Shrewsbury Town v Blackpool Official Matchnight Thread 29.12.20

The very, very good run of form was 442 not 433. Critchley should take notice of the old adage about not changing a winning team. Tiredness, injury, loss of form ok. But not change for changes sake, it appears he is trying to make his favoured formation work against all the evidence to the contrary.
I think it'll be lesson learned after tonight.
He is afterall a young and inexperienced manager learning his trade.
Mistakes will be made and learnt from.
It really isn't the end of the world. It's one game.
 
I think it'll be lesson learned after tonight.
He is afterall a young and inexperienced manager learning his trade.
Mistakes will be made and learnt from.
It really isn't the end of the world. It's one game.
I hope you’re right, but I don’t think you will be, as this was not one game.

It‘s positive we are frustrated for the right reasons, and that we know how good the squad is.
 
Herts, our goalscorer is Yates, he scores or at least hits the target. He was on the bench, as he was v Oxford and as he has been with increasing frequency. In midfield Ward creates, he was again on the bench.

I agree no need to over-react, but NC keeps making the same mistakes with his starting 11. It’s just frustration, because we can all see that. We are massively better than we’ve shown tonight and Shrewsbury were at the limit of maximum performance.

We‘ve lost 5 points v Oxford and tonight, primarily because of poor team selection.
Would you have selected Dougall, Garbutt and Gabriel tonight? I'd have selected the first two but, in truth, none of them played well.
 
Have you seen our record in the last 10 games?
I may well have done Tom.

I'd say it has been better than average, whereas in the first ten games it was well below.

We've won some close games and lost just as many.
Overall, I would say we are where we deserve to be.
Surely the table doesn't lie.
We never looked like winning tonight.
Only one team has scored less in League 1 thus far.
We are not good enough to progress at present, in my opinion.
 
I hope you’re right, but I don’t think you will be, as this was not one game.

It‘s positive we are frustrated for the right reasons, and that we know how good the squad is.
Is that 2 defeats in 11 games?
We've beaten the supposed best sides in the division recently.
That suggests it is more likely to be a one off than a trend.
 
Would you have selected Dougall, Garbutt and Gabriel tonight? I'd have selected the first two but, in truth, none of them played well.
My favoured full-backs are Turton and Husband. In midfield, always Dougall, but with Ward. No coincidence that Dougall has been less effective in advanced positions, since Yates dropped to the bench.
 
It's seems we come unstuck against savvy teams, rather than quality sides. We've contributed to our own downfall multiple times this season, very naively. The Liverpool mentality is still well engrained into our tactics.
 
The very, very good run of form was 442 not 433. Critchley should take notice of the old adage about not changing a winning team. Tiredness, injury, loss of form ok. But not change for changes sake, it appears he is trying to make his favoured formation work against all the evidence to the contrary.
Those run of results using 4-4-2 bought him a bit of time and now he’s back to playing around again. If it wasn’t for 4-4-2 and Madine & Yates up front, he’d be at home, out of work, knitting cardigans in his spare time wondering where it all went wrong in the coaching managers playbook.
 
It seems unless we're playing a top 6 team we take the foot off the gas or the manager starts tinkering. I have to say I was totally perplexed by the inclusion of Kaikai and Kemp and the exclusion of Turton and Yates. That performance wasn't too dissimilar to the first 6/7 games of the season. Worryingly it was a carbon copy of the Accrington game where if we're honest didn't deserve the point.

Walker 9 Gabriel 5 Garbutt 6 Ekpiteta 7 Ballard 7 Robson 4 Dougall 5 Anderson 4 Kemp 4 Madine 5 Kaikai 4
Ward 6 Mitchell 5 Yates 5 Lubala 5

Critchley 4
 
I think it'll be lesson learned after tonight.
He is afterall a young and inexperienced manager learning his trade.
Mistakes will be made and learnt from.
It really isn't the end of the world. It's one game.
Very true BF but that’s why Calderwood is their to bring that experience into the management of the team.
 
You're nowhere to be seen when we're winning, which has been most of the last two months. Surfaced after the Donny game, of course.
I've commented on every game. Not my fault if you're too idle to find it. Perhaps your tangerine spectacles have blurred your vision.
 
It seems unless we're playing a top 6 team we take the foot off the gas or the manager starts tinkering. I have to say I was totally perplexed by the inclusion of Kaikai and Kemp and the exclusion of Turton and Yates. That performance wasn't too dissimilar to the first 6/7 games of the season. Worryingly it was a carbon copy of the Accrington game where if we're honest didn't deserve the point.

