Big decisions to be made as Blackpool must now submit 25-man squad list

By my calculations, 19 players are virtually guaranteed to be registered. But Mick McCarthy has all-but confirmed any players that are currently out injured or deemed unavailable will be left out…for now.

Six spaces will be left free for those returning from injury to fulfil once they’re back up to speed and ready to play. Essentially, it’s a case of first come, first served.

There’s a bit of guesswork involved on my part, but I’m expecting there to be around 10 players who aren’t assured of a spot. They’re Marvin Ekpiteta, Jordan Gabriel, Luke Garbutt, James Husband, Liam Bridcutt, Kevin Stewart, Lewis Fiorini, Keshi Anderson, Beryly Lubala and Jake Beesley.

As we all know, 10 into six doesn’t go, so there’s going to be at least four that are left disappointed.

McCarthy revealed Gabriel and Bridcutt are now back in training, although how far away they are from actually being considered for the first-team we don’t know.

It’s also understood Fiorini is also on the cusp of a return, which might explain why he didn’t return to his parent club Manchester City during the recent transfer window.

There’s been no news on Kevin Stewart, which suggests he might still be some way away, so perhaps they’re likely to be two of the four that miss out.

Even though Garbutt, Lubala and Beesley are all fit, as far as I’m aware, they’re on the fringes of the squad and are perhaps the non-injured names most at risk of missing out.

With Husband and Ekpiteta, you’d imagine it will be a case of when, not if they’re added back in once they’ve fully recovered.

Just to make it clear, the Seasiders don’t have to name 25 players straight away. They can leave gaps free and add players back in at a later date. But once they’re in, they’re in for good, so it’s entirely understandable why McCarthy wouldn’t want to include a longer-term absentee and use up a spot that could have been better served going to someone else, who can actually contribute.

It’s also worth noting Sonny Carey and Rob Apter aren’t counted towards the squad as they were considered Under-21 players at the beginning of the 2022/23 season.

By the time you’re reading this column, chances are the squad list will already have been submitted to the EFL. But in recent times we’ve had to wait for all 72 squads to be formally uploaded onto the EFL’s website, which can normally take a week or so.

Turning to this weekend

Attention now turns to McCarthy’s first league game in charge and it’s a toughie, as Blackpool face in-form Middlesbrough away from home.

The Teeside outfit are firing on all cylinders under Michael Carrick, who has taken his new side from the depths of the Championship, or 21st to be exact, to third place in the space of just three months.

I’ll be the first to admit I wasn’t sure if Carrick was the right appointment for Boro, but he’s turned out to be a revelation and has the fans dreaming of a return to the Premier League after six years away.

But if Blackpool can repeat or even improve on the performance they produced against Southampton in the FA Cup last week, there’s no reason why they can’t cause Boro problems.

With Cardiff losing late on to Luton Town in midweek, which leaves them three points ahead of Blackpool having played two games more, now is the perfect time for the Seasiders to put some sort of run together and capitalise on the Bluebirds’ nervousness.

The start of a crucial month

Blackpool don’t want to be going into the midweek clash against Huddersfield Town off the back of another league defeat. Even a point will come in handy and provide them with a platform to get that monkey off their back, having still not won in the league since October.

But the back-to-back games against Huddersfield and Rotherham United are absolutely gigantic, there’s no two ways about it. They’ve got to be winning at least one of them, but ideally both.

Games against Swansea City, Stoke City, Blackburn Rovers and Reading are also on the calendar in what is a busy February schedule – and these are games Blackpool need to be picking up points from.

With only 19 games left remaining, we’re almost reaching last-chance saloon in terms of getting back to winning ways and going on a run. It’s now or never.

That’s why McCarthy is here, to enjoy that new manager bounce he’s experienced at the vast majority of his previous clubs.

As I’ve touched on before, many have focused on the way it ended for Big Mick at Cardiff but just look at the way it started – 11 games unbeaten and six wins on the trot at one stage of that run.

It might be a little unrealistic to expect the same at Blackpool, but as long as they pick out two, three or four wins this month it at least keeps them competitive and, fingers crossed, might even see them climb out of the bottom three.

The way things were going under Michael Appleton, the Seasiders would have been at risk of becoming cut adrift at the bottom. That simply can’t be allowed to happen.