Ex-Carlton star Bryce Gibbs has questioned his former club’s identity following their loss to Sydney on Friday night.
Heading into the game as favourites, Michael Voss’ men remained consistent with their form, shooting themselves in the foot all night to be eventually overrun by the Swans to the beat of 27 points.
Gibbs, who played 231 games in the Navy Blue, is struggling to identify what Carlton stands for after watching them lose their sixth game in seven weeks.
“It is hard to know what their identity is, I don’t know what their game style is,” Gibbs told SEN SA Breakfast.
“There’s teams in the competition that when you watch them you know what they’re doing, you can tell what type of game plan they’re implementing.
“Watching Carlton at the moment, I couldn’t tell you what they’re trying to do off half back, I couldn’t tell you what their forward patterns should look like.
“They’ve potentially got one of the best midfields in the competition, but they just aren’t winning clearances, they aren’t working for each other.
“Their ball movement, decision making, and their skill execution is far below what it needs to be at this level of footy.
“If you put pressure on Carlton, they’re just going to give it back to you, that’s known competition wide.
“They’re getting a lot of the ball it’s just they aren’t doing anything with it, for the first time over the last couple of weeks having watched them play, I’ve become extremely frustrated.”
The passion from Carlton fans is like no other, a supporter base that has been deprived of success for so long but still fills the stands week in week out.
But the last month has seen talk back radio go to another level.
"I've smashed my phone, I've smashed a couple of glasses and I'm showing 10 times more passion than these pea hearts out on the field." 😧
— SEN 1116 (@1116sen) May 26, 2023
An irate Bluebagger called in following Friday night’s loss to Sydney!
Take a listen 👇 pic.twitter.com/z86kENHthb
Considering the optimism heading into 2023, Gibbs can understand the frustration shown by the Carlton faithful.
“I’m pretty reserved watching the footy, don’t carry on too much, but I’m finding myself really starting to come a bit edgy and get frustrated at the TV,” Gibbs added.
“A lot of the Carlton supporters are fed up at the moment, it has been so tough to watch.
“It was now or never, Carlton have been starved of success for a long time now, and I was apart of that, but it just seemed last year that all their ducks were in order.
“They didn’t play finals in 2022 but it seemed like they had the right coach in place, the list was finally in a spot ready to compete and challenge at the pointy end of the season.
“There was a lot of hype and expectation over summer that it was time for the Blues to get back to the top of the ladder. They did start off the season pretty well, albeit not playing amazing footy, but the last month it’s all starting to unravel.
“After getting so excited and thinking this could be the year that we get back and play finals, to be dishing up the performances that they’re showing, clearly, they are a long way off.”
Carlton will face Melbourne next Friday night at the MCG.
They haven’t beaten the Dees since 2016.