Walker 9 Gabriel 5 Garbutt 6 Ekpiteta 7 Ballard 7 Robson 4 Dougall 5 Anderson 4 Kemp 4 Madine 5 Kaikai 4
Ward 6 Mitchell 5 Yates 5 Lubala 5

Critchley 4
Can't argue much with your marks. I'd give Walker 10; what's the man got to do?!
However, Kemp is not a winger for me, he's a No. 8. Pull him inside to give flick-ons and play one twos with Yates and their goal would open up before us.
 
The two games off makes this feel so much worse. Say we'd picked up points against Sunderland and Rochdale this feels like a blip but instead it feels like a complete backwards step
 
You'd hope so, and on another day they might have.
But that is what separated the teams tonight.
Nothing more, nothing less.
I just don't get all the angst and hand wringing.
It is one game coming after a very, very good run of form that has seen us beat the supposed top teams in the division.
But as usual the manager and players are all written off again as being crap. It's laughable.
Not by me, Finest. You know it's post-match frustration, don't you?
 
Hamilton is likely to be out for several weeks with a hamstring injury. Pool's only threat in the final third. I wonder what clueless Critchley will do now?!
 
Not by me, Finest. You know it's post-match frustration, don't you?
Of course I know it's frustration, but the over reaction every time things don't go right is laughable, and I find it hard to believe that some posters carry on the same away from football, God help their families and friends if they do.
It's the equivalent of telling your partner you want a divorce because he/she burnt your dinner.
 
There was no surprise from me that we looked better in midfield when Ward came on, Dougall had more space then and his game improved. I don't think you can play him and Robson together. What happened to Williams, he was great for a few games.
 
I believe in the modern era there is a tendency to overthink the game tactically.

Football is essentially a simple game - especially in the lower leagues. We were flying playing 442 with Madine and Yates up front. Rather than tinkering with formations and personnel, pick our best 11 and only adjust to cater for injuries and form.

Let the opposition worry about us and the way we play rather than tinkering with a winning formula.
 
Of course I know it's frustration, but the over reaction every time things don't go right is laughable, and I find it hard to believe that some posters carry on the same away from football, God help their families and friends if they do.
It's the equivalent of telling your partner you want a divorce because he/she burnt your dinner.
But the league position suggests we aren’t getting it right often enough though. And the goals scored column suggested we are a long way from getting it right at all. To make so many changes to the team when there is one injury and then losing in the fashion we did deserves analysis. It isn’t Man Utd style entitled stroppiness.
 
What a ** surprise. We win a string of games and 62yrs posts one post per match, we lose then he’s over this board like a ** rash.
Like he used to be when the rest of weren’t funding the Oystons. But what would you expect from someone whose job pre-retirement is known about
 
But the league position suggests we aren’t getting it right often enough though. And the goals scored column suggested we are a long way from getting it right at all. To make so many changes to the team when there is one injury and then losing in the fashion we did deserves analysis. It isn’t Man Utd style entitled stroppiness.
Analysis is of course to be expected.
But more often than not it goes beyond that after a defeat, when everyone is deemed crap, clueless, a waste of space and should never wear the shirt/pick the team ever again.
 
What a ** surprise. We win a string of games and 62yrs posts one post per match, we lose then he’s over this board like a ** rash.
Like he used to be when the rest of weren’t funding the Oystons. But what would you expect from someone whose job pre-retirement is known about
Dark Side, I'm a relative novice and don't want to get involved in past disputes so I'll say this. Until 62 insults me (he has in the past) I'll treat his posts like any other person. He does come across as rather glum though.
 
Hamilton is likely to be out for several weeks with a hamstring injury. Pool's only threat in the final third. I wonder what clueless Critchley will do now?!
Give it a rest you looked a fool last time you spouted this bile. We lost a game of football to a very in form team, they have beat 3 of top 4 away in recent weeks. An icy pitch that would be far more suited to them than us. CJ our star man injured. Enforced absence lost our momentum whilst theres has continued. 0-1 to a penalty. We have had a very good run we are going to lose a game now and again.
 
Dark Side, I'm a relative novice and don't want to get involved in past disputes so I'll say this. Until 62 insults me (he has in the past) I'll treat his posts like any other person. He does come across as rather glum though.
Some folk just don't get that we're a mid table team which lacks creativity and goals. Also, we have a coach who doesn't learn from his mistakes. A recipe for going nowhere.
 
