Blackpool v Crewe Official Matchnight Thread 02.03.21

Some interesting comments on this thread tonight.

Some criticism of the defending. I actually thought it was good on the whole, there were a couple of moments where Ballard and Thorniley wobbled, one led to a goal and from the other Crewe should have scored form the corner. But despite dominating, Crewe from memory had only two shots on target all night.

I can see the logic of Critch’s substitutions, hit them with pace on the break as they pushed on, it didn’t quit work, largely because Crewe’s ball retention was outstanding and when they weren’t in possession their pressing was the best I’ve seen all season.

I don’t think any Blackpool player had a poor game, we looked very tired compared to Crewe, we’d just done a trip to South East London and they’d stayed at home, probably had something to do with it.

Overall a gritty performance when it was needed 5 months ago we’d have lost that game. We’re making strides.
 
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Rektseasider said:
Some interesting comments on this thread tonight.

Some criticism of the defending. I actually thought it was good on the whole, there were a couple of moments where Ballard and Thorniley wobbled, one led to a goal and from the other Crewe should have scored form the corner. But despite dominating Crewe, from memory had only two shots on target all night.

I can see the logic of Critch’s substitutions, hit them with pace on the break as they pushed on, it didn’t quit work, largely because Crewe’s ball retention was outstanding and when they weren’t in possession their pressing was the best I’ve seen all season.

I don’t think any Blackpool player had a poor game, we looked very tired compared to Crewe, we’d just done a trip to South East London and they’d stayed at home, probably had something to do with it.

Overall a gritty performance when it was needed 5 months ago we’d have lost that game. We’re making strides.
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You make some fair points tbf

I thought we had a decent 30 mins or so before and after half time the rest of the time we were out played

The subs cost us, i didn't see the point of CJ playing down the middle at all

Looked like he didn't have a clue and worse for me was his lack of pressing
 
Phil_bfc deux said:
You make some fair points tbf

I thought we had a decent 30 mins or so before and after half time the rest of the time we were out played

The subs cost us, i didn't see the point of CJ playing down the middle at all

Looked like he didn't have a clue and worse for me was his lack of pressing
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CJ looked very rusty, agreed. But I guess it’s to be expected.

I thought Yates actually needed to come off and Dougall to come into a midfield 5 with maybe CJ and Mitchell’s pace out wide.
 
1966_and_all_that said:
When Crewe were in the ascendency they never lost an opportunity to get it into the box. We should learn from that.
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Yeah true, but getting there was problematic at times. The amount of times we gave it away from bad touch, poor pass, wrong choice was ridiculously high for a team with our aspirations.

Now if we passed like Crewe but had our end product on it, with Yates, virtue, cj, simms or whoever all getting the ball on the edge of their box, thats when usually the chances must come and goals too.

At times we just weren't capable of passing it like they did to get up there, which is worrying considering were on home turf, no excuse of the pitch today for Critch and the lads. Crewe knocked it round with confidence not scared to lose it or do a first time pass.

First half I remember making a point of watching how we passed it forawrd, and there were lots of poor passes and often three touches per player, slowly making way across the pitch, no surprise all avenues were closed off so we went long.

You need some zip in a pass, the right weight, take on the half turn, quick 1-2's.

I have to say we've improved at the back and found a way to pick up points.... but given Critch said on arrival he wanted us to dominate and control the game, attack etc, I haven't seen enough consistent quality in this sort of style to say we are playing in the way he or I imagined. The players have been doing it for some time now, to still see at times some basics like simple passes going wrong or not knowing how to play forward is still a bit disappointing to me. 🤷
 
Rektseasider said:
CJ looked very rusty, agreed. But I guess it’s to be expected.

I thought Yates actually needed to come off and Dougall to come into a midfield 5 with maybe CJ and Mitchell’s pace out wide.
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I don't know whether I was misreading it but Gabriel looked crocked to me. Either that or he was out on his feet.
 
1966_and_all_that said:
When Crewe were in the ascendency they never lost an opportunity to get it into the box. We should learn from that.
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They committed men forward very quickly I noticed. They picked it up,and bang, they all went. We seemed to get up the pitch and be waiting for people to join.
 
Crewe were really very good today and I was very impressed with their passing and in particular the ball retention of the midfielders. Their forwards were a real hassle all night too. I thought we were off the pace tonight and must admit our passing was quite poor. We have the ball away very easily and in some silly places too. We really need to be just a little less risk averse in the final third as we have a habit of holding onto the ball that second too long or passing backwards instead of making the through ball or taking a shot. Very often Yates or Simms HAD made the run or would be placed to follow up a shot if it were saved but they end up running for no reason and you can see their confidence and enthusiasm to continue doing it drain as the game goes on.

