Neil Critchley believes the goals will come for Blackpool

Blackpool are yet to catch fire in front of goal in the competitive games Neil Critchley has been in charge of but the club’s head coach insists he’s not unduly concerned.

The Seasiders have played out goalless draws in two cup ties this season against Stoke City and Barrow.

However, Pool created a host of opportunities in both games and Critchley believes it’s only a matter of time before his players begin to stick those chances away.

“You wouldn’t believe it but we do a lot of work on attacking play!” Critchley joked.

“But I have to say we’re creating chances. We had numerous good opportunities against Barrow on Tuesday.

“We scored two at Anfield the previous game and we had chances against Stoke – we just didn’t take them.

“I think it would be more worrying if we didn’t look like scoring goals but I believe we look like scoring.

“And if we continue to create the chances we are doing, then I’ve got full belief that the players will score goals.

“You can’t do everything at once. We’ve done quite a lot of work without the ball and without possession.

“We try to do everything, in possession and out of possession, but that will build over time.

“I’ll back the players to take those chances over the course of the season.”

At the other end of the pitch, Critchley has been pleased with his side’s clean sheets in their opening two competitive games.

While some onlookers have Blackpool down as a team that will score and concede goals in equal measure, Critchley hopes that won’t be the case.

“In both games we’ve not looked like conceding too many chances or goals,” he said.

“That’s something we’ve worked hard on in terms of our organisation.

“We want to be a team that is hard to beat and is hard to play against.

“When you combine that with the right work ethic and attitude – especially when the going gets tough, which it will this season – that bodes well.

“I keep reading things saying it’s going to be 3-3 or 4-3 every week but I can assure you we don’t want that to happen.

“I’ve been quietly reassured by what we’ve done without the ball. However, we’re still working on it and I think we can still improve in that area of the pitch.

“What we have to be is consistent in the way we prepare and the way we play every week. We stress that to the players all the time.

“There’s that old saying, we play like we train and we train like we play, which is very true.

“When we play the game on Saturday, we’re used to playing like that because it’s how we train every day.”