Four things we took away from Ian Evatt's first outing as Blackpool head coach

Ian Evatt’s reign as Blackpool head coach started with a 2-1 victory over Peterborough United at the Weston Homes Stadium.

An own goal from Peter Kioso saw the Seasiders edge their way in front in the 35th minute, before Matt Garbett levelled the scores ahead of half time.

From there, the home side had several opportunities to edge their way in front, but couldn’t make the most of them, leaving Scott Banks to pinch a late winner off the bench.

As well as being a winning start for Evatt, the victory also marked Blackpool’s first points on the roads this season, and lifted them off the bottom of the table at the expense of their opponents.

Here’s some of the things we spotted from the game:

New formation

The new boss opted to start his first game with a big change, with his side switching to a wing-back system - seeing Andy Lyons form part of a back three, while CJ Hamilton and Zac Ashworth occupied the wide areas.

After spending the past two transfer windows moving away from this type of formation after the sacking of Neil Critchley, it seems the club will be playing that way once again.

There did appear to be more structure in what the Seasiders were trying to do. Even in the bits they got wrong, you could at least see what the aim was - which hasn’t always been the case.

Do Blackpool have the players to play out from the back with this system? - Only time will tell, as that’s something we can’t currently judge based on the limited amount of time Evatt has had at Squires Gate.

The alteration certainly suited a couple of players. This included Fraser Horsfall, who produced his best performance by far for the club, as well as Jordan Brown in the centre of the park.

A change for Bowler

The new formation saw a couple of players feature in different roles.

Andy Lyons formed part of a back three along with Horsfall and Olly Casey - and did a good job on the whole, with that trio definitely doing their jobs, even if it wasn’t a vintage display in front of them.

Higher up the field, Josh Bowler was named in a more advanced central midfield role.

The 26-year-old has struggled out wide since returning to the club, with that spark and agility to get past players not being there.

While the Deadline Day arrival did play his part in the opening goal, it still wasn’t a fantastic individual performance from him, but it’s certainly something he can build on, and his new role could be something that suits his current strengths.

A loss of natural wide roles could be a bigger loss for others. Banks came off the bench to score the winner, and has shown in snippets what he’s capable of, so it’ll be interesting to see if he adapts to being a wing-back or if there’s another plan to get the best out of him.

Different ideas

It was quite impressive to see how quickly some of Evatt’s ideas had been implemented.

The intention around the press was certainly visible, and while it wasn’t always perfect, it provided energy that had been missing off the ball.

There were also a few set pieces that stood out, with the movement just being a bit more intelligent, and the delivery looking to catch the opponent off guard.

A reminder

Now, it must be remembered that it wasn’t a complete instant switch to what we had seen before.

For long periods, Blackpool were pretty poor on the ball, and probably didn’t control things in the way Evatt would’ve liked.

Peterborough were made to look good at times, despite now being bottom of the league, and should’ve probably edged their way in front at the beginning of the second half.

It is a reminder that it won’t be a quick fix for Evatt, and time will be required for him to slowly shift things.

The Seasiders produced that bit of quality to get the three points, with luck also being on their side - which hasn’t always been the case, especially with their squad being depleted.

There’s much harder tasks to come, so the new head coach will know they can’t get carried away with the win - as enjoyable as it was.

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