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| Based on absolutely nothing other than instinct, I feel like this lad is going to be decent |
Wagwan bluds.
It's all been going off down Bloomfield. We've finally got a kit not made by a comedy company and we've been getting players left right and centre. Let's not bother with a run down of who, what, where, why and when - lets just note we've possibly answered one of the main doubts about Critchley - namely, would he attempt to get us out of the division by getting a load of Premier League cast offs who'd inevitably look OK for a few minutes but ultimately be too lightweight and by November we'd be 20th and staring grimly down the barrel of another change of direction with fans shouting 'Get Madine on!' 30 minutes into the game as some kid from an academy flaps vaguely at the ball before doing a few step overs, sighing wearily at having to play football instead of FIFA, taking a call from his agent and doing his hair?
The answer appears to be no. We won't.
The average age of the new signings is, by my rough maths, about 23. Between them, they've racked up well over 200 games of lower league football. If we do get Jerry Yates, he'll fall right into that bracket, a 23 year old with 70+ starts in the football league. These are players who are young and hungry, but coming into their peak years. These aren't green players unused to crowds or the rough house tactics of actual competitive games.
It's worth noting, that for all his Liverpool pedigree, Critchley spent longer at Crewe than Anfield overall and is no stranger to lower league realities. It's hard to hit the ground running in professional football. In a curious way, it's harder to do it in the lower leagues if you are used to playing a higher technical standard.
This is crucial. We are signing players who are ready to play, now. Players who have come with some pedigree and some experience. We saw how Nuttall struggled and it's worth reflecting that he has still only started 22 games in his career and 8 of them were for Stranraer.
The answer appears to be no. We won't.
The average age of the new signings is, by my rough maths, about 23. Between them, they've racked up well over 200 games of lower league football. If we do get Jerry Yates, he'll fall right into that bracket, a 23 year old with 70+ starts in the football league. These are players who are young and hungry, but coming into their peak years. These aren't green players unused to crowds or the rough house tactics of actual competitive games.
It's worth noting, that for all his Liverpool pedigree, Critchley spent longer at Crewe than Anfield overall and is no stranger to lower league realities. It's hard to hit the ground running in professional football. In a curious way, it's harder to do it in the lower leagues if you are used to playing a higher technical standard.
This is crucial. We are signing players who are ready to play, now. Players who have come with some pedigree and some experience. We saw how Nuttall struggled and it's worth reflecting that he has still only started 22 games in his career and 8 of them were for Stranraer.
We don't have to get promotion next year. It would be absurd to suggest a manager with only youth coaching experience to draw upon has to win the league. What we absolutely can't afford is another year of complete turmoil.
This is the second summer in which we're more or less starting again. Last year's attempted restart ended up being more of a non-start as McPhillips bought a load of players then panicked and ran away, leaving Grayson to confusedly continuing to sign the players McPhillips didn't want to manage and he wanted to play even less, before getting everyone on earth in on loan in January then taking a long walk off a short plank with Sadlers cutlass in his back which left Dunn and then Critchley to wade through the squad of left backs and goalkeepers, before a global pandemic came and cut a mediocre season short.
We're not the biggest club in League One and we certainly won't be a big club in the division above. Building a squad is the way to punch above your weight. Building a squad is the way out of the division. Coventry have astonishing team spirit given their circumstances. Rotherham are the definition of 'stability and steady progress'. Oxford and Wycombe fought the play off final. Oxford are the best team I've seen this year and Wycombe are without doubt the side playing furthest beyond their perceived level. Both of them have carefully constructed squads built on players who have been around the club for a while. The same could be said of (whisper it so they don't hear it) Fleetwood Town and Portsmouth have essentially reprised the previous season again. The moral is, it takes a bit of building to get to where you want to be.
I think it might be fair to say that if we had a three year plan to build for promotion, on the pitch itself, we made very little tangible progress against that last year. There's no one who could be said to have really established their credentials aside from flashes of what Kaikai can do and some solid effort from Virtue and Husband. Few players really shout out 'pick me' from what we have left over and fewer still suggest they are the foundation stones of the future.
I've all the time in the world for Fonz (yes, I do, so there) and Feeney but apart from Ollie 'unlikely contract mystery' Turton and Michael 'unlikely contract signed' Nottingham, they're the only players on the books (apart from a couple of kids) who've been with us for 2 whole seasons.
