Matt Scrafton column: Will Blackpool boss compromise to find a winning formula?

Since the start of pre-season, Neil Critchley has been working tirelessly to create a side capable of fitting his attacking philosophy – playing on the front foot, pressing high up the pitch and dominating possession in the opposition half.

When things don’t entirely go to plan, which they haven’t in Blackpool’s opening nine games of the season, how long do you persist with the same approach? That is the million dollar question.

Critchley has previously indicated he wouldn’t abandon those principles after a few bad results, but are we beyond that point now? When does a poor run of form turn into a worrying trend?

In some respects, we’ve already seen Critchley adapt and make changes. One of the major frustrations among Pool fans is that the team is no longer playing in that high-octane manner.

The constant harrying and closing down of pre-season hasn’t really been seen, not to the same degree anyway.

Of course, playing against Everton and Liverpool in pre-season friendlies are completely different challenges to tackling Gillingham and AFC Wimbledon.

Against Premier League sides, and very good ones, you can afford to sit back in a solid defensive block, soak up pressure, let the opposition have the ball and look to utilise your pace on the counter-attack.

When you’re playing a side who actually practise hoofing clearances into the stands, as Wimbledon did in their warm-up before Tuesday night’s game, it’s a different matter entirely.

You can’t press a side that doesn’t have the ball or even want the ball for that matter. When it was 11 v 11, the Dons were more than happy for the Seasiders to have possession, but only in areas of the pitch where they couldn’t hurt them.

Despite playing more than 50 minutes with 10 men and 15 minutes with nine men, Blackpool still had more possession of the ball come the final whistle.

We saw the same frustrating signs early on before Ethan Robson’s red card, Pool keeping hold of the ball without looking like carving open their opponents. Their only chances came from set-pieces.

Critchley had already made some adaptations in the 1-0 win against MK Dons.

He altered, only ever so slightly, from his 4-3-3 system for the first time, pushing Ben Woodburn into a more advanced role that saw the Seasiders in a 4-2-3-1 – or even a 4-2-4 at times.

This was done to stop MK Dons playing it out from the back by pushing the team further up the pitch.

Should they win the ball back, they’ll have done so in threatening areas of the pitch where they can surge through with either a quick pass or a well-timed run.

It didn’t necessarily work out that way, not helped by a referee who whistled for a free-kick every time a Blackpool player got near an opponent, but the idea was sound.

Is this a sign that Critchley acknowledges changes are required in League One to grind out results? That playing football that might well be pleasing on the eye, might not always get you results?

Of course, in a perfect world, Blackpool would play like the Liverpool side of last season and swipe away opposition with ease.

Unfortunately we don’t live in such a world, especially when the third tier is often worlds away from the Premier League.

Just six weeks into the season, it appears Blackpool’s boss is already prepared to mix things up to turn around the run of results which has seen them lose six of their opening nine games – making tomorrow’s trip to bottom side Burton Albion a huge game.

On Tuesday night, Gary Madine offered far more of an aerial presence and, late on, the Seasiders were a lot more direct than we’ve become accustomed to seeing.

Of course, this may well have been dictated by the circumstances, given Wimbledon’s two-man advantage, but it shows Critchley is prepared to change should the situation require it.

Equally, we don’t want to get to a situation where Blackpool are constantly chopping and changing from one system and from one approach to another.

That clearly didn’t work out for Simon Grayson last season when the players struggled to produce consistent performances, having been told to do a different thing from one week to the next.

There has to be a happy medium between the two, where Critchley is able to make tweaks here and there while not ripping up his positive approach completely.

Of course, even the best laid plans are rendered completely pointless when players are sent off. Four red cards in nine games is some going.

Are Blackpool ill-disciplined? The fair play table will say yes – Critchley’s players are inevitably bottom of it – but I would suggest otherwise.

If anything, the Seasiders are probably guilty of naivete and falling into traps a bit too easily at the moment. Critchley suggested as much himself after the Wimbledon defeat.

Dan Ballard’s dismissal was certainly a case in point, the referee only flashing the red after Shane McLoughlin had writhed around on the floor in pain, only to get to his feet seconds later once the damage had been done.

Am I advocating Blackpool take a similar approach? Absolutely not – but perhaps the Seasiders could do with being a bit more streetwise.

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