Matt Scrafton column: What a difference a few weeks have made

MK Dons, like Blackpool, find themselves languishing in the bottom four of the League One table with just one win to their name.

The Seasiders, who have been defeated in five of their opening seven league games during what has been a miserable start to the campaign, can’t even contemplate losing this one. The consequences don’t even bear thinking about.

The fact Neil Critchley is coming under increasing pressure so early into his reign and the season is a remarkable turnaround from the positivity and optimism that swept through the club only a matter of weeks ago.

Critchley, his players and the club hierarchy are quite right to point out that time and patience is needed, the squad needs time to gel – how many times have we heard that already? – and the players need to get used to the demands of a new system and a new way of playing.

But, and it’s a point I’ve made previously and will continue to make, why was the club so boisterous and brash about its aims and ambitions for the season?

Why say you’re going all out for promotion and, as a result, put a target on your back?

For me, the two don’t marry together.

If you accept the squad needs rebuilding and time to get up to speed, then fine. Give Critchley a season and settle for a mid-table finish, as long as there are positive signs and the players are buying into his methods.

Don’t come out and say ‘we want promotion this season’ only to attempt to apply caution a few weeks later when results don’t go your way.

Blackpool might be inexperienced on the field, but I think that also applies to off it as well.

Of course, this could all be a complete overreaction and Blackpool might go on to comprehensively beat MK Dons on Saturday and follow it up with another positive result against AFC Wimbledon in midweek. They are certainly two winnable games.

The warning signs have been there from early on.

While supporters were encouraged by the summer recruitment and how the club was identifying young, hungry, up-and-coming players, plenty were at pains to point out experience and the odd steady player here and there were also required.

For every Ruud van Nistelrooy at Manchester United during their glory years, there was a Phil Neville, for every Cristiano Ronaldo, a John O’Shea, for every David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs, a Wes Brown, a Nicky Butt and a Denis Irwin. You get my drift.

You need a solid spine to your team and I don’t currently see one at Blackpool.

Players like Ryan Edwards, Michael Nottingham, Jay Spearing, Liam Feeney, Nathan Delfouneso and Armand Gnanduillet might not have been world beaters, but they’ve all been around the block and know what it takes to grind out results.

As Wycombe Wanderers showed last year, that’s a massively important quality at this level.

It’s not just on the pitch where these players have an influence either, it’s off it in the dressing room.

When Spearing departed at the end of last season, I wrote in this very column about how big a miss he’d be.

While the 31-year-old is now coming to the end of his career and his performances might not be as good as they were two or three seasons ago, he was a leader in that dressing room.

When things weren’t going well, he was the first to stand up and be counted, and hold his hands up. At the moment, I’m unsure I’m seeing that.

Who’s leading the dressing room now? Who are the key figures? With so much turnover and upheaval over the summer, that continuity has clearly been lost.

Sometimes you need to keep two or three players around to maintain an atmosphere among the group, to set standards and to get the best out of one another.

That’s not to say I’m calling into question the attitude and application of this current set of players – I’m not at all. I just think the club has changed too much, too soon.

Tactically, Critchley will be scratching his head and be deliberating about what to do next.

Does he stick to his trusty 4-3-3 system, which has been utilised since the beginning of pre-season? Or do you mix it up?

If he changes it, is that an admission he initially got it wrong?

Or are flexibility and adaptability the sort of strengths required to be a success as a senior manager?

I’m sure he’ll be asking these very questions to himself right now.

Personally, I don’t think the formation is necessarily the problem. But, to contradict myself, I can see how Blackpool could benefit from a switch to three at the back with wing-backs.

Demetri Mitchell is clearly an excellent attacking player, but defensively, he’s struggled so far.

Is it worth trialling him at left wing-back to get the most out of his attacking qualities and limit his defensive frailties in the knowledge there are three solid centre-backs behind him?

With James Husband suspended for a second time already this season and Luke Garbutt facing a spell on the sidelines, the Seasiders simply have to find a way to get the best out of Mitchell.

These are just my musings, I’m not telling Critchley how to do his job.

He’s far more qualified than I’ll ever be but we’re rapidly approaching the time where Blackpool need to stick or twist.