Games in quick succession good for Blackpool says boss Neil Critchley

The Seasiders take on bottom club Burton Albion on Saturday, looking to get back to winning ways after their 1-0 reversal at AFC Wimbledon in midweek.

Critchley admits he’d like more time with the players on the training ground.

However, with his side in action against Wigan Athletic on Tuesday before the trip to Eastbourne Borough in the FA Cup next weekend, that’s a luxury he isn’t being afforded.

On the busy run of games, Critchley said: “It’s a good thing. It’s a chance to get Tuesday out of our system, we can’t dwell on what’s happened previously, we have to look forward.

“We’ve got some important games, big games, to come and it gives us an opportunity to get over Tuesday and move forward again.

“I’d like the time on the training ground because that’s really important to build relationships and our identity.

“However, we haven’t got that time and we knew what the situation would be at the beginning of the season.

“The games are coming thick and fast, so we have to review and do our learning in other ways between games.

“Our learning is also coming within the games at the minute.

“We have to learn on the job, so to speak.”

When asked if, like his players, he’s also learning on the job given this is his first taste of senior management, Critchley replied: “No, but I guess it depends on what your definition of management is.

“I’ve been coaching and managing teams for a long, long time, just not in the spotlight.

“Nothing I’ve seen this season is anything I’ve not been used to and prepared for and seen before.

“I think the way we’ve played so far this season, we haven’t not been prepared for any game. Nothing has caught us out.

“Certain things and moments have gone against us, but that’s football.”

Critchley also refuted suggestions he might not be accustomed to managing a team that is playing so many games in such a short spell of time.

“When I was at Liverpool we entered every single competition last season,” Pool’s head coach said.

“We were in the Premier League, the International Cup, the Premier League Cup, we had the UEFA Youth League games, the league season and the EFL Trophy as well.

“We were in every competition because we wanted the Liverpool players to sample what it would be like if they were to go out on loan in the Championship, League One or League Two.

“We wanted them to get used to playing game after game and recovering, so that was something I was already used to having experienced as a coach.

“So this schedule is nothing I haven’t experienced before.”

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