A point at home to what is the best side I’ve seen at Bloomfield Road since probably Oxford last season is a good result as far as I’m concerned. We take the point, learn some lessons and move on to the weekend - hopefully with CJ, Madine and Husband back in the squad
 
JJpool said:
Yeah true, but getting there was problematic at times. The amount of times we gave it away from bad touch, poor pass, wrong choice was ridiculously high for a team with our aspirations.

Now if we passed like Crewe but had our end product on it, with Yates, virtue, cj, simms or whoever all getting the ball on the edge of their box, thats when usually the chances must come and goals too.

At times we just weren't capable of passing it like they did to get up there, which is worrying considering were on home turf, no excuse of the pitch today for Critch and the lads. Crewe knocked it round with confidence not scared to lose it or do a first time pass.

First half I remember making a point of watching how we passed it forawrd, and there were lots of poor passes and often three touches per player, slowly making way across the pitch, no surprise all avenues were closed off so we went long.

You need some zip in a pass, the right weight, take on the half turn, quick 1-2's.

I have to say we've improved at the back and found a way to pick up points.... but given Critch said on arrival he wanted us to dominate and control the game, attack etc, I haven't seen enough consistent quality in this sort of style to say we are playing in the way he or I imagined. The players have been doing it for some time now, to still see at times some basics like simple passes going wrong or not knowing how to play forward is still a bit disappointing to me. 🤷
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Just hazarding a guess but have Crewe been able to keep a settled side together?
 
1966_and_all_that said:
Just hazarding a guess but have Crewe been able to keep a settled side together?
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No idea, but as said in commentary, at Crewe if someone's out another from academy slots in, the style is set and all come in and seem to play that way.

Kind of what I wanted and we were told, but just with more firepower up top.

We've no excuses not to be able to pass from defence to midfield with the likes of Stewart, Ward etc. Should be plenty capable of passing with quality.
 
1966_and_all_that said:
I don't know whether I was misreading it but Gabriel looked crocked to me. Either that or he was out on his feet.
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I thought he also dipped below his usual very high standards. Just think the whole team looked at about 75%.

I think that’s what will do is out of a play off place. Even though Madine, CJ and Gretarsson are closing in on a return. It’s going to take time for them to get up to match speed coupled with the fact we’re two games a week now for two and a bit months that’s going to take its toll.
 
Rektseasider said:
I thought he also dipped below his usual very high standards. Just think the whole team looked at about 75%.

I think that’s what will do is out of a play off place. Even though Madine, CJ and Gretarsson are closing in on a return. It’s going to take time for them to get up to match speed coupled with the fact we’re two games a week now for two and a bit months that’s going to take its toll.
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Then Critch needs to put his money where his mouth is. If they're all good enough for the squad then they're all good enough to get on the pitch - Turton, right-back against the Wombles.
 
1966_and_all_that said:
Then Critch needs to put his money where his mouth is. If they're all good enough for the squad then they're all good enough to get on the pitch - Turton, right-back against the Wombles.
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Yes, I think he’ll have to, I think it’ll have to go further, Mitchell, Robson even people like Shaw and Apter should be in the mix.

It’s hardly like Kai Kai and Ward have pulled up trees these last few weeks. We will see eh.
 
That was a hard game & I thought we played pretty well to contain a decent side, we are still improving, as we've scored a few from set pieces & different players, rather than just the strikers. Yes we could pass it better, but overall we're moving in the right direction. We could have got a winner at the end & that would have been cruel on Crewe I guess, not that it would have worried me. I enjoyed the game & the players gave their all 👍
 
thedevilsadvocate said:
I personally cannot see what was wrong with the subs. Crewe were in the ascendancy, Simms wasn't as effective as he was on Saturday and Kaikai did one of his vanishing acts, so the introduction of two pacy wingers made perfect sense to me. Hindsight, don't you just love it ?
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CJ just didn't look ready. Replacing Simms with him weakened us IMO.
 
I didn’t see anyone have a particularly bad game. We’ve struggled against high energy teams this season. We took the steam out of their pressing well and had a couple of opportunities to go 2 up. In hindsight, perhaps putting CJ on for Kai Kai might have been the way to go. Ward can operate on either wing too.

Simms is an out and out striker, you can’t just replace his movement and skillset with an out and out winger. Sure I could see the thinking but it didn’t work unfortunately.

We needed that one bit of magic to win the game which never came. I think Crewe worked hard but the same could be said for them. No quality in the final third, just a 37 year old striker who we dealt with well enough
 
I was happy with a point. With the benefit of a few hours, I think we are starting to see some players running out of steam. When did Jerry last miss a game, he has been carrying the line? 2 a week and long coach trips, Critch is now forced to start doing a lot of changing to use his whole squad, or we will really hit a wall in 2 to 3 weeks.