Give it a rest you looked a fool last time you spouted this bile. We lost a game of football to a very in form team, they have beat 3 of top 4 away in recent weeks. An icy pitch that would be far more suited to them than us. CJ our star man injured. Enforced absence lost our momentum whilst theres has continued. 0-1 to a penalty. We have had a very good run we are going to lose a game now and again.
A fool makes excuses. Face facts man, the coach and players were poor tonight. If you can't see that then you're a bigger fool than I thought.
 
January’s transfer window maybe fairly quiet.

However next summer maybe a hive of activity. Critch is never going to abandon 433. It generally gives us clean sheets and a solid defence but we are woeful where it matters, in the oppositions half.

Not just tonight, but for large swathes of the season.

Therefore, if we’re sticking with Critchball and 433 next summer we need to be ruthless with the squad.
Sarkic, KaiKai, Madine, Anderson, Williams and Robson all departing regardless of their time with the club. Some of these names might seem obvious some not. But why I say this is, these players whilst not being poor on the whole are tied to one position. Critch needs players that can adapt to more than one position in the final third and be effective.

We truly need better recruiting next summer if we stick to this style of play because unfortunately for some of our squad they can’t perform as to the standard being asked of them.
 
January’s transfer window maybe fairly quiet.

However next summer maybe a hive of activity. Critch is never going to abandon 433. It generally gives us clean sheets and a solid defence but we are woeful where it matters, in the oppositions half.

Not just tonight, but for large swathes of the season.

Therefore, if we’re sticking with Critchball and 433 next summer we need to be ruthless with the squad.
Sarkic, KaiKai, Madine, Anderson, Williams and Robson all departing regardless of their time with the club. Some of these names might seem obvious some not. But why I say this is, these players whilst not being poor on the whole are tied to one position. Critch needs players that can adapt to more than one position in the final third and be effective.

We truly need better recruiting next summer if we stick to this style of play because unfortunately for some of our squad they can’t perform as to the standard being asked of them.
I understand what you say but I would suggest that you're thinking a division above us. At our level I seriously believe we should set our own stall out (probably 4,4,2) and go for it. After all, in this league, we're not playing world beaters.
 
I understand what you say but I would suggest that you're thinking a division above us. At our level I seriously believe we should set our own stall out (probably 4,4,2) and go for it. After all, in this league, we're not playing world beaters.
I 100% agree with you.

Unfortunately I don’t think NC does, and he’s the only opinion that really matters. Even when 442 gave us a modicum of success (and even that’s slightly overdone because of how little 433 gives us) NC couldn’t wait to move back to 433 and his several different versions of it.

It just tells me he’ll never leave the style we’ve seen for most of the season. Therefore the majority of the squad will have to go for the club to be successful. As the current squad can’t execute his vision.
 
Can't argue much with your marks. I'd give Walker 10; what's the man got to do?!
However, Kemp is not a winger for me, he's a No. 8. Pull him inside to give flick-ons and play one twos with Yates and their goal would open up before us.
I like Kemp but in the tough world of League 1 he often looks like a boy among men and shouldn't be starting in games like tonight. Yates and Ward should have been in especially with CJ being out. NC said we looked flat in the first half, if so he should have been digging them out at half time and put Yates & Ward on with a clear plan of attack. To wait 15 mins and then do the multiple subs routine smacks of a lack of ideas.
 
That, in my opinion, was our worst performance this season.

Man of the match Walker by a mile. As for the rest of them, I can't pick one who had a decent game.
Sam Walker........................but I agree about that being our poorest performance, or it definitely comes close. For some reason, even when there is open running space they won't make a forward pass and give the opposing team plenty of time to plug the gaps.
 
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Of course we are not going to win every game but its the manner in which we lose is the most disappointing thing.
I think its blatantly obvious where the problem lies....you only have to look at our goal tally to figure that out...and we certainly do miss a Dewsbury- Hall kind of player...maybe its just me but Im a bit fed up with the tinkerman at the moment. but we move on and hopefully a more positive performance next week and 3 points.
UTMP
 
Be honest if you had watched Madine week in and week out how many fouls would you give him?? His constant throwing himself to the ground has won us one penalty at Doncaster (which I wouldnt have given either) and refs have wised up on him. For a big hard man he is very powder puff at times and easy to knock off the ball. He is however still our best option as part of a two man unit working next to each other...it is working when he is up on his own with our players miles away from him
Agreed, but what do you expect when the "experts" keep saying a player is entitled to go down when touched?
 
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The usual drivvle being posted by the board simpleton. Makes you wonder if they’ve ever played or indeed watched a game of football!
 
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