What that means is we don't have is a defined character. We don't have an 'ethos' or a presence that is uniquely ours. We don't have people in the dressing room who will define what the club is and how it does things. That culture can't just happen instantly and we're signing players the right age to build that. We're also signing players who, should they prove to be good enough, will still be young enough to command a fee in two or three seasons time having given us decent service which is crucial in building a situation where losing players generates income to bring in players of equal potential and see us maintaining success.
The lack of dressing room presence and a well defined culture is possibly a curse but also potentially a blessing. Critchley and his assistant are inexperienced at this level. Some senior pros or a strong, established atmosphere could help them. Conversely, if Critchley want to do something different, he has an open goal to kick in to. He can very soon be in a position where the majority of the first choice players were signed by him. They'll be the ones to set the standards, the ones who the rest of the squad have to knock off their perch. There'll be little grumbling from the 'old guard' or the ones who liked it the way it used to be, as no one's been here all that long and Fonz, Feeney and Nottingham all seem like lads who just get on with it.
We've lacked a real definitive presence for a long time. There's no doubting Jay Spearing's commitment, but his decision to move on was probably for the best. He wasn't pulling up any trees and whilst his experience might have been valuable, the electrifying form of Kieron Dewsbury Hall (as an aside, how is he not even making the squad for Leicester?) showed the impact that a fearless young player can have on a midfield. It's fearlessness that we want to see and a 31 year old whose game is largely based on stamina and retention of possession might have been an ill fit for a side we hope will take the game to the enemy in a forthright manner.
We clearly need more players but I'm also curious to see what Critchley does with the ones we've still got. It's lazy to link Klopp and Critchley but I'll do it and risk falling into cliche - One of the most admirable qualities of the professionally affable German is his ability to see what others don't in a player. Who'd have imagined Milner had it in him to take already worthy career to new heights? Who saw Andrew Robertson as a realistic candidate to be the best full back in the world? Who know Winaldum was more than just a precocious talent and could win crucial matches at the highest level?
This leaves us with interesting questions... It's easy to say player X and Y are 'shit' or 'not what we need' but what can a coach like Critchley make of the talent of Kaikai? Will we find out what possessed us to buy Teddy Howe and Jordan Thorniley? They must have *something* about them. We presumably scouted them and thought 'they're good at football' on some level.
This is the second summer in which we're more or less starting again. Last year's attempted restart ended up being more of a non-start as McPhillips bought a load of players then panicked and ran away, leaving Grayson to confusedly continuing to sign the players McPhillips didn't want to manage and he wanted to play even less, before getting everyone on earth in on loan in January then taking a long walk off a short plank with Sadlers cutlass in his back which left Dunn and then Critchley to wade through the squad of left backs and goalkeepers, before a global pandemic came and cut a mediocre season short.
We're not the biggest club in League One and we certainly won't be a big club in the division above. Building a squad is the way to punch above your weight. Building a squad is the way out of the division. Coventry have astonishing team spirit given their circumstances. Rotherham are the definition of 'stability and steady progress'. Oxford and Wycombe fought the play off final. Oxford are the best team I've seen this year and Wycombe are without doubt the side playing furthest beyond their perceived level. Both of them have carefully constructed squads built on players who have been around the club for a while. The same could be said of (whisper it so they don't hear it) Fleetwood Town and Portsmouth have essentially reprised the previous season again. The moral is, it takes a bit of building to get to where you want to be.
I think it might be fair to say that if we had a three year plan to build for promotion, on the pitch itself, we made very little tangible progress against that last year. There's no one who could be said to have really established their credentials aside from flashes of what Kaikai can do and some solid effort from Virtue and Husband. Few players really shout out 'pick me' from what we have left over and fewer still suggest they are the foundation stones of the future.
I've all the time in the world for Fonz (yes, I do, so there) and Feeney but apart from Ollie 'unlikely contract mystery' Turton and Michael 'unlikely contract signed' Nottingham, they're the only players on the books (apart from a couple of kids) who've been with us for 2 whole seasons.
What that means is we don't have is a defined character. We don't have an 'ethos' or a presence that is uniquely ours. We don't have people in the dressing room who will define what the club is and how it does things. That culture can't just happen instantly and we're signing players the right age to build that. We're also signing players who, should they prove to be good enough, will still be young enough to command a fee in two or three seasons time having given us decent service which is crucial in building a situation where losing players generates income to bring in players of equal potential and see us maintaining success.
