Blackpool head coach's warning ahead of three games in a week

The Seasiders are looking for a third straight win before hosting Stoke City in midweek and QPR in front of the Sky Sports cameras next Saturday.

Should Pool gain a healthy points haul from that trio of games, it will put them in a strong position heading into another international break.

Critchley said: “We’ve got three important and tough games coming up and the message to the players on Monday was ‘we’re doing well, we’re doing lots of things well but there are lots of facets of our game we need to improve upon’.

“We moved on from the Preston win straight away. We had a training session on the pitch straight after the game and we move on.

“We were off on the Sunday and back in on the Monday. Our full focus is on preparing for Saturday.

“You’ve got to be careful, when you’re on a good run of form or winning games, that complacency doesn’t set in.

“We’re the same. We’ve been driving the standards again, looking at what we need to improve and get better at.”

Critchley has been impressed with what he’s seen of today’s opponents, despite their indifferent start to the season under new boss Slavisa Jokanovic.

“When you’ve got a new manager, a new way of playing and a different system, it always takes a bit of time,” Pool’s head coach added.

“They had a bit of a sticky start but, since then, they’ve picked up and having watched them play a lot recently, they’re an excellent footballing team.

“I would fully expect them, come the end of the season, to be challenging for promotion again, so we’re under no illusions about the task we’ve got.

“It’s a tough game, however we can take great confidence from our last few performances and how we’ve performed away from home against some good teams.”

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