Driller trust me that's the last thing I want or this board needs is yet another thread becoming essentially an Ardley In/Out debate.
It's a fair comment , absolutely no pitchforkery there
Overall the manager is clearly cautious when it comes to youngsters/less proven players, his team selections and his overall style of play. Obviously caution is not always a negative thing, for example playing lightweight attack minded midfield 4s traditionally looks good on paper and is exciting for the fans but doesn't tend to work in reality.
I'm not sure about Wolfe, I hear injury/illness has played a factor but not surprised under Ardley that he hasn't featured much. He relies too heavily on JOB and Doyle and experience IMO.
As for Crawford, how did you think he played against Notts? Hartlepool are clearly in a rich vein of recently which has propelled them to 2nd. They are my pre season tip to win it. Not surprised he's played lots for them or that they are top 6 currently.
I would have liked to see Crawford stay, a lot more than Osborne or Rose for example. I would pick Turner or Rawlinson over Bird this season, last season, next season. Some younger players I would want involved others I'd rather see not starting or at the club.
I remember during a poor spell last season there were lots of calls to throw youngsters in when we were struggling as "they couldn't do any worse". It's common but the manager didn't and we turned our form around and went on an impressive run.
When one of the favourites for promotion, when every result other than a victory is over analysed and criticised with running totals of how far behind the current leaders we are, I'm not surprised we don't throw youngsters in. If they don't help the situation and make it worse then the demand to play them will quickly be forgotten by the #angrymob and others.
I guess it's all about balance, it's all about making more right decisions than wrong ones. That's what the manager gets paid to do, as he doesn't have the benefit of hindsight that we have on here. Managers have the qualifications, the experience, we don't and it's often forgotten on here. We have opinions and assume the alternative choice would automatically change the result, which is wishful thinking.
At the end of the day his job, reputation, livelihood on the line, ours aren't.
We're just supporters
COYP