The real positive is that we do have a squad, they have all learnt a similar way, and seem to be able to slot into positions relatively easily.

My only puzzle last night was CJ central striker, it is not him now, maybe in a couple of years bulked up.
 
I would of taken a smash and grab 1 nil, fair point considering Crewe played well.

Also I was reading the thread during the match, didn't post at the time but some were saying bring Hamilton and Dougal etc on after about 30 minutes.
Bring subs on it's the subs fault that we didnt win? Dont bring them on and people say why didnt he bring the subs on?

Or bring others on or off.

Lets be positive, Crewe played well, Blackpool have gained a decent point.
 
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Whenthepoolcomemarchingin said:
I would of taken a smash and grab 1 nil, fair point considering Crewe played well.

Also I was reading the thread during the match, didn't post at the time but some were saying bring Hamilton and Dougal etc on after about 30 minutes.
Bring subs on it's the subs fault that we didnt win? Dont bring them on and people say why didnt he bring the subs on?

Or bring others on or off.

Lets be positive, Crewe played well, Blackpool have gained a decent point.
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Wrong subs, wrong time, he didn't bring Dougall on and he played CJ down the middle. Simms....why ?
 
Some very fair points on this thread, we aren't going to win every game, simple as that, we are going to come up against sides that play better than us on the day/night.
After all, we are still missing some very influential players, Madine, Husband and Ekpiteta would surely be guaranteed starters if fit, I think we can still look a little makeshift in defence at times, remember it's not so long ago Thorniley was told he could leave, now he's first choice due to injuries.

A decent point, shame we couldn't nick it, once again the opportunity to actually move up the table manages to slip away. Long way to go yet, just have to keep plugging away.
 
Tangerinemoss said:
I was happy with a point. With the benefit of a few hours, I think we are starting to see some players running out of steam. When did Jerry last miss a game, he has been carrying the line? 2 a week and long coach trips, Critch is now forced to start doing a lot of changing to use his whole squad, or we will really hit a wall in 2 to 3 weeks.

The real positive is that we do have a squad, they have all learnt a similar way, and seem to be able to slot into positions relatively easily.

My only puzzle last night was CJ central striker, it is not him now, maybe in a couple of years bulked up.
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We've had several postponements. I don't think our players are tired. I think we were slow out of the blocks last night, having cruised on Saturday, and Crewe were stung by two late Sunderland goals and came out still smarting from that and all fired up.
 
Whenthepoolcomemarchingin said:
I would of taken a smash and grab 1 nil, fair point considering Crewe played well.

Also I was reading the thread during the match, didn't post at the time but some were saying bring Hamilton and Dougal etc on after about 30 minutes.
Bring subs on it's the subs fault that we didnt win? Dont bring them on and people say why didnt he bring the subs on?

Or bring others on or off.

Lets be positive, Crewe played well, Blackpool have gained a decent point.
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I agree with your points. Making subs is especially difficult. Used properly they can bolster our weaknesses and increase our strengths. So how could subs have been used last night to help us keep the three points?

it was obvious we were not winning the midfield battle -- they looked more organised. KK had faded. Stewart was under constant pressure and his passes were being closed down. The Ward/Gabriel relationship wasn't working. Virtue was trying manfully to remedy these defects by being a one-man defensive and attacking midfield.

Critch put Mitchell on for KK to increase our attacking momentum and I agreed with that. My other change would have been Dougall for Ward to strengthen the defence leaving Virtue free to join the attack. The risk is that fans would have said it was too negative and we should have "gone for the juggler" as Brett often says. Critch played the "Blackpool Way" by putting Hamilton on as a striker -- he's scored goals before so why not now? Unfortunately it didn't work, but there's no criticism from me for that.

Hindsight's a wonderful thing. but foresight's far more difficult. Sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition for playing well, and disrupting our plans. It's a funny old game and that's why we love it.
 
Credible well deserved point. The decent teams when they are not playing well and like ourselves last night taking a battering for long periods never give in and that is our attitude. Enjoyed watching Crewe a very decent league one side but hope we play a lot better whenever we meet them again.
 
RossendaleSeasider said:
We got outplayed by a better team on the night - it happens.

The positive is that we managed to get a point out of a game that at the start of the season we would've lost.

Freshen it up a bit for Saturday and beat Wimbledon and 4 points in a week is a decent enough return tbf.
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yep on the night, they were the better footballing team and more than likely are a better footballing team than us full stop, But we stuck in there and got a point. Whereas you could say the subs didn't work as Critchley said after there were a few times where we broke and just chose the wrong option or the quality wasn't good enough with that final ball. So take a point and move on to saturday which now makes it more vital that we get three points.
 
