Blackpool boss: There's still a long way to go yet

Neil Critchley believes Blackpool’s frustrating early form could actually be the making of them this season.
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The Seasiders have lost five of their opening seven league games, leaving Critchley’s side second from bottom in the League One table.

It sets up a massive game this weekend against an MK Dons side sitting just one position above them.

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“We know how big a game this is, we understand it. The only way to change our feeling and our mood is to win football games,” Pool’s head coach said.

Blackpool go into tomorrow's game on the back of a midweek loss to Charlton AthleticBlackpool go into tomorrow's game on the back of a midweek loss to Charlton Athletic
Blackpool go into tomorrow's game on the back of a midweek loss to Charlton Athletic

“That starts on Saturday and then we’ve got a game on Tuesday. We’re seven games into a very long season and there’s a long way to go.

“Hopefully, by the end of the season, we can look back on this period and think this was the making of us, it was a good thing for us to go through to get to where we’ve got to.

“Ideally we don’t want to be in this situation, but we are. We can only control what we can control. What are the positive ways we can turn this situation around? How do we do it? That’s what we look forward to doing on Saturday.”

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Like Blackpool, MK Dons have won one of their seven games, their victory coming against Gillingham.

Despite their slow start, Critchley sees a lot of similarities with how their games have gone so far.

“MK Dons are a very good football team. They have a real clear way of playing, which is an expansive way of playing. They dominate the ball and they’re very dangerous,” he added.

“They haven’t had the results their performances have merited so far, so it’s a tough game.

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“They give you problems but we think if we prepare properly and get our plan right, then we can definitely cause them problems as well.

“They’ve been involved in a lot of tight games and I think that sums up the division. If you take the Ipswich result away from our games - even though it was never a 4-1 game, it was really harsh - there’s been nothing in any of our games and we’ve played some of the teams that are towards the top of the division.

“We could have quite easily won quite a few of those games, we’ve just fallen below that fine line at the moment and it’s up to us to finish above that line at some point soon.”