The lack of dressing room presence and a well defined culture is possibly a curse but also potentially a blessing. Critchley and his assistant are inexperienced at this level. Some senior pros or a strong, established atmosphere could help them. Conversely, if Critchley want to do something different, he has an open goal to kick in to. He can very soon be in a position where the majority of the first choice players were signed by him. They'll be the ones to set the standards, the ones who the rest of the squad have to knock off their perch. There'll be little grumbling from the 'old guard' or the ones who liked it the way it used to be, as no one's been here all that long and Fonz, Feeney and Nottingham all seem like lads who just get on with it.
We've lacked a real definitive presence for a long time. There's no doubting Jay Spearing's commitment, but his decision to move on was probably for the best. He wasn't pulling up any trees and whilst his experience might have been valuable, the electrifying form of Kieron Dewsbury Hall (as an aside, how is he not even making the squad for Leicester?) showed the impact that a fearless young player can have on a midfield. It's fearlessness that we want to see and a 31 year old whose game is largely based on stamina and retention of possession might have been an ill fit for a side we hope will take the game to the enemy in a forthright manner.
We clearly need more players but I'm also curious to see what Critchley does with the ones we've still got. It's lazy to link Klopp and Critchley but I'll do it and risk falling into cliche - One of the most admirable qualities of the professionally affable German is his ability to see what others don't in a player. Who'd have imagined Milner had it in him to take already worthy career to new heights? Who saw Andrew Robertson as a realistic candidate to be the best full back in the world? Who know Winaldum was more than just a precocious talent and could win crucial matches at the highest level?
This leaves us with interesting questions... It's easy to say player X and Y are 'shit' or 'not what we need' but what can a coach like Critchley make of the talent of Kaikai? Will we find out what possessed us to buy Teddy Howe and Jordan Thorniley? They must have *something* about them. We presumably scouted them and thought 'they're good at football' on some level.
Will Ben Garrity having the same name as the assistant manager help his cause for a Football league debut and will his signing turn out to be a stroke of genius? Has Critchley spotted something in Michael Nottingham no one has ever quite noticed before - was he about to slip him his P45 when he noticed an almost imperceptible echo of Van Dijk's gait and thought... 'I can work with this...'?
What the hell will he do with Gary Madine? (seriously, how will that work?) Will Ryan 'deserves a chance after what he did for Plymouth and honestly, he looks decent on YouTube' Hardie get a chance? Will Critch be able to find whatever it was that Joe Nuttall lost on his way down the M65? Imagine if Yussuff hits 20 in a season next year. Ok, I'm going too far now...
What a good coach can do, is bring out confidence and skills the player themselves didn't even know were there, let alone the mugs in the crowd. They can feed ideas and practice skills and find a way for that player to contribute in a way that we or they might not have expected.
No coach in the world can turn everyone into the best version of themselves, some don't listen and some players already are that best version and have no more to offer but I'm interested to see who Critchley will surprise us with. What player he feels has untapped potential or needs a new role or style of play. If he's the intelligent coach he's made out to be, there'll be one or two who fit that bill. Gary Madine, tricky left winger maybe? Again. I'm going too far...
I'm also intrigued to see how far the policy of signing our own players will go. We're clearly short up front, in central midfield and at the back still to name just the glaring holes. Will we get in at very least three more permanent signings with similar pedigree/promise or will we just see a burst of loan signings?
I've never been comfortable with the idea of being Liverpool reserves and I'm encouraged that doesn't seem, at this point, to be the entire plan. Of course I'd welcome a wonder kid or two, but too many loan players doesn't build that ethos or identity that teams need to have success in the first place and then sustain it. Rely on loans too much and every 6 months or year, you are looking to replace the best players in the side and that isn't sustainable. To my mind, you judge a cake on the cake itself and Dewsbury Hall and Ronan were the icing on something that wasn't especially edible.
To torture the analogy to a point where the UN would consider intervention on the grounds of cruelty to my readers, if I was Paul Hollywood judging last season as a cake, I'd do that twinkly eyed thing he does and then my face would go hard and I'd say something like
What the hell will he do with Gary Madine? (seriously, how will that work?) Will Ryan 'deserves a chance after what he did for Plymouth and honestly, he looks decent on YouTube' Hardie get a chance? Will Critch be able to find whatever it was that Joe Nuttall lost on his way down the M65? Imagine if Yussuff hits 20 in a season next year. Ok, I'm going too far now...
What a good coach can do, is bring out confidence and skills the player themselves didn't even know were there, let alone the mugs in the crowd. They can feed ideas and practice skills and find a way for that player to contribute in a way that we or they might not have expected.