Think that was a classic case of NC choosing his subs and timing of subs ahead of the match, rather than a reaction to what was going on during the match.
e.g. Likely has an agreement with Everton to play Simms often (but not to knacker their asset). So sub him on the hour. Wanted to give CJ a short run out and ease him back into fitness with a 30 mins cameo as Crewe’s energy levels (should be) dropping.
The problem is that Simms was playing very well and Yates then becomes half the player on his own up front. We could have done with someone like Holmes coming on for Simms - if we really had to give him a break.
CJ then played out of position - agree with above comment, the obvious replacement should have been for Kaikai who wasn’t having his best match, imo.
The subs didn’t freshen things up, they spoilt the shape of the team.
 
I thought that Crewe were a very good side. We won't be meeting many more that good this season.
A draw was a fair result'
Glad my Uncle Harry was M.O.M. 😜
I did have an uncle Harry Pickering, I wonder if he's any relation?
 
Early in the season that game would of been a loss. We nearly came away with the win.

Everyone seems experts on subs.

Just a couple of points.

We are not actually at the games and only see where the ball is being played, us fans only usually have a one angle TV camera.

We don't see the players in training and who is playing well or not to well.

There is a lot more things to consider when a player entering the pitch, a player doesn't just do work on the ball, they do it off it as well.
 
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Whenthepoolcomemarchingin said:
Early in the season that game would of been a loss. We nearly came away with the win.

Everyone seems experts on subs.

Just a couple of points.

We are not actually at the games and only see where the ball is being played, us fans only usually have a one angle TV camera.

We don't see the players in training and who is playing well or not to well.

There is a lot more things to consider when a player entering the pitch, a player doesn't just do work on the ball, they do it off it as well.
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I know CJ has been at his most effective out wide this season.Bringing him on after months out and in the middle, for someone who was in the middle and doing well in partnership with Yates, baffled me.
 
Grumpy_no_more said:
I agree with your points. Making subs is especially difficult. Used properly they can bolster our weaknesses and increase our strengths. So how could subs have been used last night to help us keep the three points?

it was obvious we were not winning the midfield battle -- they looked more organised. KK had faded. Stewart was under constant pressure and his passes were being closed down. The Ward/Gabriel relationship wasn't working. Virtue was trying manfully to remedy these defects by being a one-man defensive and attacking midfield.

Critch put Mitchell on for KK to increase our attacking momentum and I agreed with that. My other change would have been Dougall for Ward to strengthen the defence leaving Virtue free to join the attack. The risk is that fans would have said it was too negative and we should have "gone for the juggler" as Brett often says. Critch played the "Blackpool Way" by putting Hamilton on as a striker -- he's scored goals before so why not now? Unfortunately it didn't work, but there's no criticism from me for that.

Hindsight's a wonderful thing. but foresight's far more difficult. Sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition for playing well, and disrupting our plans. It's a funny old game and that's why we love it.
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We could have done with Madine coming on from the bench last night. I think his know how and ability to hold up the ball and to bring others into the game would have been invaluable. CJ is not a physical presence, he is easily dispossessed and that central role is just not his game. However it is great to have him back and I am sure once he gets up to speed he will be terrorising defenses again. Crewe are a very good footballing side, their passing and pressing were difficult to cope with and I think some of our weaknesses in defense and midfield were exploited.
 
The manager needs to find a way to utilise Kai Kai or drop him. He is no good as a passenger and someone of his talent must be a valuable asset if we can get the best out of him. I suspect his best position is just behind the front two with a freedom to roam but he simply has to get involved wherever he is picked. CJ could easily be a devastating striker in the future but lets get him back to 100% before we change his position...he is a matchwinner on his day and needs to rebuild his fitness back up...dont rule him out up top based just on one comeback match when he clearly wasnt at 100%.
 
Athers said:
Very tough game. Play good, attacking football and very unlucky not to beat Sunderland at the weekend.

They’ll be blips during the run in. Tomorrow could be one of them. 1-1 draw, not the end of the world as long as we follow it up with a win on Saturday
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Bobonski
 
TANGERINETOWERPOWER said:
The manager needs to find a way to utilise Kai Kai or drop him. He is no good as a passenger and someone of his talent must be a valuable asset if we can get the best out of him. I suspect his best position is just behind the front two with a freedom to roam but he simply has to get involved wherever he is picked. CJ could easily be a devastating striker in the future but lets get him back to 100% before we change his position...he is a matchwinner on his day and needs to rebuild his fitness back up...dont rule him out up top based just on one comeback match when he clearly wasnt at 100%.
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Good post. We know that Critchley rates Kaikai and wants him in the team. However, whilst I agree with your 'best position' idea, Critchley won't change his set-up to accommodate it. It's a puzzle.
 
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