Ben Burgess: Let's make headlines for the right reasons

First we had Neil McDonald’s bullish pre-match defiance ahead of the Fleetwood game: “You’ll see a different team, that’s for sure.”

He then defiantly claimed his team had dominated the game.

A game in which Fleetwood had more attempts at goal and more possession!

Then possibly the saddest newspaper report of the last week was the news that Ian Holloway had actually wanted to return to his spiritual home and was talked out of it!

As I read Ollie’s story in the paper it felt like a punch in the head.

He’s the one guy that is talented, charismatic and strong enough to repair some of the warring factions at this once forward-moving club.

Mutually loved in the boardroom and on the terraces, Ollie was everyone’s first choice to lead the club last summer – well nearly everyone’s!

It turns out he was advised that the atmosphere was too toxic at Bloomfield Road and he would be better off out of it.

I have no doubt that it would have been harder for him had he returned to the ‘hotseat’ but he would have at least had the backing of the fans.

Back to last week’s ‘must win’ game at Highbury.

Predictably, it was a tense affair with neither team brave enough to risk defeat by going for a victory.

It was a result that will probably benefit Fleetwood more as it keeps them two points ahead of the Seasiders going into their game against Walsall on Monday afternoon.

Meanwhile, at Bloomfield Road on Saturday, we will see the all-conquering Wigan Athletic side who have all but guaranteed promotion.

It will be a tough ask for Blackpool to get the three points they must aim for to have any chance of prolonging their League One status until the last week of the season.

There’s no point in myself or anyone else spouting that Pool need to grab the bull by the horns and attack Wigan because clearly no-one at Bloomfield Road is listening.

I’m not saying that I know anywhere near as much about management as Neil McDonald, but my views are echoed amongst many others watching the Tangerines this season.

Sometimes you need an objective view on a situation to see clearly.

Recently I’ve been training for a charity swim and I’ve been stubbornly ploughing through lap after lap with a less than perfect technique.

It’s taken one of the coaches at the YMCA to politely point out my areas for improvement to get me back on track.

There’s a message in there somewhere.

On the subject of goalless draws, I had the pleasure to go and watch Manchester City play Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final on Tuesday.

I expected goals galore as neither defence has covered itself in glory recently and they both have a plethora of attacking talent.

It seems I must have cursed the game as both teams settled for the draw.

It was interesting to see how fresh and strong Madrid looked as the tie moved to the latter stages and they should have scored two goals, if it wasn’t for the heroics of ex-Blackpool loanee Joe Hart.

By contrast, City and Sergio Aguero in particular, were treading water towards the end and were hanging on.

Gareth Bale had mentioned in a pre-match interview how fresh he feels at the moment after the La Liga winter break and the far less demanding nature of the Spanish fixtures.

I hope these aren’t ominous words heading into this summer’s European Championships.

We don’t want another tournament of failure for England blamed on tiredness!