No coach in the world can turn everyone into the best version of themselves, some don't listen and some players already are that best version and have no more to offer but I'm interested to see who Critchley will surprise us with. What player he feels has untapped potential or needs a new role or style of play. If he's the intelligent coach he's made out to be, there'll be one or two who fit that bill. Gary Madine, tricky left winger maybe? Again. I'm going too far...
I'm also intrigued to see how far the policy of signing our own players will go. We're clearly short up front, in central midfield and at the back still to name just the glaring holes. Will we get in at very least three more permanent signings with similar pedigree/promise or will we just see a burst of loan signings?
I've never been comfortable with the idea of being Liverpool reserves and I'm encouraged that doesn't seem, at this point, to be the entire plan. Of course I'd welcome a wonder kid or two, but too many loan players doesn't build that ethos or identity that teams need to have success in the first place and then sustain it. Rely on loans too much and every 6 months or year, you are looking to replace the best players in the side and that isn't sustainable. To my mind, you judge a cake on the cake itself and Dewsbury Hall and Ronan were the icing on something that wasn't especially edible.
To torture the analogy to a point where the UN would consider intervention on the grounds of cruelty to my readers, if I was Paul Hollywood judging last season as a cake, I'd do that twinkly eyed thing he does and then my face would go hard and I'd say something like
'It tastes as if it was baked by 4 different people, all with their own ideas. The first baker obviously bought terrible ingredients, the second baker seemed to be following a completely baffling recipe that I can't make head nor tail of, then when he realised it wasn't going well, at the last minute chucked loads of different flavours in it and tried to cover up the mess he'd made with some fancy icing. The third and fourth bakers actually did quite a good job of presenting that mess as a coherent whole, but look, the icing has all run off it now and it's just left a right stodgy old mess'
That's what we have to avoid. We need a well constructed squad, designed to last us a couple of years or more. What is very encouraging in that regard, is the noise we're making in signing youth players. Last time we tried that, it was more or less presented as Ollie chucking on a load of YouTube videos and letting Kim pick the ones she thought looked decent - It's safe to say the 'development squad' didn't develop many great players - when you're citing Jake Caprice as relatively successful in relation to the rest of many of his cohort, then you are clearly not dealing with Fergie's fledglings...
What makes me think Critch's kids' will be any different? It's a question of knowing what you are doing. Critchley and Garrity between them have more than 25 years experience in working with players below first team level. Critchley's time at Liverpool is frequently cited, but his experiences at Crewe ensure he understands the needs of a lower league side (which, despite what we all want, we currently are)
Holloway had the right idea back then - we clearly lacked a youth set up - but he himself tried to set up something he simply wasn't qualified to do and the brilliant Seasider Podcast interview with GTF reveals a chaotic set up with nearly 40 players all training together. A far cry from the disciplined formula you'd imagine Critchley will apply as one of only 16 UEFA elite coaches in the world. Our management team aren't simply 'ex Liverpool' - they're experts in player development and the part youth development plays in a bigger picture. Holloway was an expert in motivating players in the first team, the classic charismatic ex pro built to coax belief out of players in the dressing room. He wasn't the man to build a youth set up and tend to the minor details and expecting him create a regime and overarching coaching philosophy at the best of times, let alone with the paper thin resources at his disposal was unrealistic.
The previous eras efforts at youth development smacked of a car boot sale approach. Buy a load of unwanted tutt and hope some of it turns out to be worth something. Ollie was an enthusiastic shopper, but frankly Nathan Eccleston, James Caton, Adda Djezeri, Anderson Banvo, Gerardo Bruna, Craig Sutherland and all the rest turned out to be actually not really worth the 50p we paid for them. They were the football equivalent of carboot landfill after all. Unwanted footspas, rusty tools and faded t shirts with peeling screen print. Half of them have retired. Was that just because they were rubbish all along or was it also because at a crucial point in their football development, they weren't coached effectively as the set up simply wasn't there?
Who knows if the qualifications of the management team will translate into a reality of youth team players pushing first team players hard for their places. Will it mean we see (for the first time in ages, really since Richie Kyle left) some of 'our own' (whatever that means in modern football) actually making the grade? If this management team can't do it, then who knows who can.
It should be cause for optimism and in my humble opinion, even if Critchley leaves us 13th in League One after trying for two years in vain to move us on, we'll doubtless have a much better structured club and maybe the foundations in place for future success. That can't be said of Simon Grayson and indeed many of his predecessors. The question about Critch is really the inverse of the point above about Ollie. There's little doubt about whether he can do the youth stuff and bring on talent. The question is, can he motivate a dressing room on matchday. Only time will tell.
