'I'm disappointed to draw': Neil Critchley gives surprise verdict as Blackpool impress against Premier League side Everton

Neil Critchley admits he’s actually a little disappointed his Blackpool side could only draw with Everton in their latest pre-season encounter.
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Blackpool 3-3 Everton: Gylfi Sigurdsson's late free-kick denies Seasiders impres...

The Seasiders looked on course to spring a major surprise against Carlo Ancelotti’s men after making a quickfire start, scoring three eye-catching goals in the opening 10 minutes.

Just two minutes were on the clock when CJ Hamilton broke the deadlock before Sullay Kaikai and Grant Ward both got in on the act.

Blackpool boss Neil CritchleyBlackpool boss Neil Critchley
Blackpool boss Neil Critchley
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Dominic Calvert-Lewin pulled one back for the Toffees before Sigurdsson reduced the deficit further with a calmly-taken penalty.

The Icelandic international had the final say when he curled home a trademark set-piece to save his side’s blushes.

Blackpool were more than a match for their Premier League opponents from start to finish, but Critchley still wasn’t 100 per cent satisfied.

“It was a great game, full of entertainment and full of goals,” the head coach said.

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“I thought we were excellent for large periods of the game but I’m probably disappointed to draw if I’m being truly honest.

“There are lots of positives, however there are still things to work on - conceding from a corner, we could have done a bit better in certain situations, pressing, counter-pressing and a bit better organisation - but we’re playing against high quality players and we’re not going to come up against that type of quality every single week.

“If you get it wrong at one end of the pitch you know they can hurt you at the other. That was the game we were playing throughout.

“Generally I was very pleased with lots of what I saw. I thought our attitude, our aggression and our intensity was outstanding.”

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Critchley was, however, pleased with his side’s lightning-fast start that saw them three goals to the good after just 11 minutes.

“We started off like a house on fire,” he added.

“It’s exactly what we said beforehand that we wanted to practice playing our way regardless of the opposition.

“We wanted to get better at improving who we’re going to be this season and I thought we did that ever so well.

“We were 3-0 up and deservedly 3-0 up at that point in the game, but it’s just disappointing to concede a really poor goal from a corner.

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“We actually had one or two good opportunities to go 4-1 up and 5-1 up. To be 3-2 up at half time, I think it flattered Everton to be honest.

“Second half was a bit more even with lots of subs and changes, but I’d say generally we were in quite good control of the game in the second half - until the end.

“It was a good workout, I’m really pleased. There are things to work on but we now look ahead to Tuesday.”