top let time - someone like Cole Stockton
 
We solved a lot of problems that season. We had a good squad but initially we lacked protection for the back four which cost us a good start - Williams did that but we upgraded to Dougall who was exceptional. Then we needed a number 10, Woodburn didn't fit that bill but Embleton did. Finally Madine and Yates needed a bit of another option - Simms was superb. All problems he solved well with recruitment. Let's hope for the same :)
 
I think Yates will almost certainly go and we should get 4 to 5 million for him, sad, but if that is given to NC to use for players along with his own combo money, the money from Bowler and from Wright he should be able to get some good new talent.

I think Apter will feature this season although I think Dougall will go and Connolly will be used off the bench or when we have a gap through injury.

We will need a new striker or two, 2 decent central midfielders, a couple of centre half's, a goalie and a right back if Gabriel's injury is a long one. We need a mix of young players and some really experienced players a la Keogh as he was 2 years ago.

We need to get the backroom staff in first though, we can't just have Sadler running it! I would be very happy if Thommo was made assistant.
 
hertfordseasider said:
I think Yates will almost certainly go and we should get 4 to 5 million for him, sad, but if that is given to NC to use for players along with his own combo money, the money from Bowler and from Wright he should be able to get some good new talent.

I think Apter will feature this season although I think Dougall will go and Connolly will be used off the bench or when we have a gap through injury.

We will need a new striker or two, 2 decent central midfielders, a couple of centre half's, a goalie and a right back if Gabriel's injury is a long one. We need a mix of young players and some really experienced players a la Keogh as he was 2 years ago.

We need to get the backroom staff in first though, we can't just have Sadler running it! I would be very happy if Thommo was made assistant.
Click to expand...
Should have enough in that Jerry kitty for a Brannagan bid 🤣
 
Wilburrabbit said:
He will improve the squad but he can already put out the following team before he starts to bring in new players.

Grimshaw
Lyons or Gabriel
Ekpiteta
Tharme or Casey
Husband or James
Trybull or Connolly
Dougall
Virtue or Carey
Lavery
Yates or Beesley
Dale or CJ


Got to be a good basis for next season
Click to expand...
Yates will be gone, Beesley has an awful lot to prove Virtue and Dale are questionable even at this level, Tharme and Casey will not make the grade and will be back up at best..if we go in to the season thinking this is a good squad then we will be lucky to make the playoffs
 
TANGERINETOWERPOWER said:
Yates will be gone, Beesley has an awful lot to prove Virtue and Dale are questionable even at this level, Tharme and Casey will not make the grade and will be back up at best..if we go in to the season thinking this is a good squad then we will be lucky to make the playoffs
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The point I was making was simply that unlike other seasons we have the basis to build on. Of course not all of them will remain. Some will be loaned out and some sold. Equally people on the fringes like Apter and Holmes might get a chance.

The point is we are not in a position where Critch has only with or nine players on contract and has to bring in a whole load of new players who will take ages to fell. We can all remember those days.

There must be a basis from those players to build on.
 
Wilburrabbit said:
The point I was making was simply that unlike other seasons we have the basis to build on. Of course not all of them will remain. Some will be loaned out and some sold. Equally people on the fringes like Apter and Holmes might get a chance.

The point is we are not in a position where Critch has only with or nine players on contract and has to bring in a whole load of new players who will take ages to fell. We can all remember those days.

There must be a basis from those players to build on.
Click to expand...
Personally I don’t think Apter or Holmes will make it either and again we need to be looking for much better to have any chance of promotion
 
I posted this a while ago. We’re definitely going to need a lot of midfield recruitment as we’ve been lacking in that department for years. We could do with some quality on the wings as well.

As for specific personnel, I think Taylor Moore and Jordan graham have just been released from their clubs and could be very good additions.

Any thoughts?

IMG_0348.jpeg
 
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