What I noticed in the Reading games this year was despite them being only about 15 places above us in the pyramid at the time, their reserves gave what was more or less our first team more than a run for their money and frankly, in the replay more than a bit of a run around. It's frightening to think what their reserves would have done to our reserves and whilst the youth team doesn't win you trophies now, it would be genuinely fantastic to be excited about our own kids, not simply the ones we've borrowed from elsewhere. It was an object lesson in how far behind even a struggling championship club we are outside of the first team. In 2 years time, that, at least, should be remedied.
For all that realism and measured words, what I really want to see is Sullay and the new lad from Swindon absolutely tearing defences apart, pulling them all over the place whilst Virtue scrats and holds things, Sarkic pings it about, Jerry Yates or Ryan Hardie or whoever else finish off sumptuous moves and the crowd purr appreciation. I want Fonz to finally click (cue loads of comments about 'how many chances does he need' etc) and do what he does from time to time week in week out. I want Feeney to be the old head, leading by example - maybe he's our James Milner? I want Madine (I still don't get how he fits in?!) to come off the bench and plunder goals when we need a change of tactic, I want Husband to develop into the captain I think he could be, I want the Leyton Orient lad to be imperious at the back. Most of all, I want to see anything other than the ghost football I've completely lost all interest in on telly.
The previous eras efforts at youth development smacked of a car boot sale approach. Buy a load of unwanted tutt and hope some of it turns out to be worth something. Ollie was an enthusiastic shopper, but frankly Nathan Eccleston, James Caton, Adda Djezeri, Anderson Banvo, Gerardo Bruna, Craig Sutherland and all the rest turned out to be actually not really worth the 50p we paid for them. They were the football equivalent of carboot landfill after all. Unwanted footspas, rusty tools and faded t shirts with peeling screen print. Half of them have retired. Was that just because they were rubbish all along or was it also because at a crucial point in their football development, they weren't coached effectively as the set up simply wasn't there?
Who knows if the qualifications of the management team will translate into a reality of youth team players pushing first team players hard for their places. Will it mean we see (for the first time in ages, really since Richie Kyle left) some of 'our own' (whatever that means in modern football) actually making the grade? If this management team can't do it, then who knows who can.
It should be cause for optimism and in my humble opinion, even if Critchley leaves us 13th in League One after trying for two years in vain to move us on, we'll doubtless have a much better structured club and maybe the foundations in place for future success. That can't be said of Simon Grayson and indeed many of his predecessors. The question about Critch is really the inverse of the point above about Ollie. There's little doubt about whether he can do the youth stuff and bring on talent. The question is, can he motivate a dressing room on matchday. Only time will tell.
What I noticed in the Reading games this year was despite them being only about 15 places above us in the pyramid at the time, their reserves gave what was more or less our first team more than a run for their money and frankly, in the replay more than a bit of a run around. It's frightening to think what their reserves would have done to our reserves and whilst the youth team doesn't win you trophies now, it would be genuinely fantastic to be excited about our own kids, not simply the ones we've borrowed from elsewhere. It was an object lesson in how far behind even a struggling championship club we are outside of the first team. In 2 years time, that, at least, should be remedied.
For all that realism and measured words, what I really want to see is Sullay and the new lad from Swindon absolutely tearing defences apart, pulling them all over the place whilst Virtue scrats and holds things, Sarkic pings it about, Jerry Yates or Ryan Hardie or whoever else finish off sumptuous moves and the crowd purr appreciation. I want Fonz to finally click (cue loads of comments about 'how many chances does he need' etc) and do what he does from time to time week in week out. I want Feeney to be the old head, leading by example - maybe he's our James Milner? I want Madine (I still don't get how he fits in?!) to come off the bench and plunder goals when we need a change of tactic, I want Husband to develop into the captain I think he could be, I want the Leyton Orient lad to be imperious at the back. Most of all, I want to see anything other than the ghost football I've completely lost all interest in on telly.
I'll even take wandering away grumbling about 'false dawns and stupid youth coaches with shitty certificates' whilst around me people opine 'should have got Warnock or someone like that, Steve Evans, that sort of bloke, proper football man, not this tippy tappy kids stuff.'
I'll take anything really, as long as it's tangerine.
Fucking pandemics.
UTMP
I'll take anything really, as long as it's tangerine.
Fucking pandemics.
UTMP
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