Blackpool FC: Three talking points from the Seasiders' defeat to Port Vale

Ben Garrity, James Wilson and Nathan Smith were all on the scoresheet, as the Seasiders’ poor away form continued.

The defeat at Vale Park follows Boxing Day’s defeat to Burton Albion, leaving Neil Critchley’s side seven points adrift of the play-offs heading into 2024.

Here are some of the talking points from the game:

As bad as it’s been

The defeat at Vale Park felt like the worst result of the season so far for the Seasiders. The manner of the performance wasn’t great, but the wider context obviously plays a big role.

It’s frustrating knowing what this group can be capable of, as they’ve demonstrated it pretty consistently at home, but on the road they can’t seem to get it right.

Following the poor display against Burton, a big reaction was needed, but it didn’t come.

They had few more attacking moments against Port Vale than the game at the Pirelli Stadium, but that wasn’t really difficult.

That cutting edge was once again not there in attack, while defensively it was pretty embarrassing how they presented their opponents the opportunities for the goals.

The fans travelled well once again, but received no reward for their efforts. They have every right to boo a display like that as it’s just the latest away day disaster.

A different plan

Critchley will be more frustrated than anyone else. He is sending his team out there with a clear plan but things just aren’t going their way. Through individual errors they are constantly going a goal down which disrupts the way they were trying to approach the game.

Of course you can’t be too reactive to these situations, but it doesn’t feel like there’s enough of a shift in mindset for the Seasiders when things do go against them.

When they go behind rarely feels like they’ve got enough in the tank to turn things around.

This lays at the feet of the players as a collective, with more required from them in these situations. There’s a range of players with a range of different qualities in the squad, but it just needs to be applied better in these situations.

Not the time to panic

After the last couple of games there’s been a lot of frustration shared on social media- which is very fair and very understandable.

Some have pressed the ‘sack Critch,’ but this just feels like a knee-jerk reaction after an underwhelming first half to the season.

Critchley is still very much the right man for the job. It’s an extremely sticky patch but he knows this league and he knows the club, so he is in the best position to turn things around.

Unless there is a strong run of results for Blackpool; making the play-offs will be a tough ask. If they don’t get the top six this season then it is a failure, but there will be a plan in place and it’s just about letting it progress.