'Lacked belief' - Ian Evatt issues immediate reaction to Blackpool's defeat to Burton Albion
Blackpool were on the end of a 1-0 defeat to Burton Albion at the Pirelli Stadium.
Ian Evatt states Blackpool didn’t have enough belief to execute their game plan at times in their 1-0 defeat to Burton Albion at the Pirelli Stadium.
On his first outing against the Seasiders since his Bloomfield Road exit back in the summer, Jack Beesley scored the only goal of the contest to secure the three points for Gary Bowyer’s side. .
After winning back-to-back games in the third tier following his appointment last month, Evatt will look to rebuild momentum following his first league loss at the helm.
Reflecting on the result, the Blackpool head coach said: “It isn’t a quick fix, but if you draw that game or win by one goal then everyone would say it’s a good away performance. We’ve dealt with most of the stuff that they threw at us.
“All of their play came through dead balls, set plays and long throws - we didn’t have to do too much defending from open play, and the one time we didn’t stop a cross or mark correctly in the box, we got punished for it, and that’s this league.
“We had chances in the first half, but we didn’t quite connect the last pass. CJ (Hamilton) goes through, should probably score; doesn’t. At the end we have two chances where the keeper pulls off two saves. We had the better chances in the game.
“We just lacked a little bit of belief in the second half. We played direct too many times, and played up to the strikers with not enough quality - we didn’t provoke the pressure enough. We have to provoke their press to get them to jump to then create space for the forwards.
“Too many times we took the safe option and played it long. It’s not what we’re doing and it’s not possession with a purpose so we need to get better at that.
“We knew the game was going to be the way it was, and that was the thought process behind the team I picked to start, we wanted to compete and be solid to deal with all that, but we went behind because we didn’t defend the cross well enough so we have to improve.”
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