Mick McCarthy: Crucial games against Huddersfield Town and Rotherham United will define Blackpool's season

Mick McCarthy says Blackpool’s next back-to-back home games this week will define their season.
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The Seasiders extended their miserable run without a win in the league on Saturday following their 3-0 defeat away to in-form Middlesbrough.

It means Blackpool remain 23rd in the table, three points adrift of safety with just 18 games left to play.

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It adds even more significance to Tuesday night’s rearranged clash against relegation rivals Huddersfield Town.

Beyond that, McCarthy’s men then host another bottom-half outfit as Rotherham United - currently 20th and five points clear of the bottom three - come to Bloomfield Road.

“I’m dying to get a really good solid performance, not concede and win a game. I’m hoping that’s going to be on Tuesday night,” McCarthy said at the Riverside on Saturday.

“We’ve now got two games coming up which could define our season. If we win them both, we’ll be flying and we’ll be in and that’s what we’re going to try and do.”

Mick McCarthy is hoping to keep spirits up ahead of a massive week for the SeasidersMick McCarthy is hoping to keep spirits up ahead of a massive week for the Seasiders
Mick McCarthy is hoping to keep spirits up ahead of a massive week for the Seasiders
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Despite staying in the changing room for a good half an hour after Saturday’s game, McCarthy insists he wasn’t given the players a talking-to.

“I didn’t really think they deserved that,” he said.

“I got into them about the throw-in (for the first goal) and going backwards, but I just thought we could do better.

“But getting into players who are second bottom in the league and not playing very well…it’s usually a case of getting your arm around them and cajoling something out of them rather than blasting them.

“They’re feeling it, they’re not happy about it. I can’t say they’re not enjoying their season at the minute and they all want to do better.

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“We don’t go in and blast them, we show them what we can do better, show them what was good and try and get a performance out of them for Huddersfield.

“We’re going to have to play well. They got a point on Saturday, they’ve signed a few players and by getting a point it galvanises them so we’ve got a tough couple of games, but we’ve got to try and win them.”