Is it time to concede Blackpool are in a relegation dog fight this season?

Of course it’s still early days and where Blackpool find themselves in the standings at this moment in time – 21st, for those that daren’t look at the table themselves – counts for little.

The Seasiders are only three points worse off than this stage last season as well, so it goes without saying things can change very quickly. Win one or two on the bounce and Michael Appleton’s side will all of a sudden be knocking on the door of the top half of the table.

But when you’ve only won three of your opening 12 games, you’d be foolish not to at least be a little concerned. Looking over your shoulder is only natural in those circumstances.

Competition

When we do that, we find an out-of-sorts West Brom side who were beaten once again in midweek, losing 1-0 to Preston at Deepdale.

I normally hate it when people say this but the Baggies’ squad has far too much quality to go down, so I don’t anticipate them hanging around the relegation zone for too much longer.

One would imagine, given the hectic managerial merry-go-round we’ve already witnessed in full effect this season, Steve Bruce’s job is already under huge scrutiny.

Given their summer business, signing free agents like Jed Wallace and John Swift, adding further quality to an already excellent squad, he can have few complaints should those calls for his head continue to get stronger and stronger.

Elsewhere, Coventry City continue to prop up the division having only won once this season, albeit they’ve played three games fewer than Blackpool owing to their well-documented previous issues with their pitch.

Mark Robins is a very good manager and Coventry showed last season just how strong a side they are, so again – like West Brom – I expect the Sky Blues to put a run together at some point and at least get themselves within touching distance of safety as a bare minimum.

Huddersfield Town, who are currently second bottom, are an interesting one. They looked really poor against Blackpool earlier in the season and look nothing like the side that came within 90 minutes of promotion under Carlos Corberan last term.

I can’t say I know a great deal about their new man in charge, Mark Foderingham, but I think he’s got a big job on his hands keeping the Terriers afloat this year.

There’s other sides I expect to struggle, clubs like Birmingham City and Hull City, perhaps even Reading, Rotherham United and Wigan Athletic despite their current lofty positions in the table.

But we don’t want Blackpool to be in a position where they’re having to rely on other sides struggling, we want Appleton’s men to secure safety with relative comfort and in their own right.

Concerns

While there’s been some positive signs of late – the performance in defeat to Norwich City, the second-half at Sunderland – we’d also be lying if there weren’t areas of concern, namely the lack of goals – just two in their last six games – the run of four games without a win and the club’s ever-growing injury list.

These aren’t issues that mean we should just start waving our white flags, far from it. But I don’t think it’s particularly outlandish to say Blackpool are likely to find themselves in a real relegation scrap this season, something we didn’t really have to concern ourselves with last term.

So what are the reasons for that? We’d be here all day if we were to delve too deeply into that one, so perhaps that’s another column for another day.

But there’s no doubting Neil Critchley’s departure set the club back during the summer, the club’s summer recruitment certainly didn’t go anywhere as well as we would have liked and the division itself is a lot more competitive than it was last season, especially at the bottom end.

I’ve pointed it out before, but last term Barnsley finished bottom of the table on 30 points, Derby County second bottom on 34 (due to their points deductions) and Peterborough United in the final relegation spot on 37.

I’d be very surprised if any side finished in the 30s this season. In fact, I think that normally magical figure of 50 might not even be enough, I expect it to be that tight. So if we didn’t know it already, every game counts.

Reasons for optimism

Some might look at these next two games coming up and write them off as two defeats, given the relative ambitions of Watford and Sheffield United compared to the Seasiders. But not me.

For a start, Blackpool have already gone toe-to-toe with top sides like Burnley and Norwich this season, so they’ve proven they can compete.

Watford aren’t exactly pulling up any trees either, are they? They lost at home to Swansea City in midweek and have only won four of their first 12 games, so there’s absolutely nothing to be afraid of.

It’s just a shame we won’t get to welcome Rob Edwards back to Bloomfield Road, given he was bizarrely sacked after just 11 games in charge – although perhaps it’s not that bizarre when you consider the club in question.

Ex-West Ham boss Slaven Bilic is now the man in charge and, for all their faults as a club, I still expect the Hornets to be up there come the end of the season considering the squad at their disposal and their financial muscle.

But now it’s time for Blackpool to step up and prove they belong in the same division as these types of clubs, even if the financials might say otherwise.