Blackpool boss won't change his thinking after consecutive defeats

The Seasiders slumped to a frustrating 2-1 loss at Bristol Rovers on Saturday in a game they probably ought to have won.

In scoring just once from 21 attempts, Blackpool’s wastefulness in front of goal came to the fore once again.

Critchley’s side are the division’s second lowest goalscorers, having found the back of the net just 20 times from as many league games.

Despite that, Blackpool’s head coach recently told The Gazette he was happy with his options at the attacking end of the pitch.

When asked if that view had changed following the consecutive defeats against Shrewsbury Town and Bristol Rovers, Critchley said: “It would be easy to make a knee-jerk reaction from a defeat.

“I still believe we’ve got good attacking players in the squad, so we have to believe in what we’re doing and we have to stick to how we prepare.

“We’re still searching for the right balance, we’re still searching for that little bit of cohesion and understanding between the players. It’s just not there at the moment and that takes time.

“We just have to believe in where we’re trying to get to and stick at it, which is difficult I know after losing as we did on Saturday.

“But you can’t get too carried away when you win and not get too down when you lose, that’s really important.”

In the main, Blackpool were very good against Bristol Rovers on Saturday, dominating for large periods and creating a host of clear-cut opportunities.

Despite taking an eighth-minute lead through Gary Madine’s early strike, Pool came away empty-handed following the home side’s quickfire double before half-time.

The game felt like a microcosm of Pool’s season to date, promising in so many areas but coming up short in front of goal.

“I think it feels like that even more because of the way we’ve dominated the game,” Critchley said.

“The Shrewsbury game, the quality let us down but we didn’t actually play as well as we played on Saturday in terms of our football and we didn’t get into the penalty area so many times as we did against Bristol Rovers.

“We were just generally poor the other night but I don’t think that was the case here.

“A combination of numerous situations, and that’s again from a number of different players on the pitch, and none of those players have been able to provide that moment of quality that should have got us at least a point.

“If we’d have drawn the game I’d have been disappointed, so to lose is extremely hard to take.”

Thanks for reading. If you value what we do and are able to support us, a digital subscription is just £1 for your first month. Try us today by clicking here