Neil Critchley: Blackpool are a work in progress and patience is needed

The Seasiders are looking to adopt a more possession-based approach in the Championship this season.

Pool tried to play the ball out from the back in their opener at Bristol City on Saturday and got off to a comfortable enough start, drawing 1-1 thanks to Shayne Lavery’s late heroics.

But they struggled slightly during the first half, when Nigel Pearson’s side got on top and stopped them at source.

Critchley concedes there’s plenty of work to be done but warned it won’t be something that changes overnight.

Pool’s head coach told The Gazette: “It takes a lot of hard work, patience and perseverance.

“That has to come from me. If I don’t believe in it, how do I expect the players to believe in it? I have to be the person that shows total faith and trust in the players and gives them unequivocal support to do that.

“I want us to be a team that can control the game and build possession, but there are many ways of playing out from the back and controlling games.

“It doesn’t mean you have to be playing silly balls in front of your own goal all the time. Sometimes, if teams come after you, you might go over a lot of their bodies and play off a ball that is slightly further forward.

“But it’s something that will take time. We showed signs of it on Saturday but we can get a lot better at doing it and I’m confident we will.”

Bristol City’s goal came after a sustained spell of pressure from the home side. Chris Martin was the man to break the deadlock on the stroke of half-time.

He headed home unmarked from a deep cross into the Blackpool box.

When asked what his players could have done differently, Critchley replied: “We could have stopped giving away silly free-kicks, that might have been a good start.

“A lot of their better chances came from the second phase of wide free-kicks. It wasn’t necessarily the first ball into the box but maybe the second ball.

“Just in those moments, we’ve got to manage those situations slightly better.

“You could say attack is the best form of defence, so if you keep hold of the ball it means you’re doing less defending.

“You can’t deny our defensive organisation was outstanding last season.

“We aim to maintain that but we also want to evolve as a team and progress other aspects of our play.

“If we can do that, then we’ll be the team that is in the ascendancy more than defending in our own half.”

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